Transfer to WashU?

Transfer Students
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I’m about to matriculate at WM as a freshman. I love the campus and all the people I’ve met so far, my roommate is fantastic, I’m already involved in a few campus activities etc etc there’s absolutely nothing wrong with WM… except for the cost. I’m OOS and already have the maximum amount of financial aid possible but it’s still so much money every year, plus flights and stuff.

Because of a previous affiliation with WashU, I would attend tuition-free. I also like the idea of being closer to home.

My high school grades are slightly garbage (nothing too shocking, just more Bs than I would prefer) and I don’t think I would fare too well trying to transfer after freshman year. I’m obviously aware that starting at a school with the intent to transfer is a really bad idea but I simply cannot afford WM for four years and I feel like this is my only option.

At the moment I’m thinking pre-med and am prepared to work very very hard to maintain good grades, ECs, etc but I’m still weighing my options.

Basically: are my odds of a successful junior transfer to WashU Arts and Science high, with hypothetical scenario that I go pre-med, maintain high grades and decent ECs, write good essays? Last year I applied to WashU EDI, was waitlisted, and ultimately rejected.

IMO the main reasons for my rejection were: essays were a little rushed and potentially unoriginal, grades weren’t great, lots of people from my high school apply to WashU and they only accept a few.

All input is appreciated!

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Pre med is not a major. You can do pre med from any major.

You got into W&M from out of state - I’m sure your grades are not garbage.

No one can say if you can get into another college after two years when you haven’t yet taken a class.

Do well. Get involved. Love your time. The best way to transfer is to do well.

Btw if money was an issue you could have gone elsewhere - and still can.

Good luck.

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Sorry, forgot –– planning to do neuroscience as I find it interesting + the degree lines up pretty well w/ premed requirements.

I did get into WM off the waitlist, and it seems there’s a lot of waitlist activity this year, potentially in response to lowering yield due to WM slipping in rankings? IDK just something my parents thought might be a possibility.

Thank you for the response! I will try my best to do well and have fun.

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Where were you going b4 W&M ? Why did you switch ?

Hopefully your family is not sending you somewhere unaffordable.

For pre med the where matters little. It’s likely the same for transfer.

That said, W&M is a dream school for many.

Good luck.

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I was originally going to UW-Madison, where the tuition was much much much higher because my scholarships/fin aid package didn’t add up to anything meaningful. While I liked UW well enough, I couldn’t really see myself there and don’t particularly enjoy Wisconsin weather –– I hate the cold!

When it’s all done and dusted, WM costs a minuscule amount compared to all of the other schools I was accepted at, even my flagship state university which was very generous. WM is a great financial choice but it’s still a burden on my family.

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Does this hold true if you transfer in?

Are you taking the $5.5K first year student loan? Are you parents taking additional loans?

I’m not sure what you mean by ‘high’, but I am sure you would have a chance if you had high grades and good school involvement. IMO WashU is an academically rigorous school, and can be quite competitive/unforgiving for med school aspirants. Regardless, all you can do is control what you can control, and work hard at W&M.

IMO the FAFSA problems are a significant contributor to waitlist movement this year.

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Sorry, I don’t know how to do the quote-reply thing.

-According to the finaid office at WashU, I would still get the tuition guarantee unless something drastic happens

-Yes I am taking various loans and that about covers cost of attendance. I have a little bit of money saved up as well but again, it’s still quite a burden

-thank you!!

-ah, that makes more sense and is good to know!

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You should not have loans larger than what the federal government allows - which is $5500 for your first year.

You don’t want to get in debt - especially when you’ll likely need more school.

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OK, so what happens if WUSTL does not accept you as a transfer?

I note according to their latest CDS, WUSTL had 1761 transfer applications for Fall 2023, and they accepted 215, so that is 12.2%, so more than 7 out of 8 who applied were rejected. And this is a self-selected group, so very likely WUSTL turned away many people who had been doing quite well in college.

This is also a steadily falling number. For Fall 2022 it was 272/1559 (17.4%), for Fall 2021, 267/1294 (20.6%), and Fall 2020 292/1108 (26.4%). Actual enrolled students was 99 in 2020 (yield of 34%), 96 in 2021 (36%), 113 in 2022 (42%), and 105 in 2023 (49%).

So what is happening here is WUSTL is getting more and more transfer applications every year, AND yielding a higher percentage of transfer admits. That combination naturally leads to rapidly dropping transfer admit percentages assuming no big change in how many slots they are looking to fill in a given year.

As an aside, I suspect WUSTL is not at all alone in these trends. This is a sort of expected side effect of original admissions to highly valued colleges systematically dropping, that more academically strong students will then be looking to transfer, and then getting fewer offers to consider from “better” colleges, if they get any at all.

Even so, if you did well enough you might be able to get multiple transfer offers–somewhere. But needing to get an offer from just one specific highly-valued college like WUSTL? That is a very hard position to be in already.

And you are going to be looking at transfer admissions for Fall 2026? That is three more years from the last data, so how low might it be by then? I don’t know, of course, but I think you should be prepared for the already low odds being still much worse by then.

I say this not to discourage you, but I am concerned given the quoted statement above. Again, what happens if you don’t beat these increasingly long odds for transfer admission to WUSTL in Fall 2026? I really think you need a Plan A for that scenario that will work for you, because unfortunately I think you cannot be at all confident a transfer to WUSTL will happen, even if you do quite well.

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