As the fall semester comes to a close and intercollegiate transferring applications have been sent, those who are on the brink of changing their studies will soon receive their results.

Within the first weeks on campus as a freshman, Westley Banks, sophomore in FAA, knew he wanted to study jazz performance rather than architecture. 

“I was worried that changing majors and switching over into an entirely new field would be kind of harmful,” Banks said.

Banks said he envisioned the transfer process would be difficult, but he felt it was something he had to do.

“If it weren’t for my cheesy love for music, I wouldn’t have even wanted to deal with (transferring),” Banks said. 

While some students come into the University with a chosen major, 21.2 percent of 2014 fall freshmen came in undeclared in the Division of General Studies. 

With more than 200 majors, the process of intercollegiate transfer gives students the chance to explore their developing academic interests. The largest number of DGS students transfer into LAS, the University’s largest college.

Barbara Hancin-Bhatt, associate dean of LAS, said LAS receives most of its transfer students from DGS.

“DGS students made up 73 percent of our (intercollegiate transfers) last year,” Hancin-Bhatt said. “We had 1,0135 students transferring in last year from other colleges on campus, and 757 were from DGS.”

Umberto Ravaioli, senior assistant dean for undergraduate programs in Engineering, said Engineering has seen more than 100 students transfer from DGS each of the past few years including 144 in 2013.

The competition factor

During the wave of intercollegiate transfer — either in the spring or fall, depending on when the college opens up applications — some majors will see more competition than others.

Daniel Turner, director of DGS, said the two most competitive colleges on campus are Business and Engineering.

“Business for instance, the only opportunity that a student has to apply to business is May after their freshman year. That’s it,” Turner said. “Engineering, a student can apply multiple times. Liberal Arts and Sciences has multiple (intercollegiate transfer) periods that a student can do.”

With certain majors being more popular than others, the acceptance capacity is reliant on the total number of applicants.

Julian Parrott, associate dean in the College of Media, said more interest creates more competition within majors.

“Because of so many students that are interested in entering the program — although we don’t have a specific number of spaces — there are space limitations, so that increases the competitiveness of the pool,” Parrott said.

The most popular majors to transfer to LAS include psychology, economics, chemical engineering, political science, math and English, Hancin-Bhatt said.

Ravaioli said mechanical engineering and computer science are particularly competitive majors in Engineering. However, he said applicants who meet the minimum qualifications, which he defined as a B-average in courses like physics and calculus, have a good chance of being accepted.

“If a major is on the stronger enrollment pressure, then it becomes competitive and the student has to have much better qualifications at minimum to be able to compete for that specific major,” he said.

Holistic reviews and recommendations

Each college has specific criteria and requirements for intercollegiate transfers. The level of difficulty to be accepted into colleges often depends on academic standing.

Hancin-Bhatt said when transferring into some majors, students need a 2.75 or 3.25 GPA, but the baseline GPA for transferring into any major in LAS is 2.0. 

Colleges prefer students to have taken coursework related to their interest of study and a select few require essays or portfolios.

Ryan Gower, interim associate dean of Applied Health Sciences, said when reading essays required of applicants, the college determines if the college is the best fit for them.

“We really do like it if we can see you take maybe up to six hours in our 100 level courses, so we see how you perform, but we do not require it,” Gower said.

With all the criteria that determine a student’s acceptance to the college and major of their choice, colleges look at more than just numbers.

While he wouldn’t transfer again, Banks said he’s happy he made the transfer to pursue his passion for music.

“This is my first semester as a Jazz performance major. So far, I love it,” Westley said. “It’s just been harder to adjust than expected.”

However, he said it has been difficult to adjust to being in classes geared for first year students.

“I wouldn’t switch again. It just feels like the whole ground is shaking and everything is unstable,” Banks said. “My advice is to transfer if you know that you want to.”

Jane can be reached at [email protected].