Only some students admitted to an Ivy League school were there for all four years. America’s most prestigious universities accept a slim number of transfer applicants to join these campuses for their sophomore or junior years. However, as the data reveals, the transfer acceptance rate varies widely across the Ivy League and often relates little to each school’s four-year acceptance rate. Below is a comprehensive breakdown of transfer data across the Ivy League, as well as some of Ivy Coach’s advice for optimizing your chances of successfully transferring.

Transfer Acceptance Rates Across the Ivy League, 2021-2023

Ivy League School	Acceptance Rate in 2021	Acceptance Rate in 2022	Acceptance Rate in 2023
Brown University	4.30%	7%	4.10%
Columbia University	14.74%	11.34%	10.11%
Cornell University	15.72%	13.85%	12.67%
Dartmouth College	9.89%	7.35%	1.56%
Harvard University	0.82%	0.86%	0.79%
Princeton University	1.33%	2.91%	3.09%
University of Pennsylvania	4.58%	5.27%	4.58%
Yale University	0.75%	1.62%	1.22%

You might be looking at this data and thinking, “Wait a minute, these numbers don’t align with the regular acceptance rates at these schools!” You would be correct to notice this discrepancy. Transfer students are data ghosts. They don’t contribute to a school’s admissions data and do not impact the institution’s standing in publications like the US News & World Report. As much as a school like Columbia would love to deny it, they care about their ranking! For this very reason, Columbia opens the floodgates — relatively speaking! — to let in students who might not fit their typical academic profile through the transfer process (and to fill seats in their School of General Studies, home to the largest group of veterans across the Ivy League). That’s why there’s such a significant discrepancy between Columbia’s four-year and transfer acceptance rates (3.85% versus 10.11% for the last admissions cycle).

Other universities in the Ivy League take the opposite approach. Harvard, Princeton, and Yale will never be at a loss for highly qualified applicants who meet all their criteria. They accept far fewer transfers than Columbia or Cornell because they have plenty of excellent applicants to fill their ranks the first time around. At Harvard, for example, if admissions officers wanted to admit an under-qualified applicant who brought something else to the table, like a relationship with a significant donor or prominent political family, they would likely be accepted through the infamous Z-list, with no transfer necessary.

What Do Transfers Bring to the Table?

Transfer students round out the diversity of an Ivy League student body in terms of both socioeconomic diversity and diversity of experience. These unique students often come from first-generation and low-income families and likely have completed their first or second undergraduate years at a community college. Sometimes, these students got Bs and Cs for the first two years of high school but experienced a major academic turnaround later on. Admissions officers find such stories highly compelling and cherish the opportunity to admit transfers who meet their rigorous standards.

Another large category of transfer applicants is veterans intent on pursuing an elite undergraduate education. Ivy Coach salutes these brave men and women who have made this courageous (and savvy!) choice. In fact, we at Ivy Coach offer a pro-bono transfer service reserved exclusively for those who have served America in uniform (and Israel too this year!).

How Ivy Coach Helps Students Transfer Into the School of Their Dreams

It’s not easy to leap from one institution to another. Ivy Coach helps non-veteran transfer applicants over the summer months leading to their transfer admissions cycle. Transfer applications are typically due in March, so we will coordinate with you to make some changes to your application after the New Year. Still, most of the heavy lifting is done during the dog days of summer. After all, you must have the chance to enjoy your first or second year of college, even if your current institution will not be your home forever.

For the handful of veterans we help each year, we focus on those few months leading up to March deadlines after the New Year. Let Ivy Coach handle the transfer process’ stressful logistics so you can soak up your remaining time on campus! If you want to optimize your chance of transferring to a highly selective Ivy League university, fill out our complimentary consultation form, and we’ll contact you.