Transferring from UChicago

If someone wants to transfer from UChicago to some other top school like Wharton or maybe Stanford, what chances does he have?
Like are there any kind of statistics of students transferring from UChicago or being accepted at other top colleges as transfers ?
I would be very thankful if you could tell me about the transfer data of UChicago

I think the chances are extremely low when you try to transfer from Chicago to one of its (higher-end) peers like Stanford, Harvard, etc. Any of these schools have low transfer rates (maybe 2-3% admit rates for transfers), and they generally get lots of qualified applicants.

If you’d really like to transfer out from Chicago, you need to: a.) excel academically (I imagine Harvard and Stanford, perhaps slightly less so at Wharton, would want a Chicago student at the tippy-top of the Chicago class - probably in the top 5-10%), and b.) have a compelling reason to transfer. What does Wharton or Stanford offer that Chicago can’t reasonably offer?

Frankly, I’m not sure what Wharton offers that Chicago doesn’t (outside of more business-focused classes). An argument could be made, say, for Stanford engineering (as Chicago doesn’t have engineering).

What reasons do you have to transfer to some other top school? When you’re already about at the top of the heap, your reason to transfer needs to be compelling.

Vanshmurad:

I think I have also seen your posts on UChicago Class of 2019 Facebook page. I would highly recommend that you chill out. You really seem to be freaking out about everything about the school before you even start your first year there. You are worried about transferring, worried about getting into a top grad school after undergrad, worried about job prospects, etc. Why don’t you just give the school a chance if you are committed to attending and do well there so you can either get a good job when you graduate or get into a top graduate school after college.

@CTlawyer the reason is its not easy for an international to spend a huge amount and move to a whole new place and Im just looking around for information nothing else.

Also I just made this post to explore the option of transfer IF I somehow not end up liking UChicago which I think I will but then again, I have to think two steps ahead everytime because neither am I a citizen of US nor on aid.

Vanshmurad - it’s perfectly fine if you want to transfer, but what are your reasons for it? What do Stanford and Wharton offer that Chicago does not? That’s what you need to present compellingly.

Vanshmurad:

You are making a commitment to spend a great deal of money to attend UChicago. I do not think you should attend if you are not entering with a very positive and confident attitude. The probability of transferring to another school rated as high or higher is actually lower than the probability of getting accepted to one of those schools out of high school. There are recent articles showing how low the odds are of transferring to one of those schools. So, if you decide to attend UChicago instead of YALE-NUS, be prepared to spend four years at UChicago unless you transfer to a school likely not quite as competitive as UChicago. Best of luck on what you end up doing.

@CTlawyer you seem pissed off at me for snooping around. Look, Im just exploring stuff and its not like I AM gonna transfer.
Just snooping around.

Hey Vanshmurad no problem as far as I’m concerned. You have a right to think ahead and to ask questions. Good luck to you.

Thank you all others for your valuable information.
As of now, I have no idea if I will transfer or not Im just exploring options IF i dont end up liking it.

Vanshmurad, along with not liking Chicago, you must have reasons why the other schools appeal to you. Simply not liking Chicago is an insufficient reason to transfer to Stanford, Wharton, etc. You need to demonstrate what these other schools can offer you that Chicago cannot.

As you’ve mentioned Stanford and Wharton, what do you think these schools can offer you that Chicago cannot?

Ni, I’m not pissed off at all. I just want you to be sure you are making the right decision with no regrets given the large financial and travel commitment you are going to make. I’m sure you will make the decision that is best for you, but I am worried for your sake that you may think you are missing out on other schools that may be ranked higher or considered better for particular careers. That could be true but, as I and many people have mentioned, it is very hard to transfer to the highest ranked colleges.

I don’t know where you would get the sort of transfer data you are seeking for Chicago or anywhere, other than community colleges that keep track of where their students go to complete their bachelor degrees. I completely doubt Chicago keeps that kind of information, but even if it did there would not be a sufficient sample size to tell you anything meaningful.

Stanford and Wharton probably accept 40 or fewer transfers a year, and each one is an individual story. (Wharton accepts a much larger number of internal transfers from other Penn colleges, but that’s a different thing.) A large subset of the transfer students are actually athletic recruits who are coming from community colleges or transferring from other Division I programs. Another subset are people who applied and were accepted coming out of high school, but who chose to go elsewhere, usually a peer college like Harvard or Yale (or Chicago for that matter). There’s a very unique, very selective two-year college called Deep Springs with 12 students per class, whose alumni tend to finish their bachelor’s degrees at high-prestige colleges, including Stanford and Penn; that’s the only school I know that has any kind of pipeline, and even then it’s probably not as many as one student per year. (Historically, Chicago has been one of the top destinations for Deep Springs students, along with Harvard, Yale, and Brown.)

I know three people who transferred into Stanford or Wharton (all some time ago, by the way). One went to Yale but was unhappy there and wanted to be back in the Bay Area, which is where she came from. She had previously been accepted at Stanford and turned it down. One had spent two years at Smith, then dropped out and supported herself playing in a regionally successful rock band for several years. She was also a very charismatic, leader type, and a tippy-top student. One had been accepted at Harvard coming out of high school, but had gone to a dance conservatory instead for a few semesters before getting invited into a major ballet company and spending a decade there as a principal.

On the other side of the ledger, in recent years the University of Chicago has had fewer than 25 people per class leaving during or after their first years. Most of those will be cases of illness, academic failure, or economic necessity; some will be starting businesses or working on political campaigns. Only a few are candidates to transfer to a place like Stanford or Wharton, and if one or two or none is accepted some year, you couldn’t draw any conclusions from it.

In the end, any particular student’s chances of being accepted as a transfer applicant at Stanford or Wharton is effectively 0% unless he or she has a really compelling story. Some people ARE accepted, of course, but it would be nuts to make any plans that include transferring to places like that.

thank you @JHS

@CTlawyer ohh alright. Thanks.