<p>At Penn I've found many more people who transferred from non-top 15 schools than those from the top 15. About half or so came from public colleges/universities all over the U.S., and a lot of people came from places like Lehigh, NYU, etc. (I personally transferred from a university that didn't even make the list of the schools presented by U.S. News.) But if you think about it, it makes sense because the top 15 is only a tiny fraction of all the schools out there from which potential transfers may apply. I would say that there aren't as many top 15 to top 15 transfers simply because there aren't as nearly as many applicants from these schools as from non-top 15 schools. I don't think there is any aversion on the part of top 15 schools to admit students from other top 15 schools; on the contrary, if they're anything like Penn, they would think of it as an accomplishment to have "stolen" a good kid from another Ivy or top school. There are a few people I know of who transferred from schools of a similar caliber to Penn. A girl in my dorm transferred from Johns Hopkins, and another girl I met transferred from MIT. Also, for some reason there were like 4 or 5 from Georgetown. I don't know what the deal was with that. Also, one of my friends knows a Harvard transfer who said that there were 8 or 9 transfers from Penn to Harvard last year. That's almost 20% of the transfer class! So yeah, while many top 15 transfers come from less-than-elite schools because they have various circumstances and interesting stories, you certainly shouldn't feel alone in transferring from one top 15 to another. I know for a fact it happens.</p>
<p>Sorry I can't share with you any REAL firsthand experience about your situation. Good luck to you!</p>