When one of our students gets into Stanford, it rarely surprises us. Before we agree to help a student apply to Stanford, we make sure it’s possible that they could get in. With a minuscule regular first-year acceptance rate below 5%, we don’t want stressed-out teenagers wasting their time. If we’re working with a student on a Stanford application, it’s because they are genuinely qualified to get in — which is to say, profoundly exceptional.
Stanford accepts transfers from two-year schools like junior and community colleges, four-year schools, those coming out of the workforce who took college classes previously but didn’t earn a degree, as well as military vets. The diversity of sources for transfer students, though, doesn’t translate to a large number of students. In 2019, Stanford received 2,400 transfer applications and admitted a grand total of 24. That is only 1%.
This shouldn’t come as a shock to you if you’ve been looking into transferring into a top American university. Harvard, Yale, Princeton…the very top colleges in the US have minuscule transfer rates. If you’re going to try to transfer to Stanford, it’s harder than if you’d applied as a high school senior, and it’s unlikely you are a significantly better applicant than you were as a high school senior, so you’re in for a monumental uphill battle.
If you’re dead set on applying to Stanford as a transfer, you’ll need help. Luckily, we’re experts in working with students to present their best selves to application readers.
THE WRITING
After emailing us, take a look at the writing you’ll have to do between now and pressing submit.
Please provide a statement that addresses your reasons for transferring and the objectives you hope to achieve. (650-word maximum)
This is THE essay. It is your chance to make the case for yourself not just as a student and a human, but specifically as a transfer. This essay is not like the college essay you wrote your senior year of high school. There is a very difficult ask here that requires care and precision: you need to make the case for why you need to leave your current school and the case for why Stanford is the right school for you, all without sounding whiney or rude or ungrateful or entitled. It’s a big ask, but it is achievable.
Be Specific
If you are applying to transfer, there is a reason. In this essay, you need to make it abundantly clear why your current school isn’t working for you, and you need to be specific. “The classes aren’t hard enough,” or “the vibe isn’t right” are not specific reasons. Your reasons will be unique to you, but examples of good reasons to transfer to an elite school like Stanford are:
Your current college does not offer the major you wish to pursue
Your current college does not offer the specialty within a major you wish to pursue
Your situation as a human and student has fundamentally changed in some way since you applied to college as a senior
…and, honestly, that’s about it.
Don’t Badmouth
As you are specifically outlining why you need to switch schools, it is crucial that you are respectful towards your current institution. Saying mean things about your current school administration, student body, or professors will not — we repeat, will not — improve your chances of admission to Stanford. Stanford does not want to accept students who make drama, so they’re not going to respond well to essays that do just that.
Chart Your Path at Stanford
This essay isn’t just about why you want to leave your current school. It’s about getting into Stanford, after all. It is as important to chart your path at Stanford as it is to pinpoint why you need to change direction in the first place. What — specifically — does Stanford offer that you can’t get anywhere else?
We ask applicants to write a short essay on each of the following three topics. For the second essay, transfer applicants must choose one of the two listed prompts. There is a 100-word minimum and a 250-word maximum for each essay.
The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.
For this essay, you need to tell a story that is uniquely yours. Stanford wants to see you, not who you think the kind of person is who gets into Stanford. Show your curiosity. Show your enthusiasm. Release yourself from self-consciousness and let yourself be quirky and unique and entirely you.
Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—get to know you better.
This is a super fun prompt, and another one where you need to let yourself be you. Your main essay makes the case for you as a student, but this essay is about who you are as a person and particularly as a community member. Enjoy yourself. Be a normal human. Don’t write about studying or how clean you are. Write about pasta night. Not really pasta night, because that’s been done (and it worked) but your own version of that is something special that you want to share.
Stanford’s community is an essential part of the undergraduate experience. We come from all walks of life, share our own traditions, take care of one another, and think of ourselves as family. How do you define family and what contributions have you made to yours?
Before you start answering this question, consider the different ‘families’ you are part of. List them out, and reflect on stories associate with each one that you could share. Your answer to this question must be a story, and it must feel authentic to you. Share a moment, ideally a small one, especially a little one, and celebrate something that makes you feel close and cared for.
Tell us about something that is meaningful to you and why.
We may sound a bit repetitive at this point, but this is the last of three extraordinarily important prompts. They require you to be a human in a way that few things do in your day-to-day life. You can’t expect to succeed at getting into Stanford if you pretend. You can’t expect to succeed if you hide the most interesting parts of yourself. If they are reading this far into your application, you are academically qualified to attend Stanford. But what gets you in isn’t your grades, it’s you. So be you.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you’ve gotten it this far, it seems like you’re probably pretty dead set on applying to Stanford. It’s going to be hard, and the stats are pretty low, but if you think you could be one of the few who gets in, we’d love to work with you.
If you’re considering a transfer, send us an email. We help students like you defy transfer statistics to find their dream school.