Undergraduate Admission

Eligibility Requirements for Transfer Applicants

To be eligible for transfer admission you must meet all of the eligibility criteria for your intended semester of entry, including citizenship and maximum and minimum number of completed semesters or equivalent. Both part-time and full-time students at accredited two- and four-year colleges may seek transfer admission.

  • U.S. military veterans and current service members must apply via Brown’s Veterans Application, regardless of their year of high school graduation or any college credits earned to date. U.S. military veterans should not submit a transfer application via the Common Application.
  • Candidates who have been out of high school for six or more years by the time of proposed enrollment at Brown must apply via Brown's Resumed Undergraduate Education (RUE) Application, even if they have earned some college credits. Applicants who meet eligibility for the RUE program should not submit a transfer application via the Common Application.
  • Transfer students submitting an application to Brown in the fall of 2025 for entrance in spring of 2026 will only be eligible to apply if they will have completed three (3) semesters or five (5) quarters or their equivalent of full-time college enrollment before January 2026. Please note that summer terms are not counted for eligibility purposes unless required by your previous institution. More information on credit eligibility can be found here.
  • Transfer students submitting an application to Brown in the spring of 2026 for entrance in fall of 2026 will only be eligible to apply if they will have completed two (2) or four (4) semesters, or three (3), four (4), or six (6) quarters, or their equivalent of full-time college enrollment before September 2026. Candidates who will have completed three (3) semesters or five (5) quarters by the time of entry are only eligible for spring entry. Please note that summer terms are not counted for eligibility purposes unless required by your previous institution. More information on credit eligibility can be found here.
  • University rules stipulate that anyone admitted as a transfer must be enrolled full-time at Brown for at least four semesters prior to earning an undergraduate degree, and transfer candidates may not forfeit any previously earned credit. For this reason, we cannot consider transfer applications from students who will have accrued more than four semesters of college work or equivalent prior to their enrollment at Brown.
  • High school students who are currently enrolled in dual-degree programs or early college programs, or who are otherwise taking college classes while enrolled in high school, are ineligible to apply as transfers. These students may only apply as first-year applicants. College credits earned as a high school student may not be transferred to Brown.
  • Students who have already completed a bachelor’s degree at another college are ineligible to apply as transfers.
  • Transfer students may only submit one application per intended calendar year of entry. Once you have applied for transfer admission, you may not reapply to enter as a transfer student in the same calendar year. For example, if you apply in October of 2023 for entrance in January of 2024, you may not reapply in March of 2024 for entrance in September of 2024.
  • Spring semester entry is available to US citizens and US permanent residents only. Fall semester entry is available to US citizens, US permanent residents, and international students.
  • Applicants from international universities that only provide year-end grades must have completed a year or more of their undergraduate education prior to applying. We will make exceptions to this rule for applicants from international universities that provide graded fall semester transcripts for their students.