Penn State Transfer Acceptance Rate and Requirements – 2024
December 15, 2023
If your dream is to become a Nittany Lion, but you don’t have the grades and test scores to make the cut directly out of high school, don’t worry—all hope is not lost. While still a competitive process, this school extends offers to around 1,000 qualified PSU transfer applicants each year. This blog will share the Penn State transfer acceptance rate as well as other essential pieces of information like the Penn State transfer deadline, the transfer application requirements, the Penn State transfer decision date, and much more.
Penn State Transfer Acceptance Rate
Below we present the most current available Penn State transfer acceptance rate as well as historical data.
For entry in the fall of 2022, 1,696 students applied for transfer admission and 962 were successful. This means that the Penn State transfer acceptance rate is 56.7%. If we break this down by gender, the acceptance rates are identical:
- Male transfer applicants: 57%
- Female transfer applicants: 57%
For entry in the fall of 2021, Penn State received 1,725 applications and accepted 1,041 members of that group. This means that the Penn State transfer acceptance rate is 60%.
When trying to get the complete picture of how difficult it is to transfer into a given school, it is important to look at historical data. Many schools have wild fluctuations in transfer acceptance rates from year to year. As you can see, PSU was typically pretty reliably in the mid-40s but experienced a spike for the past two cycles.
Historical transfer rates are as follows:
| Year | Acceptance Rate |
| 2020 | 46% |
| 2019 | 43% |
| 2018 | 46% |
| 2017 | 46% |
Penn State Transfer Deadline
The university offers a fall, spring, and summer transfer option. The priority Penn State transfer priority filing deadline for fall applicants is April 15, although the application is open until July 31. Spring applicants have a priority deadline of November 1 and a final deadline of December 1. Finally, summer transfers face a priority deadline of March 1 and a final deadline of June 1. That said, some majors only admit during certain semesters.
Penn State Transfer Application Requirements
The Penn State transfer application requirements are as follows:
- Penn State application
- Final high school transcripts
- Official college transcripts
- Special materials depending on program. For example, prospective architecture students will need to submit a portfolio.
Students who have the best chance to gain admission to PSU have done the following:
- Are in the process of completing at least 18 semester credit hours. That said, some programs stipulate that you cannot have completed more than two full-time semesters.
- Have completed their major’s stated Course Requirements. For example, electrical engineering applicants need calculus with analytic geometry, chemistry with lab, and calculus-based physics in order to be considered.
- Earned stellar grades in their first year at a community college, PSU branch campus, or other 4-year university.
Average Transfer GPA
According to the university, the minimum GPA required for consideration is 2.5. Certain programs require a higher figure. However, in our experience, students with a 3.3 GPA or better will fare best in the competitive PSU transfer admissions process.
Transfer Decision Date
Penn State transfer decisions are made in late spring for those seeking to start in the summer or fall. If you applied for the spring semester, you should receive notification by mid-December.
Final Thoughts – PSU Transfer Acceptance Rate
For the past several cycles, the PSU transfer acceptance rate has been quite similar to the first-year applicant admit rate. Regarding high school performance, the university is only interested in a) verifying that you graduated and b) that you fulfilled minimum high school course requirements. PSU places the greatest emphasis on a student’s performance in college coursework.
Before applying, we highly recommend that you carefully review the college course requirements from each prospective college/school within PSU that you are considering. Some have extensive prerequisites, and certain majors at certain campuses do not accept transfer students. For example, University Park does not accept transfer students into certain engineering programs, among others.
If you are looking for information on how to apply to PSU as a first-year student, you may find the following blog to be of interest:
Those searching for application info on other institutions may wish to visit our Dataverse pages/blogs:
