Given that you’re reading this post, we’re going to assume that you are thinking of transferring colleges. While transferring to a different college isn’t a ‘big deal’ — it’s fairly common and we help many students navigate the process — orchestrating a ‘successful’ transfer does require significant planning. We should also explain what we mean by ‘successful.’ Most of the students we work with want to transfer to a college that they either didn’t get into when they applied to colleges as a high school senior, or that didn’t even seem like a possibility, so they hadn’t tried to apply. This means that they need to be a better applicant than they were as few as 10 months earlier. And a least three of those months were summer break. That doesn’t leave a lot of time to improve your application, so this whole process takes some strategy if you want the best possible outcomes.
If you’re considering a transfer, send us an email. We help students transfer to their dream schools.
If you’re even only just thinking about possibly applying to transfer, you can’t coast at the college you’re at now and rely on what you did in high school to get you into a better fit or more prestigious school — you need to add to your application.
The most important part of your transfer application is grades. You need to have exceptional grades for your transfer applications, but you also need to more than just excel in class.
This is why you need to join clubs at your current college if you want to transfer.
Show Your Commitment and Growth
Joining clubs shows that you are really giving it your all at your current school. You didn’t decide you wanted to transfer before you even arrived, and the reason why you want to transfer isn’t that you simply haven’t been trying. Colleges don’t want to accept a student who won’t actively engage in their community, so any college you apply to as a transfer will see a lack of on-campus involvement as a major red flag. They will also look to see differences between what you did during high school, and what you’re choosing to do in college. You’re a human who is growing up, and what you choose to do in college helps to tell that story.
Perhaps you’re building upon what you’ve done since you were young, all related to a career goal such as becoming a doctor. Or maybe you’ve taken a significant pivot, and what you were passionate about as a senior applying to college isn’t what you’re passionate about now. How you spend your time outside of class is a crucial part of either (or any) narrative.
Expand Your Application Profile
Joining clubs in college also gives potential transfer schools something interesting to look at in what can be a pretty dated application. If you are applying to transfer just a few months into your freshman year, most of your transfer application will be stuff you did in high school. Most of what they actually care about, though, is what you’ve done since then. They’ll be looking most closely at your grades and course selections, but you need to give them something to consider other than just the numbers. Otherwise, you risk having a hollow application.
Clarify Your Intentions
Finally, joining clubs in college helps to clarify your intentions both for yourself and for the potential transfer colleges you’re applying to. Let us be clear here, it is as important that you join clubs for your applications as it is for yourself. Most students who transfer are planning to change their course of study or, at minimum, their focus within a department. Something has typically changed between what they thought they wanted to study as a seventeen-year-old and what they want to pursue today. Joining clubs can help to clarify these changes and will illustrate and explain these shifts for yourself and the colleges you apply to.
Applying to transfer colleges isn’t a big deal, but it is a big project. There’s a lot of work to do, all while keeping your grades up in the hardest classes you can take at your current college. After your grades, clubs and activities are the most important part of your transfer application, and what you choose to do will tell the application readers a lot about who you are and if you’re ready for their institution.
Transferring is tough. Send us an email to access hands-on help every step of the way.