Whether due to an unstable job market, parental pressure, or otherwise, graduating high school, students are often under the impression that they need to know what they’re going to do with their life. These pre-professional college students choose a college supported on a particular program’s reputation or due to the school of medicine acceptance rate, only to get that this is often not their calling.

Some schools are more likely to accept transfer students than others naturally. Since each college has its requirements, the foremost important thing to get transfer friendly colleges, you’ll do to make the transfer process run smoothly is a plan. Once you are considering a transfer, you would like to do your best to spice your acceptance chances.

Look for information about articulation agreements. An articulation agreement is a formal agreement between two institutions that drastically simplifies the transfer process; rather than trying to figure through transferring on your own, you could ask the established policies in situ for students who want to move between the institutions that participate in the agreement. A college with an articulation agreement is excellent. It signals a longtime route between two colleges. Schools that save financial aid money for transfers also are good options.

Check the school’s Common Data Set to find out about recent years. This might be found on the school’s website. Otherwise, you may need to do an online search for your school’s name and “Common Data Set.” Common Data Sets are documents including information about the institution, degrees offered, enrollment numbers, and other admissions statistics (admissions requirements, SAT and ACT scores and GPAs submitted by previous applicants, information about transfer applicants, etc.). They will also provide information about student life, academic offerings, and faculty; tuition and fees; and financial aid.

Students can also want to determine how transfer friendly colleges are by reaching out to their admissions office. Consistent with NACAC, 75% of schools designate at least one admissions officer to figure exclusively with prospective transfer students.

Many four-year colleges actively recruit transfer students. Most provide transfer information on their websites and lots of hold recruitment events at community colleges. Nearly 25% believe college fairs are a crucial recruitment strategy, almost 57% place importance on-campus visits tailored to transfer students, and 80% partner with local community colleges to recruit vertical transfer students. Colleges like these that go out of their way to find transfer students or provide services for transfer students such as transfer orientation, visits, and appreciation week, et al. are the definition of transfer-friendly colleges. It’ll be easier for you to seek information on requirements, financial aid, housing, scholarships, and credit transfer at institutions that frequently accept transfer students.

So-called transfer friendly colleges that seek transfer applicants often have a transfer coordinator, housing arrangements for transfer students, an orientation program for transfer students, and is likely to accept most simply or all of a student’s credits from their previous college.

The acceptance rate for transfer students was 62% for fall 2017, consistent with research from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, compared with 65% for first-year students. Students should consider boosting their chances by earning an associate degree.