Transfer Applicants

All individuals who complete the College’s application requirements for transfer admission will be notified of a decision by the Office of Admissions. Decision notifications are limited to: admission, non-admission (or “deny”), placement on a waiting list, or the withdrawal of an application by the applicant or the institution. Pomona College considers all applicants who submit 1) an application (via the Common Application, Apply Coalition on Scoir, or EdVisorly) and 2) a transcript (official, unofficial or self-reported) to be eligible for a committee review and eligible for a decision. The Office of Admissions will notify students of any missing application components a minimum of twice prior to engaging in committee review for a given applicant. Applicants also have access to a self-service application portal to ensure application components are received. We reserve the right to request additional documents as appropriate during the review and decision-making process, but documents beyond the application and transcript are not required to receive a decision from the Admissions Committee. However, if conditionally admitted, final official transcripts are required to enroll at Pomona College.

We admit transfer students as sophomores or juniors, and transfer students must spend at least four full-time semesters at Pomona to receive a B.A. degree. Applicants who will have completed at least one year's full-time college work by the time they expect to enroll at Pomona must apply as a transfer applicant. Students who have completed college coursework as part of an early college program, or who have completed less than one year of college, should apply as first-year applicants. We do not accept applications from students who have already received a bachelor's degree.

If admitted, transfer applicants will receive a course credit evaluation with their offer of admission and will be able to transfer a maximum of 16 course credits (i.e. credit for 16 courses). Credits are usually transferrable if: they are earned at a regionally accredited institution; the course is taken among other matriculated students; the course grade is a “C” or better; and The Claremont Colleges offer a comparable course. During enforced periods of remote learning, Pomona will accept online courses taken for credit. For more information on Pomona's transfer credit policy, consult our course catalog.

Pomona courses are semester-long and typically carry 4 credits. If you are on a quarter or trimester system, or your course carries more or less than 4 credits, you can calculate your transferrable credits using this chart. 

• Application: All applicants for transfer admission must submit either Apply Coalition on Scoir​, The Common Application, or EdVisorly. We give no preference in the admissions process based on which of these applications you submit. 
• Application fee or fee waiver: There is a one-time, non-refundable application fee of $80. However, we understand that this application fee may present a financial hardship for some applicants. If you plan to apply for financial aid, and the application fee presents a hardship for you or your family, please complete the Pomona Access Pass form. Upon completion of this form, the $70 application fee will be waived without requiring additional documentation. The application fee is automatically waived for applicants using EdVisorly.  Questions? Please email our office at transfer@pomona.edu.
• Official Transcripts: Request these be sent to our office from each college or university you've ever attended; an official final transcript from your high school or secondary school (including graduation date) or official documentation of a GED is also required. In order to be official, transcripts must be mailed or emailed by registrars to our office or submitted through Parchment or the National Student Clearinghouse. 
• College Report/Transfer Report: This form should be completed by your current or most recent registrar or transfer adviser. If submitting the Common Application, it is the College Report; if submitting the Apply Coalition on Scoir Application, it is the Transfer Report. Those applying via EdVisorly should use the Common Application form as it is available as an offline document. Officials should mail or email this form to our office. If you are not currently enrolled, but are on a leave, we still ask that you obtain a report from the last institution at which you were enrolled as there are questions regarding your academic standing and eligibility to return to the institution that we consider in our evaluation. 
• Two Academic Evaluations: Completed by two of your college course instructors (TA recommendations are acceptable), these should be uploaded through your application, or mailed or emailed directly to our office by your recommenders. Applicants may submit another optional recommendation of any type (e.g., employer, volunteer coordinator, high school teacher, etc.). We will read your application with one academic evaluation but encourage you to submit two if possible.
• Mid-Term Report/Curriculum Report: As part of our application review, we are interested in your current academic performance so require a Mid-Term Report. The Common Application's Mid-Term Report form is available as an offline document. If submitting the Apply Coalition on Scoir Application, it is the Curriculum Report. EdVisorly applicants should use the Common Application's form. Please indicate your current, in-progress grades and your professors' contact information for verification. However, if you are not currently enrolled, you will be able to request a waiver of the requirement through your applicant portal. 

