I can confirm that NU is in fact offering this option. My daughter was offered the guaranteed transfer and I posted about it here, see link below. There is another recipient who posted about it first in the ED thread. The offer is specific to the school and program that DD applied to initially and If DD accepts the offer, NU saves a spot in her requested school/major for sophomore year. The offer letter includes a list of all of the courses that she needs to take freshman year, maintaining a 3.0 average. Though we were unfamiliar with the guaranteed transfer concept and initially confused when we received this offer (not to mention that the letter is weirdly crafted), my understanding is that this new program is modeled after the BU and Cornell options.