College students still have time to transfer for fall
Transferring from one college to another may seem like a sideshow compared to the great circus that is freshman admissions, but it is actually a big event in itself.
According to a 2005 Department of Education report, about 60 percent of college graduates attend more than one institution by the time they get their bachelor’s degree.
For those students who started in four-year institutions (rather than two-year community colleges) the number is still high--about 47 percent. That’s a lot of movement.
And in some cases, it is easier to get into a school as a transfer student. At the University of California at Los Angeles, for example, the freshman acceptance rate of 22 percent was lower than the transfer acceptance rate of almost 32 percent last year, according to figures on the College Board website.
So if your child is unhappy at college for any reason, there are still a lot of schools accepting transfer applications at this late date in the admissions season, including some of the most highly selective.
Some schools, such as Arizona State University, have rolling admissions. Here are a few other institutions with transfer application deadlines:
3/15
Harvard University
Cornell University
University of Pennsylvania
3/31
Haverford College
4/1
New York University
Boston University
University of Colorado at Boulder
6/1
University of Maryland at College Park
6/25
Ohio State University
To find out about transfer deadlines, you can check each school’s website, or go to the College Board’s college search site,enter the school name and click. You'll find application deadlines and a lot of other useful information.
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By
Valerie Strauss
| March 2, 2010; 2:14 PM ET
Categories:
College Admissions
| Tags:
college admissions, transfer students
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Posted by: collegedirection | March 3, 2010 12:32 AM | Report abuse
I’m afraid the numbers are even worse than that. The Department of Education recently reported that only 62% of students are still enrolled at their first institution after three years, and that 70% of all college students will transfer schools or change majors at least once.
Transfer students beware! If you’re not careful, you can lose a lot of credits in the process. The stats I’ve seen indicate that when a student transfers or changes majors, they lose an average of 5-6 courses – more than a full semester.
I’ll confess that I’m pretty attuned to this problem because I work for a company called MyEdu. We provide college students with specific information about their degree requirements so they can understand their options before they make the switch.
Since I was a student who transferred schools twice – I can totally relate.
Cheri
http://www.myedu.com/save
Posted by: CheriB | March 9, 2010 3:36 PM | Report abuse
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As an educational consultant, I try very hard to help students with their college search to find schools that are the right fit for them academically and socially. I know it doesn't always work and sometimes students want to transfer. I think if more students gave themselves a little more time to really get involved in the college campus, they would find that the appeal of transferring would be less enticing. When students transfer they can lose credits, have expensive moving bills, and sometimes find that they really aren't that much happier in their new schools. Parents need to be supportive of their students, but encourage them to make a real go of it where they are before they decide for sure to transfer. A four year experience at a school almost always outweighs a transfer experience.
Susie Watts
Denver, Colorado