<p>Last year I've read at Harvard's website that when you begin college somewhere else you aren't eligible to apply for freshman; that you should apply as a transfer student. However, Harvard's website today says that (in the Transfer Program eligibility part) :</p>
<p>" Students who will have completed less than one full-time continuous year of study at one college by the anticipated date of matriculation at Harvard should apply as freshman candidates. (All such applicants, if admitted, will matriculate as regular freshmen without any transfer credit.)"</p>
<p>Was there a change of policies? The same goes for Yale in their website. But in Princeton, they say:
If you have already started a college or university degree program elsewhere, you are not eligible to apply for admission to Princeton. We accept students who will begin their freshman year in the fall. Princeton does not offer spring semester entry or a transfer admission option.</p>
<p>Okay, so my real question is, could you still apply as a freshman candidate if you will have finished a full academic year of study prior to your matriculation to Harvard (or Yale)? I am an international applicant so the credits obtained from college here wouldn't do for transfer (I think). Thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>Note that the key date is the date of matriculation–that means the date you would start attending Harvard, not the date you’d apply. So if you had already finished a full academic year of study, you’d be a transfer, not a freshman, according to the quote from Harvard. There does seem to be an inconsistency between Harvard and Princeton on this, but at neither place can you have a whole year at another school and then apply as a freshman.</p>
<p>Both H and Y have had these policies for a long time (except for the few years that H was not accepting transfers).</p>
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<p>No you cannot. The policies state that you have to have completed LESS than a full year of post-HS college in order to still be considered a fr applicant.</p>
<p>Just want to add, whether or not, or how many credits transfer is immaterial to fr vs. transfer status. It is the time/number of units completed that counts, even if no coursework carries over.</p>
<p>Also, having completed a full year of post-HS college course work, you will be a transfer applicant at any US school. H & Y are actually quite lenient as far as how much college they will let you have and still let you apply as a fr applicant. For instance, at GWU, if you have taken 1 post-HS college class, you must apply as a transfer.</p>