Hi there,
I was waitlisted and ultimately accepted at Vanderbilt last spring, but chose to attend another school. I regret my decision and am hoping to transfer. Will my past acceptance significantly help my chances? I have maintained good grades at my current institution for what it’s worth.
@CityLiving You have not provided enough details for anyone to make an educated guess and if you choose to provide us on CC those details(grades, etc) keep in mind it would still just be a guess.
Some schools offer to keep your acceptance “active” for a year for precisely this reason. I am guessing that Vanderbilt is not one of them, but it would be worth reaching out to your AO to ask.
Typically, a compelling transfer application involves seeking something at the new school that the old one does not have. Just not liking it is rarely enough as there is often concern that you’ll merely bring your discontent with you.
What you have going for you is that they accepted you once. An athlete I know who wanted to transfer was successful at most of her previous schools but not all.
If the rest of your app is good it can only help. I doubt that it’s weighed very heavily as an independent factor, but it’s likely that if you were good enough for them to accept the first time around, and you’ve shown a high level of college performance in line with your app from high school, then you’re probably good enough for the second time around too.
For transfer admissions, most people are trying to make an upward move - often from less prestigious schools, and often kids that didn’t quite have the app to get in here from high school. If you’re making a lateral move from another well-known place, you’ll likely stick out a bit more in the pool which will probably be positive.