<p>This may have an obvious answer, but does anyone know why transfer applicants have a later notification date?</p>
<p>Do transfer applicants have a less of a chance than regular decision first applicants?</p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>Don’t fear, every school is like this with notifications for transfers students occurring later.</p>
<p>Not only do colleges get more and less popular, thus attract more and less applicants, the number they admit change year to year to. Most of the time this is due to housing space and the number of graduating seniors. So a lot of time they have to have a good grasp on the number of people graduating, thus vacating their space, so they know how many they can admit for freshman entry. They leave a certain number of spaces then for transfers. So once freshman admissions is done, then the transfer office knows how many they can admit. </p>
<p>I remember a story for a few years ago that UMich underestimated the number of returning students (probably because it worse economies people stayed in school longer to try to enter the job market later when it hopefully was in a better condition) and didn’t account that into figuring in how many freshman to admit. So they were forced to convert a classroom building into dorms in just a few months and have plumbers work around the clock to add showers, electricians to add more outlets, etc.</p>
<p>It’s not necessarily easier or harder to get in as a transfer. Take for instance Harvard, they admit 1% transfer students, but way more (comparatively) regular freshman applicants. But UVA has a 35-40% admit rate on transfers, but something in the 20’s for regular freshman admission. So that number varies school to school, but I assume most schools try to keep the numbers pretty even as they don’t want transfer applicants to have a “back door” of applying to their school, nor do they want to discourage and deny highly-qualified individuals from matriculating there.</p>
<p>Also since for most schools, transfer students are usually only a few hundred a year, just a small shift either way in the number of open spaces they have allotted for transfers, or a small shift in the number of people applying as transfers could dramatically change the acceptance rate for transfers where the acceptance rate for freshman admits is much more controlled.</p>
<p>Very helpful. Thanks a bunch!</p>