Has anyone successfully transferred to an Ivy for XC/T&F after being at a NESCAC/UAA program for one year? I believe you need a waiver from your school to talk to coaches which would mean the current coach would know, correct?
I’m not real familiar with D3 to D1 transfer rules but I’m pretty sure one would need to enter the transfer portal to have direct conversations with other coaches. Yes, the athlete’s current coach would know. The portal opens at the end of XC so the logistics of doing this to receive support for this admissions cycle makes it pretty unlikely.
The typical workaround for these portal issues is communication through athletes. An athlete considering transferring might know someone running at the target school, so reaches out to that athlete to test the waters. That athlete then chats with the coach and acts as a sort of go-between. This isn’t super common at Ivies as transfers are fairly rare (but they do happen).
In other words, it’s possible to explore this informally without violating any rules. Still, the current coach might find out anyway as it’s a small world.
We’re getting fairly late in the recruiting cycle for Ivies for this season though. Decisions might already have been made.
That is good advice to discuss with a current athlete, thank you. It would be for transfer admissions so I know the 2026 recruiting will be finished. She would have the majority of indoor under her belt before the transfer application deadline and would come in a sophomore.
I know of a transfer from a strong DIII (not NESCAC/UAA, but similar level) to an Ivy for track/XC, so it has happened. The coach used up an admissions slot for the recruit. Its not clear to me how the AI gets handled for transfers, but I am sure there is a rule in place that explains how it would be calculated.
Its definitely late in the game for Ivy recruiting to enter in September 2026, but a school might have more recruits fall through than they thought. I am pretty sure that DIII student athletes must enter the transfer portal before talking to coaches, so coaching staff at current school will know.
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Google is your friend:
No, DIII transfers are not required to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, though they are allowed to use it to facilitate contact with other schools. A DIII athlete can use the portal to search for a new school or find prospects, but the process must still be initiated with a “Permission to Contact” form submitted to their current institution
If you want to transfer, don’t be afraid of talking to your coach. People transfer for all kinds of reasons, including financial, academic, family emergency. Coaches understand. They want you to be happy. They know that having an opportunity to transfer to Yale may be a once in a lifetime thing. They understand if you want a major your school doesn’t offer. Just approach them with respect to the program you are in and that you are just exploring options.
Do you know if a transfer recruit (sophomore coming in) would count against the freshman (2026) recruits they are supporting now? In other words, does there need to be a slot in their year’s recruiting class?
Yes, I knew that D3 transfers are not required to enter the portal. I was just wondering if there was a way an athlete could find out if there would even be interest without breaking NCAA rules (thank you for the suggestion politeperson!)
Do you have a relationship with the coach from last year’s recruiting cycle? If so, seems a good glide path. If not, why that particular school now?
If the coach uses an admission slot to help the student athlete gain admission, that will count against the year’s allotment. In the case that I knew about, the coach was willing to use the slot, even though he knew the athlete only had three years of eligibility left.
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I don’t want to be a downer, but does anyone know which schools in the Ivy League have had athletes transfer in, and what kind of numbers these have totaled?
Coaches would love to take in transfers through the portal. So far, they’ve mostly lost top players through the portal.
I can think of Brown and Cornell. I don’t think there is any impediment at any of the schools that have more open transfer programs. Those, Penn and Columbia as well. Then I think it’s just a matter of the coach wanting to use a LL.
I think it’s fairly rare in Ivy TFXC to have athletes transfer in, like maybe 1 or 2 per year across the conference if that. But it does happen. Others might have more reliable numbers.
Probably the most prominent recently was the Princeton Pole Vaulter who transferred from UCLA and went on to win the NCAA indoor title. There have been others at Princeton and a few other Ivies.
I’m not aware of any Ivy track programs losing athletes in the transfer portal. Plenty have entered the portal as grad transfers and a few have turned pro while in college.
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Transfers in to Ivy League programs are rare, but they do happen. If there are no supported slots available, it might be a case of a “get in on your own and you can be on the team” type situation.
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Bella Whitaker? Didn’t she leave Penn? Just picked a 4x4 gold at the WCs this weekend.
My bad. She ran for Arkansas as a grad.
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Yes, grad transfer. That was quite a race those women ran- fast for the wet conditions.
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This assessment seems about right for track/XC. Lots of grad transfers after Ivy eligibility is used up. Not too many genuine undergrad transfers out. Most of the losses tend to be out of the sport, not out of the school, which is probably true for most track/XC programs, Ivy or not.
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Thank you.
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Re: Ivy losing athletes – not sure if it was through the portal per se as it was Ivy —> D3, but Columbia lost a XCTF female athlete to Amherst for fall 2025.
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That’s an interesting one, thanks for pointing it out.