Princeton Transfer Admissions

Princeton University will soon admit transfer students.

It hasn’t happened since 1990.

For more than 25 years, not a single student has earned admission as a transfer to Princeton University. That’s because Princeton has had a no-transfer policy. But times are changing for this Ivy League college. Beginning in 2018, Princeton will finally put a plan in place to admit transfer students. This means that in a just a few years, all eight Ivy League schools will admit transfer students.

As reported by Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed: “The strategic plan will also result in an additional 125 students being admitted each year (through a variety of means besides transfer). When four classes are admitted, the existing number of undergraduates, 5,200, will go up by 500. In expanding, the university said that it would make ‘a concerted effort to identify and attract more students from low-income families and ensure these students receive the support they need once they are on campus.’ (This is the second time in a decade that Princeton has increased the size of its undergraduate student body and linked those increases to efforts to diversify.)”

All eight Ivies will soon admit transfer students. Welcome back, Princeton.

A New Era in Ivy League Transfer Admissions

Essentially, Princeton is equating reinstating a transfer admissions process with increasing diversity on the New Jersey campus. And that may well be true. But, of course, there’s always another side to the story: allowing a transfer admissions process will be an important boon for Princeton’s athletic teams. Every other Ivy has benefited from transfer applicants on their rosters, and soon Princeton will as well. Admitting transfers will also allow Princeton to join their peers in working outside of those all-important “US News & World Report” rankings. They’ll be able to add to the diversity on their campus without the transfer students’ statistics, like their SAT scores, counting against their ranking. Princeton, like all highly selective colleges, cares about its ranking, however much they say to the contrary.

As they say, actions speak louder than words.