Why do the most selective schools have such small transfer programs?

Transfer Students
1

<p>If you take a look at the most selective public universities…you’ll find that most of them have very small transfer programs, that most of the students there got in as freshmen. In the Ivy League, the transfer programs are almost non-existent with one exception, and most of the next 30 or so schools below the Ivy League aren’t much better in that regard. I understand there are a few exceptions, but I was wondering, is there a reason for this? </p>

<p>I’m not saying there is not a legitimate reason, I’m just wondering why.</p>

2

<p>All of the top publics are very transfer friendly, most notably UCLA and UC Berkeley. The thing is, at the top schools very very few students drop out so they don’t need to take in a large number of transfers. They already have basically the exact number of students they want, so why would they want, or need to take in more?</p>

3

<p>A lot of the more prestigious universities have structured 4-year undergraduate programs that are less transfer comprehensive than other schools. Not to say they aren’t impossible to transfer into, but it’s not often a smooth, easy transition.</p>

4

<p>Because they can.</p>

5

<p>Like whenhen said, it’s a matter of space available, since few students leave, there are few spots for transfers.</p>

6

<p>

Which part of ‘most selective’ you don’t understand?</p>

7

<p>Because they are very selective…</p>

8

<p>It’s not because of their selectivity. Some of them accept about 20 transfers a year. They accept a few more freshmen than that. Whenhen and Ento appear to have it right. I should have checked Stanford’s web site in recent years. They offered this explanation:</p>

<p>admission.stanford.edu/application/transfer/index.html</p>

<p>You’d just think they’d make more space available for upperclassmen. They do. They just wait until grad school to do that for some reason :/</p>

9

<p>

</p>

<p>:confused:</p>

<p>Why does the ground get wet when it is raining outside?</p>

<p>:rolleyes:</p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>Why should they?</p>

<p>It appears most of the top schools are set-up to have cohort groups share 4 year experiences at the schools … and the few transfers fill the few spots made available from the few students who leave each year. </p>

<p>Essentially the schools are set up with the classes looking like a cylinder (same width each year) … why would it be better for them to look like a funnel (getting wider in the later years)?</p>

11

<p>How can they make more space lol?</p>

<p>What school makes more space?</p>

12

<p>^ lots of state schools are set up to accept lots and lots of transfer students. These school also tend to have a lot lower retention rates also. I have no idea if these schools are actually increasing the size of each class as the years go by or if they also are just replacing students who leave. From comments on CC I would not be surprised if the UCs grow in size for the last couple years since transfers from CCs in CA seems to be structurally be built into the UC structure.</p>

13

<p>

[quote]
Why does the ground get wet when it is raining outside?

[quote]
Because it’s raining.</p>

<p>

My experience is that schools want to have fewer third & fourth year students than the first & second year students</p>