Fall 2011 vs. Fall 2010
| US News Rank | School | Transfer rate 2011 | Transfer rate 2010 | Change 11 vs. 10 | Transfers accepted 2011 | Transfers accepted 2010 | Change 11 vs. 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Harvard University | 1.0% | 2.1% | -1.1% | 15 | 13 | 15% |
| 1.2 | Princeton University | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 3 | Yale University | 2.7% | 4.8% | -2.1% | 29 | 34 | -15% |
| 4.1 | Columbia University | 5.6% | 7.3% | -1.7% | 149 | 167 | -11% |
| 4.2 | University of Chicago | 7.8% | 14.4% | -6.5% | 74 | 97 | -24% |
| 6.1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 9.9% | 3.9% | 6.0% | 44 | 18 | 144% |
| 6.2 | Stanford University | 4.1% | 2.0% | 2.1% | 58 | 25 | 132% |
| 8.1 | Duke University | 2.8% | 9.1% | -6.2% | 26 | 74 | -65% |
| 8.2 | University of Pennsylvania | 9.7% | 15.2% | -5.5% | 203 | 328 | -38% |
| 10.1 | California Institute of Technology | 6.0% | 6.7% | -0.7% | 9 | 9 | 0% |
| 10.2 | Dartmouth College | 3.3% | 3.7% | -0.5% | 28 | 25 | 12% |
| 12 | Northwestern University | 8.7% | 11.4% | -2.7% | 131 | 155 | -15% |
| 13 | Johns Hopkins University | 11.4% | 9.5% | 1.9% | 116 | 79 | 47% |
| 14 | Washington University in St. Louis | 7.3% | 9.1% | -1.8% | 105 | 119 | -12% |
| 15.1 | Brown University | 11.2% | 10.8% | 0.4% | 214 | 175 | 22% |
| 15.2 | Cornell University | 22.0% | 22.0% | -0.1% | 702 | 702 | 0% |
| 17.1 | Rice University | 20.0% | 26.0% | -6.0% | 108 | 120 | -10% |
| 17.2 | University of Notre Dame | 40.4% | 36.7% | 3.7% | 147 | 156 | -6% |
| 17.3 | Vanderbilt University | 31.8% | 40.6% | -8.8% | 366 | 376 | -3% |
| 20 | Emory University | 26.5% | 35.8% | -9.3% | 238 | 295 | -19% |
| 21.1 | Georgetown University | 11.2% | 22.5% | -11.3% | 222 | 364 | -39% |
| 21.2 | University of California-Berkeley | 22.5% | 22.8% | -0.3% | 3606 | 3451 | 4% |
| 23 | Carnegie Mellon University | 12.4% | 17.0% | -4.5% | 84 | 93 | -10% |
| 24.1 | University of California-Los Angeles | 26.8% | 29.3% | -2.5% | 5298 | 5505 | -4% |
| 24.2 | University of Southern California | 25.9% | 26.6% | -0.7% | 2524 | 2558 | -1% |
| 24.3 | University of Virginia | 35.9% | 40.1% | -4.2% | 858 | 904 | -5% |
| 27 | Wake Forest University | 26.7% | 30.0% | -3.3% | 98 | 122 | -20% |
| 28 | Tufts University | 19.0% | 10.9% | 8.2% | 177 | 95 | 86% |
| 29 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | 40.1% | 41.1% | -1.0% | 1399 | 1347 | 4% |
| 30 | University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill | 41.9% | 40.5% | 1.4% | 1198 | 1286 | -7% |
| 31 | Boston College | 18.0% | 15.8% | 2.3% | 349 | 233 | 50% |
| 32 | New York University | 29.0% | 30.3% | -1.2% | 1624 | 1702 | -5% |
| 33.1 | Brandeis University | 28.1% | 46.3% | -18.2% | 149 | 207 | -28% |
| 33.2 | College of William and Mary | 44.2% | 43.1% | 1.1% | 422 | 397 | 6% |
| 33.3 | University of Rochester | 25.3% | 22.0% | 3.3% | 253 | 186 | 36% |
| 36 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 50.7% | 34.4% | 16.3% | 811 | 662 | 23% |
| 37 | Case Western Reserve University | 34.5% | 30.2% | 4.3% | 156 | 124 | 26% |
| 38.1 | Lehigh University | 34.7% | 35.7% | -1.0% | 158 | 109 | 45% |
| 38.2 | University of California-Davis | 53.3% | 66.5% | -13.2% | 7233 | 7495 | -3% |
| 38.3 | University of California-San Diego | 44.5% | 55.9% | -11.3% | 7612 | 8031 | -5% |
| 41.1 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 55.5% | N/A | N/A | 223 | N/A | N/A |
| 41.2 | University of California-Santa Barbara | 46.0% | 52.1% | -6.0% | 6510 | 6238 | 4% |
| 41.3 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | 42.1% | 44.6% | -2.5% | 2174 | 2119 | 3% |
| 44.1 | University of California-Irvine | 41.0% | 48.6% | -7.6% | 6553 | 6748 | -3% |
| 44.2 | University of Miami | 56.7% | 35.3% | 21.4% | 1729 | 1637 | 6% |
| 46.1 | Pennsylvania State University-University Park | 43.3% | 42.2% | 1.1% | 849 | 799 | 6% |
| 46.2 | University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign | 51.8% | 47.4% | 4.4% | 2213 | 1805 | 23% |
| 46.3 | University of Texas-Austin | 45.3% | 41.0% | 4.3% | 3333 | 3134 | 6% |
| 46.4 | University of Washington | 42.2% | 44.6% | -2.4% | 2206 | 2173 | 2% |
| 46.5 | Yeshiva University | 56.1% | 80.2% | -24.1% | 55 | 65 | -15% |
Data sources: usnews.com, collegeboard.org, school websites
For more information, read our analysis of these numbers.
Some notes:
Why Fall 2011? US News releases its Top 50 every September, based on information from the previous fall. So these transfer stats for students transferring and starting school Fall 2011 is for the US News Top 50 rankings released September 2012.
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).