Applications Considerations

Most university admissions offices have an official with the designated responsibility for handling transfer admissions. Transfer students have been counselled to contact the target college's "transfer coordinator" or "transfer officer".

Admissions departments, when evaluating transfer applicants, weigh the student's grade point average at their current college to a considerable extent; it is usually the single most important factor overall. One estimate was that 90% of colleges surveyed felt that the college grade point average was "considerably important." A second source confirms that post-secondary grade point average is the "most important factor for transfer admission." Other factors entering into transfer evaluations may include high school grade point average (56% of colleges consider this), recommendations and quality of current college or university programs (48%), essays or writing samples (47%), and scores on standardized tests (42%). As a rule of thumb, the more time that a student has spent with his or her current college, the less another school will be interested in standardized tests taken during high school such as the ACT test or SAT test. A student who has completed two-years at a community college and earned an Associate Degree often will not be asked to supply a high school record or ACT/SAT scores unless he or she earned less than 30 credits. About a tenth of colleges (11%) consider it a negative if the transfer applicant planned to only attend the new school "part-time".

Transfer students are usually asked to explain why they would like to transfer, particularly when changing from one four-year college to another. One report advised applicants to avoid saying anything negative about their current school but rather to focus on specific reasons for the change.

Admissions consultants Howard and Matthew Greene suggested that students should contact target schools early:

... if you have particular universities in mind as targets, start contacting them early to know their time schedule and particular requirements in the first two years of their program so that you can try to match up your curriculum. Be certain of specific requirements for any special school programs (business, communications, fine arts, engineering, etc.). The transfer process is typically more mature and directed, and students should have a better sense of their interests, majors, and what they're looking for. Colleges expect direct contacts from students as mature learners.
-- Howard and Matthew Greene, 2003