Transferring from the United States Air Force Academy

<p>How good does it look to other colleges if you are applying for a transfer from a service academy to their college? The Academy being a prestigious college itself, would it be very possible to transfer to another prestigious college such as Stanford, Harvard, or Yale? How likely would it be to recieve a full scholarship to one of these colleges? The intense military, physical, and academic courses at the Academy would train one to do excellent at a civilian college. What are your opinions? Thanks</p>

<p>Chances of a full scholarship to Stanford, Yale or Harvard are somewhere in the neighborhood of zero to less than zero. That is usually true at any high rank colleges for a transfer. Chances are close to same for any merit aid at all for a transfer to those colleges. Need-based aid in the form of grants or loans would be available as they would be to other students.</p>

<p>I do not know how colleges would look at someone coming from a service academy. I would assume like someone from another college but leaving a service academy (for which you have scholarship and entered with a committment to military service upon graduation) raises issues including why are you leaving, which would usually not pop in someone’s mind for a student seeking transfer from regular universities.</p>

<p>The colleges you mentioned, don’t give merit aid, only need based FA. Most merit aid goes to fr admits, relatively few are for transfers. </p>

<p>It is possible to transfer to a highly selective college from a Service Academy, my D1 has a fellow transfer to Y that spent fr year in the Naval Academy. In addition to your academic accomplishments, your reason for transferring is also very important. And compared to other students who are moving from one top college to another, those coming from a Service Academy often have stronger reasons for transferring since the Academies are so different from other colleges and since they likely have decided that that was not the right choice for them.</p>

<p>Thank you for all the help! What colleges with prestige do you think I have a good shot at transferring into?</p>

<p>This question is impossible to answer without a lot more information. The admissions criteria for the service academies are quite different from those of other schools, so it’s possible you don’t have the credentials to transfer into a highly selective school. There are probably many fine schools that would be happy to have you, though, unless your reason for transferring puts you in a bad light.</p>

<p>I had a 4.0 GPA in highschool with an SAT score of 2080 with alot of community service and extracurriculars… if i do well this year, do you think i have a shot?</p>

<p>It sounds like you’re a freshman who has yet to actually begin college, so I wouldn’t even contemplate transferring until after your first year. Spend this entire year enjoying the incredible opportunity that you have earned for yourself, as you won’t be leaving any time soon anyway. Furthermore, you will have a stronger transfer application if you truly delve into your college and develop as a person through leadership positions etc.</p>

<p>Second, as others have mentioned above, your reason for transferring will be huge. You are hopping out of a large commitment that you have theoretically signed on for. Of course, people do change, it’s just that you need to show that it’s because you’ve matured and not because you are still immature.</p>

<p>You are looking at leaving before you have even hit prog, correct?</p>

<p>Realistically, you won’t have much of a record as a college student. That would put you in a situation where you are a transfer student competing with high school stats. I’m not sure how that would go, frankly.</p>

<p>FYI: if you transfer from the USAFA, you will need to repay the school in the amount of the tuition, housing, etc that was spent upon you during your stay there.</p>

<p>Yeager, that only applies for those who leave after the first day of class of their junior year.</p>

I am a sophomore with a 3.2 GPA at the Air Force Academy with a Physics Major. I was wondering what my chances of getting into any Ivy school or Stanford. Thank you!