For decades, transferring to Princeton University has nearly been impossible. But the school's new strategic planning framework, transferring to the elite Ivy League academe seems in reach. Princeton University has announced that starting 2018, it will open up a limited number of slots for transfer students.
Princeton University's transfer admissions program is part of its new strategic planning framework, under which the school hopes to "attract students with diverse backgrounds and experiences." Through this program, military veterans, transferees from community colleges and students from low-income families will have a chance to matriculate in the university.
"We're just missing diverse perspectives and I think that when the policies are changed it will just make campus a much greater experience in education," Princeton student Aleksandra Czulak told USA Today.
Transferring to Ivy League universities is even more difficult than getting accepted as a freshman.
In the fall semester of 2013, Harvard University recorded an acceptance rate of at least one percent for transfer applicants. Yale only admitted 36 out of 1091 transfer applicants in 2014, while MIT accepted only 18 out of 535 hopefuls. Similarly, Stanford only admitted 20 out of 2013 transfer applicants for the fall 2015 semester.
According to the Examiner, Princeton's strategic plans also include expanding the university's international programs, creating an interdisciplinary program and new facilities for environmental studies, opening new facilities to support existing research and teaching programs in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
The Daily Princtonian, the university's official paper, expressed support towards Princeton's plans to open the school to transfer students as a crucial step towards "educational diversity and inclusivity." The publication's editorial board is of the belief that admitting transfer students would likely boost Princeton's competitiveness. They also suggest that the University should expand its recruitment activities in military preparatory schools, high-achieving community colleges and low-income areas.
Princeton University is the last of the eight Ivy League schools in the United States to adopt a transfer policy. The New Jersey-based University enforced a transfer ban in 1991.
