Will a prestigous school accept transfer students from smaller, lesser known universites?

Question

I plan on going to the Univeristy of West Georgia in the fall because I can't afford to go to a private school; if I keep all A's for the first two years will prestigious schools like Berkley, UNC-Chapel HIll, Michigan-Ann Arbor, etc accept me... or do they only accept transfer students from other prestigous schools. I guess to sum it all up, does the school you go to greatly effect your chances of getting accepted as a transfer student to a prestigous school.

Answer 1

Prestigious schools sometimes look more at grades than where you went in the past. However, if they have a small amount of spots, or if you'd require a huge financial aid package, you would probably not get in. Or, if it's a huge leap, the chances of getting in are pretty bad (for example, an Ivy League school would probably not accept you as a TRANSFER student if your previous school was a community college and you didn't finish the 2 years-- but if you got a degree there and wanted to get your bachelor's elsewhere, you could probably get in if your GPA and SAT were high). Look at the schools' websites for transfer applicants before deciding to go anywhere aside from where you currently are.

Answer 2

Not very many of the prestigious private schools are likely to accept you. Most of them take very few transfer students (e.g., less than 20) -- and most of the ones they take are from prestigious schools. Some elite schools, like Princeton, do not accept any transfer students.

However, the schools that you mention are all state universities. They are usually required to take a number of transfer students. When I was getting my PhD at Berkeley (note spelling), I had a number of students who had transferred in from community colleges in California.

Since many of these schools may give a preference to state residents, you may have a better chance transferring to UGA or GA Tech than to UC-Berkeley.

Answer 3

They are much less likely to accept you. I know it may seem unfair, but unfortunately this is the case.