Feeling stuck at your current school? Want to escape your college town and flee to the big city? Maybe you’re looking to design your own major, go to a top business school, become the next Timothee, or want to study abroad as much as you can. Then you’re in the right place because we’re talking about transferring to New York University.
NYU is a large, private research university located right smack dab in the middle of downtown New York. When we say large, we mean LARGE – it’s the largest private school in the country. It’s also unique because it doesn’t have a traditional campus, or as they say, “the city is your campus,” aka, your quad is basically Washington Square Park.
NYU is also extremely transfer-friendly. While transfer acceptance rates vary from college to college (you’ll probably see lower rates at colleges like Tisch or Gallatin), NYU’s overall transfer acceptance rate is 37%, compared to their first-year acceptance rate of 9%. Now, this doesn’t mean it’s like, easy, to get in as a transfer to NYU, and you still have some hard work ahead of you. Let’s get into what you need to do to be a compelling transfer applicant to NYU.
Requirements
First, let’s lay out the things NYU requires of their transfer applicants:
You need to have graduated high school and enrolled in college courses. Easy enough. If you have a lot of credits as a high school student (like dual-enrollment type credits), don’t go to an accredited school, or aren’t in a degree-seeking program and have less than 24 credits, you have to apply as a first-year applicant.
In addition to these requirements, you need:
High school transcript
College transcript
One required rec letter (from “a teacher, counselor, coach, supervisor, or anyone else in a position of authority”)
Application fee ($85)
Other things you might need:
See also: auditions or portfolios
Standardized test scores (optional but encouraged, by us)
Midterm report and/or Self-Reported Academic Record (SRAR)
And a side note, while what we’re about to say is not a formal requirement, we strongly urge you to have the best grades you possibly can and take courses that fit into the story you’re going to tell NYU (more on that in a moment). If you don’t know what you want to study, we recommend you figure it out, at least enough to have a major you can write about wanting to be in once you’re at NYU. Remember, you can switch majors at any time, so we’re talking about what makes sense right now. Don’t load up on STEM courses if you’re aiming to be a Politics major.
Writing
NYU only has one essay question for transfer applicants, and it’s probably the most standard transfer essay out there, which means it should be a slam dunk for you all out there. This will combine elements of the “Why” essays you wrote a bunch of for first-year applications, along with the standard transfer essay fare.
Please provide a statement that addresses your reason(s) for seeking transfer and the objectives you hope to achieve. How can NYU and the particular school, college, program, and/or area of study you are applying to support those goals? (2500 character maximum)
You want to start with your origin story – why do you want to study the thing you want to study. Think of it as a lightbulb moment – it could be something from childhood, a class you’ve taken, or even a documentary you got sucked into. This should lead into where you declare your major (yes, you must), and if applicable, connect it to long term goals. Think “I want to study Politics and History to eventually go to law school.”
This is also where you will start to talk about why your current school isn’t a great fit, but be careful not to bash your school. Think about it in terms of what NYU has to offer you that your current school doesn’t – maybe it’s location, certain programs or colleges, or some secret third thing. Maybe you’re at a school that doesn’t offer an undergrad business major, and instead of just majoring in Econ at a small liberal arts school, you want to go to Stern and major in Management and also be in a big city, close to the companies you want to work for. Don’t, for example, talk about how much you hate that everything closes at 10pm in your hick college town, and you want to be in NYC so you can get food at 4am if you so wish. Focus on what you will gain at NYU, not what you hate at your school.
After this exposition, it’s time to prove to NYU you’ve done your research. Start by listing 2-3 upper level courses you’d want to take. Don’t pick a freshman seminar or an intro class, instead dive into the major you said you’re excited about and choose something that fits into your origin story. If you’re applying as a Politics major because you’re interested in studying how elections work across the world, don’t choose a lot of esoteric political theory courses. Now, explain why you want to take these classes and what they’d help you gain. Don’t just say they look interesting.
Now, you’ll do the same thing with a professor or two. Find someone doing research in the area you’re interested in and talk about why they’d be a good mentor, what you’d like to work on with them, or how you want to join their lab/research institution.
Next, we’re talking about extracurriculars. NYU is very proud of their Global Campuses, and we’d strongly recommend talking about those here. Maybe you want to go to NYU Berlin because you’re interested in the courses on the origins of disco music, or you want to go to NYU Paris to study art history up close and personal. Most majors at NYU have a global campus or two that they’re associated with, so take your time doing research here. In addition, you’ll want to find a few clubs or student groups (academic in nature) that you’d like to join, but make sure they actually make sense with what you say you want to study and are in line with things you’ve participated in in the past.
Once you have all your data in place, you want to wrap it up with a nice sentence or two recapping why NYU is the perfect fit for you and the only place for you to achieve your goals.
Now… wait
The NYU transfer deadline for 2025 is March 15th. Once you submit your application to NYU, make sure you have all the other pieces in place and now… you just gotta wait. We know, annoying. You will most likely hear back by May.
Best of luck!
If you need help with your transfer applications, reach out to us today.