If you received a rejection letter from Yale as a high school senior, you are in excellent company. Among the 48,000 or so that are denied from each year are thousands of valedictorians, future Rhodes Scholars, and individuals with an assortment of otherworldly talents. If, as a current college student, you feel compelled to give the Yale admissions process one more shot, the opportunity is there for you, as Yale does indeed accept a limited number of transfer students each year. The following blog will reveal the Yale transfer acceptance rate as well other essential pieces of information like the Yale transfer deadline, the requirements for applicants, the Yale transfer decision date, and much more.

Yale Transfer Acceptance Rate

Below we present the most current available Yale transfer acceptance rate as well as historical data.

In the fall of 2021, there were 1,991 transfer applicants and 15 individuals were accepted. This means that the Yale transfer acceptance rate is 0.8%. If we break this down by gender, the acceptance rates are as follows:

  • Male transfer applicants: 0.5%
  • Female transfer applicants: 1.0%

When trying to get the complete picture on how difficult it is to transfer into a given school, it is important to also look at historical data. Many schools have wild fluctuations in transfer acceptance rate from year to year. However, this is not the case with Yale. As you can see, the Yale transfer acceptance rate has remained pretty consistent in recent years.

Historical transfer rates are as follows:

Year Acceptance Rate
2020 1.7%
2019 2.2%
2018 1.8%
2017 2.5%

Yale Transfer Deadline

The university offers only a fall transfer option. The Yale transfer deadline for fall applicants is March 1.

Yale Transfer Requirements

The Yale transfer requirements are as follows:

Students who have the best chance to gain admission to Yale have done the following:

  • Completed one year’s worth of college credits.
  • Earned stellar grades in their first year at a community college or 4-year university.
  • Contributed to the field in which they are pursuing a degree. This could be academic or scientific research, other published works, etc.
  • Continuing from the last bullet, it is helpful to have a talent or accomplishment that will help you stand out from the crowd of other immensely accomplished applicants.

Yale Transfer GPA

There is no minimum GPA required to be considered as a transfer applicant at this institution. As they state “No simple profile of grades, scores, and interests can assure a transfer applicant admission to Yale.” However, in our experience, you will need a GPA of 3.9 or above to be a genuinely competitive applicant to Yale.

Yale Transfer Writing Supplement

All transfer applicants must respond to the following essays and short answers.

Academic Interest

  1. Why do these academic areas appeal to you? (200 words of fewer)

Short Answers

  1. What are your reasons for applying to the Yale Transfer Program? (50 words or fewer)
  2. Tell us about a time when you made a positive impact on others. (50 words or fewer)
  3. Tell us about a Describe a disappointment you have experienced. What was your response? (50 words or fewer)
  4. Outside of your family, who has been your strongest advocate? Why has this relationship and connection been important to you? (50 words or fewer)

Yale Personal Statements

  1. Please reflect on how your past experiences have transformed or strengthened your personal values, opinions, or goals. (Maximum 600 words or 4200 characters)
  2. In this second essay, please discuss your academic goals and intellectual interests. Are there topics that you would like to deeply explore during your undergraduate years? Please reflect upon what you hope to gain from a liberal arts and sciences education. (Maximum 400 words or 2800 characters)

Yale Transfer Decision Date?

The Yale transfer decision date is in mid-May. Applicants will learn of their acceptance or rejection around that timeframe.

Final Thoughts – Yale University Transfer Acceptance Rate

It will cost you $80 to submit a Yale application as well as a significant investment of time. With so many essays to write, this is not an application that can be completed quickly. Still, if you have a pristine college transcript and other winning attributes, gaining admission to the Ivy League institution can be done. We have worked with applicants in the past who have successfully gained admission to Yale as a transfer.

It is important to note that around half of the students admitted to Yale in recent years hailed from community colleges. In the words of their Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, ““We are interested in admitting students from community colleges in particular because there, the academic argument for why you should move from your community college that you are completing to a private four-year research university — that argument is clear and apparent.”

If you are looking for information on how to apply to Yale as a first year student, you may find the following blogs to be of interest:

Those searching for application info on other institutions may wish to visit our Dataverse pages:

Dave has over a decade of professional experience that includes work as a teacher, high school administrator, college professor, and independent educational consultant. He is a co-author of the books The Enlightened College Applicant (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) and Colleges Worth Your Money (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).