Fall 2010
| US News rank | College | Freshman rate | Transfer rate | Transfer rate +/- | Transfers applied | Transfers accepted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Harvard | 7.0% | 2.1% | -4.9% | 612 | 13 |
| 1.2 | Princeton* | 9.0% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 3 | Yale | 8.0% | 4.8% | -3.2% | 706 | 34 |
| 4 | Columbia | 10.0% | 7.3% | -2.7% | 2284 | 167 |
| 5.1 | Stanford | 7.0% | 2.0% | -5.0% | 1253 | 25 |
| 5.2 | U Penn | 14.0% | 15.2% | 1.2% | 2155 | 328 |
| 5.3 | Cal Tech | 13.0% | 6.7% | -6.3% | 134 | 9 |
| 5.4 | MIT | 10.0% | 3.9% | -6.1% | 459 | 18 |
| 5.5 | U Chicago | 19.0% | 14.4% | -4.6% | 675 | 97 |
| 10 | Duke | 16.0% | 9.1% | -6.9% | 816 | 74 |
| 11 | Dartmouth | 12.0% | 3.7% | -8.3% | 673 | 25 |
| 12 | Northwestern | 23.0% | 11.4% | -11.6% | 1357 | 155 |
| 13 | Johns Hopkins | 21.0% | 9.5% | -11.5% | 831 | 79 |
| 14 | Washington U in St. Louis | 21.0% | 9.1% | -11.9% | 1308 | 119 |
| 15.1 | Brown | 9.0% | 10.8% | 1.8% | 1621 | 175 |
| 15.2 | Cornell | 18.0% | 22.0% | 4.0% | 3184 | 702 |
| 17 | Rice | 21.0% | 26.0% | 5.0% | 462 | 120 |
| 17 | Vanderbilt | 18.0% | 40.6% | 22.6% | 927 | 376 |
| 19 | Notre Dame | 29.0% | 36.7% | 7.7% | 425 | 156 |
| 20 | Emory | 29.0% | 35.8% | 6.8% | 824 | 295 |
| 21 | UC Berkeley | 22.0% | 22.8% | 0.8% | 15120 | 3451 |
| 22 | Georgetown | 20.0% | 22.5% | 2.5% | 1616 | 364 |
| 23.1 | Carnegie Mellon | 33.0% | 17.0% | -16.0% | 548 | 93 |
| 23.2 | USC | 24.0% | 26.6% | 2.6% | 9603 | 2558 |
| 25.1 | UCLA | 23.0% | 29.3% | 6.3% | 18778 | 5505 |
| 25.2 | UVA | 33.0% | 40.1% | 7.1% | 2256 | 904 |
| 25.3 | Wake Forest | 40.0% | 30.0% | -10.0% | 407 | 122 |
| 28 | U Michigan | 51.0% | 41.1% | -9.9% | 3281 | 1347 |
| 29 | Tufts | 24.0% | 10.9% | -13.1% | 875 | 95 |
| 29 | UNC Chapel Hill | 32.0% | 40.5% | 8.5% | 3172 | 1286 |
| 31.1 | Boston College | 31.0% | 15.8% | -15.2% | 1476 | 233 |
| 31.2 | Brandeis | 35.0% | 46.3% | 11.3% | 447 | 207 |
| 33.1 | College of William & Mary | 32.0% | 43.1% | 11.1% | 922 | 397 |
| 33.2 | NYU | 38.0% | 30.3% | -7.7% | 5624 | 1702 |
| 35 | U Rochester | 38.0% | 22.0% | -16.0% | 844 | 186 |
| 36 | Georgia Tech | 52.0% | 34.4% | -17.6% | 1922 | 662 |
| 37 | UC San Diego | 38.0% | 55.9% | 17.9% | 14372 | 8031 |
| 38.1 | Lehigh | 38.0% | 35.7% | -2.3% | 305 | 109 |
| 38.2 | UC Davis | 45.0% | 66.5% | 21.5% | 11272 | 7495 |
| 38.3 | Case Western Reserve | 67.0% | 30.2% | -36.8% | 411 | 124 |
| 38.4 | U Miami | 39.0% | 35.3% | -3.7% | 4633 | 1637 |
| 42.1 | UC Santa Barbara | 46.0% | 52.1% | 6.1% | 11979 | 6238 |
| 42.2 | U Washington | 57.0% | 44.6% | -12.4% | 4871 | 2173 |
| 42.3 | U Wisconsin | 57.0% | 44.6% | -12.4% | 4753 | 2119 |
| 45.1 | UC Irvine | 45.0% | 48.6% | 3.6% | 13871 | 6748 |
| 45.2 | UT Austin | 47.0% | 41.0% | -6.0% | 7650 | 3134 |
| 45.3 | Penn State | 55.0% | 42.2% | -12.8% | 1895 | 799 |
| 45.4 | U Illinois | 67.0% | 47.4% | -19.6% | 3808 | 1805 |
| 45.5 | Yeshiva | 72.0% | 80.2% | 8.2% | 81 | 65 |
| 50 | George Washington U | 32.0% | 27.0% | -5.0% | 2600 | 703 |
Data sources: usnews.com, collegeboard.org, school websites
Some notes:
Why these schools? They happen to be the Top 50 National Universities according to US News. We wanted a sampling of the most popular schools that students might be curious about. Keep in mind there are about 2,500 four-year colleges in the US.
The fifth column takes the transfer admissions rate and subtracts the freshman admissions rate. A positive percentage means the transfer admissions rate is higher than the freshman admissions rate (i.e., all other things equal, it was easier to get in as a transfer than a freshman).
As with all statistics, take them with a grain of salt. The numbers change each year, and, if you can make a strong case for transferring, your odds will be much better than what you see here (and, of course, the opposite is true too).
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