• The personal essay, as well as the Pomona-specific essays, help us consider applicants' fit with Pomona's creative and collaborative culture. If you think of your application as a novel about you, in which you are the central character, the essays are where you can speak directly to us in your own voice. Your professors have told us about you in the classroom, your transcript has told us something about your academic preparation, but we are eager to hear directly from you so that we might better understand you as a person. We look not just for strong writing, but for individual voice, passion and thoughtfulness. What do you care about? What do you wonder about? How have you responded to events in your life? What brings you to transferring now? We feel honored to read your essays and look forward to meeting you through them.
• The Pomona-specific essay prompts for those applying for Fall 2025 admission include an academic interest statement (max. 400 words); a short-response essay (max. 150 words); and a longer-response essay (max. 250 words).
• (1) Academic Interest Statement: Tell us what you love about the academic interest(s) you selected and how Pomona’s liberal arts and sciences environment would enhance your exploration of these subjects.
• (2) Short-Response Essay: choose to respond to one of the following three prompts in 150 words or less:
• At Pomona, we celebrate and identify with the number 47. Share with us one of your quirky personal, family, or community traditions and why you hold on to it.
• What item are you excited to bring with you to college?
• Describe a time when you felt empowered or on top of the world?
• (3) Longer-Response Essay: choose to respond to one of the following three prompts in 250 words or less:
• In the past few years, is there something you have changed your mind about? Why?
• Reflecting on a community that you are part of, what values or perspectives from that community would you bring to Pomona?
• What strength or quality do you have that most people might not see or recognize?

• Test Scores: Pomona College has extended its test-optional policy for students applying for transfer admission for entry in 2022-2024. Under this policy, SAT or ACT scores are not required to apply, but students with available scores may choose to self-report them when applying (official score reports are not necessary unless and until you are admitted). If mailing documents to our office, the address is Pomona College Office of Admissions, 333 N. College Way, Claremont, CA 91711.

The transfer application deadline for international students is the same as that for domestic applicants. International transfer applicants are eligible for financial aid but must apply for aid at the time they apply for admission.

If sending paper documents, please mail your materials early enough to accommodate delivery times. If your transcripts are not in English, you will need to provide official translations. If you have further questions about submitting foreign transcripts, please contact us.

If English is not the primary language of instruction in your secondary school, you must submit either official or self-reported results of either the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or the Duolingo English Test. We accept the following versions of the TOEFL exam: TOEFL iBT, TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition and TOEFL ITP Plus for China Solution. While we welcome cultural and linguistic diversity, we do not have English as a Second Language or other remedial programs for foreign students. For more information, please see the International FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions).

We are often asked whether we require specific courses be taken before applying to transfer: do we have prerequisites? The answer is no. 

However, we do have recommendations. Given that transfer students enter Pomona as sophomores or juniors, they have less time on campus to complete all of their general education requirements and major(s)/minor requirements. We therefore recommend, when possible, that applicants focus on completing courses that will fulfill our general education requirements before applying so that they may focus more on courses in their major(s) while at Pomona. 

The six breadth of study areas that make up the majority of our general education requirements are:

1. Area 1: Criticism, Analysis, & Contextual Study of Works of the Human Imagination (for example, Art History, Classics, Dance, Literature, Media Studies theory or history, Music theory or history or appreciation, or Theatre history or criticism courses)
2. Area 2: Social Institutions & Human Behavior (for example, anthropology, economics, environmental analysis, international relations, linguistics, cognitive science, PPE, politics, psychology, PPA, STS, or sociology courses)
3. Area 3: History, Values, Ethics & Cultural Studies (for example, Africana studies, American studies, Asian studies, Asian American studies, Chicano/a Latino/a studies, history, Latin American studies, philosophy, religious studies, gender & women's studies courses)
4. Area 4: Physical & Biological Sciences (for example, astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, molecular biology, neuroscience, or physics courses)
5. Area 5: Mathematical & Formal Reasoning (for example, computer science, mathematics, formal logic, or statistics courses)
6. Area 6: Creation & Performance of Works of Art & Literature (for example, studio art, creative writing, dance, media studies production, music performance & composition, or theatre performance courses)

Students who previously applied either for first-year or transfer admission are welcome to reapply for transfer admission. Each admissions cycle is different, and an applicant who was denied in one cycle may be admitted as a transfer student in a subsequent year. (Likewise, admitted students who declined an initial offer of admission or were waitlisted may be–and have been–admitted in a subsequent year upon reapplication.) A more extensive record of academic preparation and success may increase the strength of a transfer application, or a more robust collection of experiences may increase the sense of a transfer applicant's fit. When considering a reapplication, we have access to any previous applications, but the new application will be the primary focus of our evaluation.