Transfers
Ready to call Purchase your new home? We’re here to make it happen.
If you’re currently studying at another college or university or have taken at least one undergraduate college course since you finished high school…
You qualify as a transfer student.
Well more than a third of students choose to transfer schools at some point in their academic career.
Purchase is a great option for students coming from community colleges, with or without an associate’s degree, who are seeking a four-year experience. We offer rigorous degree programs at affordable tuition on a campus where creative freedom and acceptance prevail.
Transfer students make up about a third of our student body, so we’ve got answers to your questions and concerns. Our admissions team and academic advisors are here to support you. You can even get a head start mapping out your coursework using our 8-Semester Plans or Transfer Equivalencies Database.
The Details
We recommend that candidates pursue a challenging curriculum and successfully complete 24 college credits, as well as have earned a high school diploma or equivalent, prior to applying to Purchase.
Transfer students who have completed fewer than 24 college credits will be evaluated on their high school coursework and test scores in addition to their college coursework.
Students must disclose all colleges that they have attended on their application to Purchase and have an official transcript sent from each one. Failure to disclose this information will result in our inability to transfer credits from that college at any point in time and may result in campus judicial charges.
Candidates with more than four semesters of college coursework may want to consider our Liberal Studies degree completion options.
All admission decisions are conditional, contingent upon the successful completion of all college coursework.
Students interested in our BFA and MusB programs should be prepared to enroll at the college for four years. Students transferring into the Creative Writing and New Media programs typically take three years to complete their programs.
Application Deadlines
Application deadlines vary by program. We encourage you to use our personal application instruction tool, which will give you the most accurate deadline for your specific program and semester.
Transfer Credit
All admitted transfers will receive a degree progress report (DPR) listing all prior coursework for which we will grant credit. Purchase awards transfer credit for college level coursework, AP scores of 3 or higher, IB scores of 5 or higher on a higher-level exam, and eligible CLEP scores.
Please note that DPRs can take up to three weeks to be completed. An email will be sent to your purchase.edu email account when it’s ready for you to review.
Transfer Tuesdays
We can help you navigate during Transfer Tuesdays, which include an individual meeting with an admissions advisor, a group Q&A exclusively for prospective transfer students, and a campus tour. Register here