Transfer Admission
Transfer Deadlines and Requirements
Spring Entry Application Deadline: November 1*
Fall Entry Application Deadline: March 16
* Please note that international students without a currently active visa allowing for study in the United States will not be eligible for spring transfer admission due to visa administration timeframes. This policy does not apply to students pursuing fall transfer admission.
To apply for admission, please submit a Transfer Common Application or Coalition Application, including Hamilton’s member-specific questions. Please also review the information below to learn more about the additional materials we require applicants to submit.
Required Materials
- Transfer College Report (Common Application) or Transfer Report (Coalition Application) for all colleges where you were enrolled as a degree-seeking student (in other words, where you were enrolled in an associate’s or bachelor’s degree program)
- Using the links above, save and send this document to be completed by an administrator at each college where you have enrolled as a degree-seeking student. Typically, a staff member from the Registrar’s Office at your college, an advisor, or an academic dean will complete this form on your behalf. Once the form has been completed, the administrator who completed it should email it to us at admission@hamilton.edu.
- Transfer Mid-Term Report (Common Application) or College Curriculum Report (Coalition Application)
- Using the links above, save and complete this document yourself. You should fill out this document with information about the courses you are currently enrolled in using whatever information you have available to you (grades listed in your online student portal, test scores, a conversation with your professor, etc.). It is not necessary to complete a report for courses completed in a prior semester. Once you have completed this form, please email it to us at admission@hamilton.edu.
- If you are not currently enrolled in courses, please contact us at admission@hamilton.edu and we can waive this requirement for you.
- One Transfer Instructor Evaluation. We require all transfer applicants to submit one Transfer Instructor Evaluation (recommendation from a college professor). You can invite recommenders through the Common Application or the Coalition Application. You are also welcome to advise your recommender to send their recommendation to us via email at admission@hamilton.edu.
- Official High School Transcript(s) for all high schools attended*
- Official College Transcript(s) for all colleges attended*
*Please note that for a transcript to be considered official, it must be sent to us directly by your high school or college. While we can accept unofficial transcripts (in other words, a transcript sent directly by an applicant) for evaluation purposes, a student cannot matriculate at Hamilton College if official transcripts have not been received.
Interviews
While interviews are optional for transfer applicants, they are strongly encouraged and are a great way to enhance your application. Most of our interviews are offered virtually. You can sign up for an interview here.
Questions?
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Don’t hesitate to email Rachel Clarey, coordinator of transfer admission, at rclarey@hamilton.edu.
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Amanda Scholz ’27 is a current transfer student and would be happy to answer any questions you have about her experience. You can email her at ascholz@hamilton.edu.
Transfer Frequently Asked Questions
Students may apply for admission for either the fall or spring semester. The application deadline for transfer candidates entering for the Spring 2026 semester is November 1, 2025; the application deadline for transfer candidates entering for the Fall 2026 semester is March 16, 2026.
A transfer applicant is any student who has previously enrolled as a degree-seeking student at another institution and completed a semester or more worth of credits. This includes students who attend community college and/or are currently enrolled in an associate's degree program, unless those courses count toward your high school graduation requirements or are through a dual enrollment program.
Anyone can apply to Hamilton, regardless of citizenship. However, please note that international students without a currently active visa allowing for study in the United States will not be eligible for spring transfer admission due to visa administration timeframes. This policy does not apply to students pursuing fall transfer admission.
Yes. Candidates who have previously applied must complete the transfer application and all additional required documents. Transfer candidates who were previously admitted to the College as a first-year applicant are eligible to reapply for spring enrollment during their first year of college (after completion of one semester); those who were unsuccessful in gaining admission as a first-year are not eligible to apply until spring (for fall entry), so that we have at least one set of semester grades to consider (along with those in progress) when re-evaluating your candidacy.
The maximum number of times a student can be considered for admission to Hamilton College, including first-year admission, is three (3).
