Hi all. I am an incoming freshman that has started looking at transfer options for sophomore year. I am also nonbinary. I was looking through the common data sets of most of the top20 schools and noticed that there is a very low amount of “other gender” applicants and then acceptees…I understand that gender nonconforming/trans people are the minority, but it sometimes feels a little excessive?
For example, Cornell has 0 “other gender” students out of their entire class of 26,793 people (from the 2024-2025 reports). From transferring applicants, only 8 applied and 0 got in—which makes sense, since it’s a low amount of applicants from that group, but isn’t having 0 “other gender” students be accepted in the last 4 years a little weird? Same thing for Brown, who has 0 “other gender” students enrolled and only had 3 of them apply as transfers.
It’s around the same for other schools, though most have an average of like 30 enrolled “other gender” students out of a whopping 15-30k students.
I dunno if this should even be a post, I’m just wondering if it’s a literal gender bias or if they just don’t get enough applicants. And I guess I also have a question - do schools contrast your application in a general group of applicants, or is it sectioned by gender like with the common data set? Just wondering. Thanks.
When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.
Gender on the app is self-reported. Even assuming that every single applicant entered correctly, the number of self-reported “other” is too small to yield statistical inferences.
Having addressed that, we can start to tackle the bigger issue of the rationale of planning a transfer before you even started day one at your enrolled college.
Easy answer - don’t. You’re going somewhere next year. Go all in, get excited, make friends, make it a great experience.
Otherwise you’re sure to have a not so great year.
Top 20 is a myth and there are likely 100 top 20 schools. Top 20 by who? By school or major? Has the US Government officially declared these 20 schools as better than any other?
There’s no such thing as a top 20. It’s a myth.
Grow where you are - crush it and grow.
I think in society, why people can identify as they want, it will be few that identify as non binary. If this is necessary for you, then perhaps you need to look at a different set of schools that meets your need vs. top 20 or top anything.
I’m not really sure where you got this data, but I can tell you for certain that there are definitely non-binary students at Cornell and Brown. And every other school you might be looking at. I wouldn’t let false data be a reason to not apply for transfer. Why you are already looking to transfer before even starting college is another matter.
I definitely don’t think this is evidence of a negative bias. Including because I believe IPEDS (pursuant to executive order) now has some sort of policy of forcing schools to allocate nonbinary students to the male and female categories.
But that said, to my knowledge, there is not much in the way of admissions policies actively seeking a minimum amount of representation at these colleges. It seems more just a facially neutral, we will get what we get, sort of attitude.
It’s self reported. My kid identifies as non-binary but decided to put their “official” gender on the applications. I wouldn’t read too much into this. You should have an idea of which campuses are lgbtq-friendly and which aren’t as a guide.
Echoing what others have said - give your current college a chance first before deciding to transfer.
As a rule I do not like the idea of starting college with the intent of transferring. This mindset can get in the way of your developing friendships, creating relationships with professors, getting involved in ECs, etc. Then if a transfer doesn’t work out you will be stuck.
I am 100% sure MANY kids identifying as non-binary (and many other sorts of queer identities) at Cornell and “top” schools. These CDS data are not nuanced for this purpose and CDS is often not super accurate for many things beyond pure applicant numbers (and some other things..)
Look at clubs, language of school websites, and school newspapers and admin and course selection speak of LGTBQIA+ issues on this topic, not CDS IMO.
And, as others said, please do NOT go into your first year thinking you are transferring. Recipe for BIG issues (including issues transferring!).
Just noting to my knowledge, the OP has not said where they are currently heading to college. I agree with all the sentiments above about not immediately thinking transfer if it is a good four-year residential college (and way more than 20 are very, very good). In scenarios where they started at a community college or non-residential four-year program, then I think it can be OK to have transferring as the plan from the start.
Don’t cc students usually transfer after sophomore year? OP is talking about doing it after freshman year. Probably worth mentioning in this context that they will only have one semester of college grades before applying and their high school record will still count heavily in this case, from my understanding.
At least in our area it is common both ways. There are some “articulation agreement” programs where you get an associates at the community college followed by a bachelors at the four-year college. But for other majors, an earlier transfer is better because of limits on what CC courses would satisfy major requirements.
So the usual advice is to immediately talk to the transfer counselors at your community college, and map out a plan that makes sense for you in light of your ultimate degree goals.
ETA: by the way, though, most of this involves CC to in-state university paths. CC to “T20” privates also happen sometimes, but I think that would be a relative drop in the bucket in terms of total numbers.
ETA2: I also believe the Cornell Transfer Option is after just one year. Doesn’t sound like the OP has that option (although I am not sure), but I gather the logic is the same. They don’t want those students too far behind in terms of actual Cornell classes.
OP didn’t mention community college. The way the thread is written (right or wrong) is they didn’t get into a school they feel deserving of - and want to move up ASAP.
Hi, I just wanted to add that while I am considering transferring from a CC (which is why I am considering very early) that wasn’t meant to be the focus of my original post. I was moreso wondering about the Common Data Sets and the numbers that I saw.
Also I wanted to add and apologize about specifically mentioning “top20” schools - I am only considering a few of them as my transfer options, but I originally had this post on Reddit’s r/TransfertoTop20 (because it was one of the only very active transfer subreddits) except Reddit banned it from being published due to their “filters,” which I don’t really understand too much about.
I agree that the CDS basically isn’t useful for your purposes. Fortunately you have time. I’d suggest once you have some otherwise suitable colleges in mind, you can contact their Admissions Office and see if they can put you in touch with a current student qualified to talk about these issues.