Applying to Duke: How To Apply: Transfer Students

We welcome selected transfer students every year at the beginning of the fall semester. Maybe you are applying to Duke for the first time, or you have applied previously. You may even have previously been admitted to Duke, but began your college career elsewhere. We seek students with many of the same characteristics as our current undergraduates (see Who We're Looking For).

If you have attended any college or university in the past four years and will have received at least one year's worth of transferable credit by August, you qualify to apply to Duke as a transfer student. A student with only one semester of college work by August should apply as a first-year applicant. In order to earn a Duke degree, a transfer student must spend at least two years at Duke. There will be no transfer admission for January (spring semester). If you do not meet the listed conditions, please contact The Office of Continuing Studies.

If you choose to apply as a transfer student, you should submit the Common Application for Transfer Admission, which is available on the Common Application Web site or the Universal College Application which is available on the Universal College Application Web site, plus the Duke Student Supplement, your final high school transcript, your college transcript, a report from your college dean that you are a student in good standing, two recommendations from professors, and the essay and short answer questions:

• You should submit your scores from the ACT or SAT, but you don't need to take SAT Subject Tests.

   

• You should file the Duke Student Supplement and a non-refundable application fee as soon as possible after the application is available to you, and no later than March 15, 2010. You may file the Duke Student Supplement before or with the Common Application or the Universal College Application.

   

• You should submit all parts of the application by March 15, 2010.

   

• You will be notified of the admissions decision in mid-May.

   

• Your reply is due by May 31, 2010, if you choose to accept an offer of admission.

Transfer applicants with more than two years' credit from another institution should consider the following:

• Duke will grant credit for only two years of work done elsewhere, regardless of how many credits a student has. The classes for which a student receives credit are chosen by the registrar.
• The student is eligible for financial aid only for eight minus the number of semesters enrolled elsewhere. For example, for a student who has been enrolled two semesters elsewhere, only six semesters' worth of financial aid will be available at Duke. There is no need-based financial aid available for international transfer students.
  
  For frequently asked questions about transfer admission policies, click here.

We encourage you to submit the Common Application for Transfer Admission to us electronically. In addition, we require the following supplementary form: the Student Supplement. You may submit the Duke Student Supplement before or with the Common Application, and you should include your non-refundable $75 application fee (credit card or debit card) or fee waiver request with the form. Please note that we do not accept credit card payment by telephone. If you plan to pay the application fee with a check or money order, you should print the application forms and submit them by mail instead of applying on-line. When you complete the Duke Student Supplement, be sure to indicate the college (Trinity College of Arts and Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering) to which you are applying. Be sure to follow all Duke application deadlines as you submit the Common Application and supplements, and be sure to keep copies of all the forms you submit. Remember, if you apply on-line, you must also submit the Duke Student Supplement on-line. To download the forms you cannot submit on-line, click on the links below. Instructions Duke Student Supplement Optional Artistic Material Form (not required)