Once your application is imported into our database, you will receive an email acknowledging receipt of your application and providing you with a login name and password for our secure applicant portal, where you can manage and monitor your personalized checklist of Hamilton application materials. Please note that during the peak processing times and surrounding application deadlines, we may have a backlog for application processing, and it could take us up to two weeks to acknowledge your application or for materials to show up as received on your checklist. Thank you in advance for your patience.
Hamilton's policy is to release all admission decisions online. In the email acknowledging your application, you will be sent a login name and password for our secure Applicant Portal where you will manage your personalized application checklist and receive your admission decision. Our decision notification dates, also communicated in your Applicant Portal, are based on your specific application plan (Fall Transfer or Spring Transfer). Any changes to decision notification dates will be communicated via email to the address you provided in your application, so please check it regularly throughout the application process.
All transfer applicants must submit an official high school transcript regardless of the length of time enrolled in college or out of high school. Submission of SAT and ACT scores is optional for Hamilton applicants. Should you choose to submit them, standardized test scores can be official or self-reported as part of your application. Please note that international applicants will be required to demonstrate English language proficiency, which in most cases requires submitting test results.
The best predictor of success at Hamilton is your most recent academic work in a college setting. However, the secondary school record of every applicant is reviewed and will be considered. The longer a student has been in college, the less important the high school record becomes.
Yes, we require a Transfer College Report from each institution in which you have enrolled in a degree-seeking capacity. In other words, at every college where you were enrolled in an associate’s or bachelor’s degree program.
It is required that at least one recommendation from a college instructor is received as a part of your transfer application. Recommendations from high school cannot replace recommendations from college instructors. However, recommendations from high school may be submitted as additional information, if desired.
While a personal interview is not required, it is strongly encouraged. The interview is informative for both the student and the admission committee. Interviews are conducted online, and advance registration is required.
There is no minimum GPA cutoff. However, successful applicants have typically earned a college GPA of 3.33 or higher.
Financial aid is typically available for transfer students and is dependent upon the college's overall budget. We are need-aware for transfer students, which means the process is more selective for students applying for financial aid. Transfer students who wish to be considered for financial aid must apply for financial aid at the time of admission, and financial aid applications will not be accepted or considered after admission decisions have been made. All admitted transfer students who applied for financial aid at the time of admission, including international transfers, will have their full need met by the College. More information about applying for financial aid can be found here.
Once admitted, our Registrar will evaluate each of the college classes you have taken and accepted students will receive a credit evaluation as soon as possible after receiving their letter of acceptance.
General guidelines for credit transfer are as follows:
- Credit is granted only for courses in the liberal arts.
- Credit is not awarded for the following:
- Pre-professional courses, e.g. business, engineering, criminal justice, computer application, journalism, etc.
- College-level coursework completed during secondary school or courses in which a substantial portion of the class consists of high school students. [Some departments will allow you advanced placement in an area in which you have already completed college-level coursework.]
- Online courses.
- Credit is awarded only for courses where the grade received is C or higher.
- Hamilton course credit is based on a system where one Hamilton unit is equivalent to four semester hours. Credit from other colleges is transferred proportionately based on this ratio.
- Students who have had more than four semesters of full-time course work must fulfill our two-year residency requirement by completing four full semesters at Hamilton. In other words, no more than two years of credit will be transferred.
- Many disciplines require that students complete at least half of their academic major courses at Hamilton. Students who come in with more may still get general credit for those courses, but may need to take additional courses for their major at Hamilton to fulfill this requirement. In such cases the opportunity to have the wide-ranging distribution of courses that we hope to see in a well-rounded liberal arts graduate is jeopardized, and we encourage students to be mindful of this when considering the possibility of transferring institutions.
Hamilton College is a residential campus. It is our policy that all students live in campus housing. This applies to returning, transfer, and first-year students.
Hamilton is a fully-residential, bachelor’s degree-granting institution. While the majority of our students are recent secondary school graduates, we do enroll a small number of non-traditional students whose diverse perspectives are a valuable part of our campus community. Non-traditional students should be aware that transfer admission to Hamilton is quite selective and that all admitted students, including non-traditional students, are expected to live on campus, according to our residential requirement.
Contact
Office of Admission