<p>Well I was just reading the acceptance rate for transfers at a lot of them are 5 to 15%! (and transfers students definitely don't get the same treatment as 1st). That made me wonder if that's because a lot of students with low scores are applying and getting denied or because transfers are over achievers. So, if you have transfered to a top school already, what did you have in special (extra curricular and all) and what was your GPA like? Besides why you think the rates are so low. That slightly scared me. o.O</p>
<p>The schools with very low transfer rates are also very selective for fr admissions due to their renowned academics, generous FA, etc. And because of these qualities, their retention rates are high, thus they have extremely limited openings for transfers. So when many students apply for relatively few seats, low transfer admissions rates are the result.</p>
<p>my essays are what got me in. definitely make those strong because they’ll make or break you.</p>
<p>i agree and your teacher recommendations have to be really solid. That’s what helped me the most</p>
<p>Transfer have it easy.</p>
<p>It’s quite incorrect to think of one aspect of your application “making or breaking you,” especially if you weren’t involved in evaluating it.</p>
<p>Every part of the application is integral. Doing poorly on any one part will “break you,” and excellent at every part will “make you.” Accordingly, not everyone can submit “the perfect application.” But where an application is lacking in one category, you can make up for it in another (depending on how much your application is lacking in that category). What really matters is the whole package.</p>
<p>In my experience, I never read an application where an essay made me want to admit someone. I’ve read excellent essays, but it always came down to a totality of factors.</p>
<p>Excellent Post from the Dean of Admissions at the University of Michigan Law School: [Do</a> you know why I admitted you? No, you don?t. - A 2 Z](<a href=“http://www.law.umich.edu/connection/a2z/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=3]Do”>http://www.law.umich.edu/connection/a2z/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=3)</p>
<p>As to why schools are so selective, it really varies. The notion that they are super selective for freshman admissions, so that justifies their being super selective for transfer admissions really doesn’t make sense; most of the schools that are super selective for freshman admissions, tend to be even more selective for transfer admissions.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen, acceptance rate typically varies with the amount of aid and space available. Some schools are very strict about this (Princeton and Harvard being two of them, with the former never having enough space even to admit one transfer; Stanford Law School typically admits students based on the number of 1Ls who leave). Since these are great institutions, you can expect that few students will leave and, thus, that few spaces will be available.</p>
<p>So in direct response to ironicallyunsure, who is well-intentioned, but frequently incorrect:</p>
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<p>[Do</a> you know why I admitted you? No, you don?t. - A 2 Z](<a href=“http://www.law.umich.edu/connection/a2z/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=3]Do”>http://www.law.umich.edu/connection/a2z/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=3)</p>
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<p>The super selective colleges for fr admissions are also the ones that have generous FA and few spaces available for transfers.</p>
<p>my guess would be Columbia, Harvard, Yale…Stanford</p>
<p>^^^Sorry, dabears, I was editing and we x-posted.</p>
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<p>I should have been clearer. It’s not clear, to me, why it is that a super-selective college would necessary have a lower transfer acceptance rate (i.e., 20% freshman rate, but 5% transfer), based on the fact that they are selective in freshman admissions. I can see a selective freshman admissions process correlating to a similarly selective transfer admissions process (say, 20% to 20%), but typically, the drive down from 20% to something like 5% usually means that there are other factors at work than mere merit: Availability of aid and space for students. </p>
<p>I’m not sure I’m disagreeing with you. Just clarifying my point.</p>
<p>Schools that have very low freshman admittance rates usually have high retention rates, which means they don’t have much room for transfers. And that in turn means they are forced to accept fewer transfers than freshmen (proportionally). In addition, some schools try to give all their students on-campus housing, and they may not have physical room for very many transfers on-campus.</p>
<p>It doesn’t always happen like this, but when transfer rates are significantly lower than freshman rates this is usually why.</p>