Transferring to Duke

Duke has made a pointed effort of admitting more transfer students in recent years.

Considering transferring to Duke University? Well, you’re in luck because Duke, under the leadership of its longtime Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag, is placing a special emphasis on increasing its transfer enrollment numbers. And why? Guttetag and his admissions team at Duke believe — as do many admissions officers across highly selective American universities — that transfer students bring an added diversity to a student body. Maybe they’re transferring from a technical school. Maybe they’re veterans of the U.S. military. Maybe they’re the first in their families to attend college. These profiles of students are quite often in transfer pools at highly selective colleges.

As reports Shagun Vashisth for “The Duke Chronicle” in a piece entitled “Why does Duke admissions want to increase transfer student enrollment,” “Catering primarily to a four-year undergraduate experience, Duke has traditionally accepted a limited number of transfer students. With a set amount of on-campus housing available, the University has avoided increasing its undergraduate student enrollment.t. However, recently, the number of transfer applicants and students accepted has risen—although there were 754 transfer applicants and 40 admitted transfer students during the 2013-2014 academic year, there were more than 1,200 applicants and 73 admitted students this past year. ‘We want to increase the number of transfer students gradually because there’s an acknowledgement that transfer students bring a particularly valuable, useful and interesting set of perspectives and experiences to the Duke community,’ said Christoph Guttentag, dean of undergraduate admissions. Transfer students coming from technical institutions and Ivy League universities add another element of diversity to Duke’s student body, Guttentag added.”

And a helpful tip for transfer students, while some students wish to transfer simply because they’re not happy at their current university, it’s always best to emphasize the positives (of Duke) rather than the negatives of their current university. As Christop Guttentag is quoted in the piece in “The Duke Chronicle,” “‘Overall, we see two major reasons: some students apply simply to leave the school they are currently enrolled in, while others have a specific aspiration to attend Duke,” he said.” Our transfer students at Ivy Coach will always present as members of category two. After all, everyone knows that it’s uncouth to talk about your ex on a first date. Approach transfer admission no differently.

Thinking of transferring to Duke and hoping to optimize your case for admission to this elite university? Fill out our free consult form and we’ll be in touch.