Should You Transfer Colleges? Key Considerations Before Making the Move

Should I transfer to a different college? 

Before you start your transfer journey, it can be helpful to ask if you need to transfer at all. There are many situations and needs that influence a student’s need to transfer, ranging from personal, financial, and academic, to social and cultural differences. 

It’s common to feel some culture shock and need some time to settle into a new college environment; being far from home, with new people, or just getting used to the college culture. However, if after a month or so you remain dissatisfied or have some other circumstances that make continued attendance impossible, transferring may be for you. 

At its core, the transfer application revolves around one question: Why do you want to transfer? 

Answering this question can help direct your energy to either making the most of your current institution or expanding horizons to another university. A strong case for transferring can ground your application and put forth a strong chance of admission while shaping your admissions narrative. 

What are some strong reasons to transfer?:

• Family emergencies and circumstances that require being closer to home 

• Financial situation and aid 

• Inadequate resources at current institution 

• Specific academic program/interest 

• Logistic difficulties 

• Better academic environment  

• Transferring from a two-year to a four-year institution 

• Culture clash

Behind any successful transfer application is a strong reason to transfer. The remainder of the application hammers home exactly why this reason is critical to your development as a student, it is where the complementary student-school relationship takes place. It must be evident that the new college excels in an area the previous institution may be solely lacking in. 

Once you’ve thought about exactly why you want to transfer, you’ll be in a better place of knowing what you want and can move towards charting how to get there. 

Where to start:

Transferring is a marathon from start to finish, it’s a long drive from when you first begin thinking about transferring, to opening your first application, and to when you submit your last. It can often feel like another burden atop the daily pressures of classes, extracurriculars, and work. To make sure that this is the path for you, start by explaining to yourself why you want to transfer, and what about your current institutions is dissatisfying. Above all, make sure that transferring is what you want, that you can’t see yourself staying for 4 years where you are now, and that you truly want to transfer. 

This is important not only to clarify how you feel about transferring, but also to move towards answering the most important question that admissions officers care about: Why transfer? Start by outlining exactly what you don’t like about your current university, no matter how small. Be that the weather, classes aren’t your speed, you don’t like the location, the culture doesn’t connect with you, maybe the commute is excessive, if the college doesn’t have the resources you need, or if you can’t see yourself succeeding in what you want, all of these contribute towards a decision to transfer. 

Where to go:

Once you have your list of reasons-pick the strongest one, the reason you feel the most passionate about as to why you need to transfer. The purpose of the Why Transfer? essay is to explain not only why you need to transfer, but why transferring is the only possible course that would help you get where you need to go. That reason must be at the forefront of any argument for transferring, if anyone asks why you want to transfer, that reason alone ought to be enough to quell any argument against it. 

Putting the reason on paper often isn’t enough, it should be clear from what you’ve done in your time at your current institution that the weakest link is the university-without making that explicit connection. This means being active in the field, making progress towards your goals to the best of your abilities, whether that means taking more classes, extracurriculars, internships, applying to everything under the sun, you should be able to prove that you have exhausted all other options before transferring.