Transfer and Davis Degree Program Applicants

Wellesley accepts the Common Application for Transfer. Remember: It’s free to apply to Wellesley!

Be sure to use your legal name (as it appears on your passport or other legal documents) consistently on all application materials. This may sound obvious, but it’s really important! If you go by another name, list that as your “preferred name” on the application and that’s the name we’ll use when we get in touch with you.

You’ll need to write two essays: a personal essay and a shorter, Wellesley-specific essay. See our application tips for advice on writing your essays.

Within the Common Application, you will be directed to provide a short answer to the following prompt:

• Please provide a statement that addresses your reasons for transferring and the objectives you hope to achieve in doing so.

The Wellesley-specific essay asks you to respond to the following prompt:

• Wellesley students actively seek ways to build bridges and to change the world for the better. Tell us about an experience working with and alongside people of different backgrounds and/or perspectives from your own. Why was this important to you, and what lessons from this will you bring with you to Wellesley?

Submit an official final transcript from the high school from which you graduated. If you received a high school certificate of equivalency, official G.E.D. scores, and/or a high school transcript for the years you attended, they are required and will be considered in conjunction with your performance at the college level. An official secondary school final transcript must be sent directly from the high school with school seal or stamp affixed. We do not need the School Report.

Submit official transcripts from all colleges and universities you have attended. Send the form requesting this information to the registrars of these schools. You should check with each school for procedures and fee information before requesting a transcript. Transcripts must be sent directly from the college, which does include through official online services like Parchment. Student-submitted or unofficial copies of transcripts are not accepted. Please arrange for the college(s) to send official copies directly to Wellesley’s Office of Admission at applicant@wellesley.edu.

Please provide a college report completed by your academic advisor or dean. This report tells us if you are in good standing at your current or most recent institution. The college report form can be found in the Common Application.

You must submit individual course descriptions from the course catalog of courses you have taken and are currently taking. The individual course descriptions can be uploaded in your Applicant Portal, which you will have access to after you have submitted your application to Wellesley.

Two instructor evaluations/recommendations from recent college courses are required. Please invite each of your college recommenders to complete your recommendation letters within the Common Application. Recent academic evaluations are more useful to the Office of Admission. If you have been out of school for several years and are therefore unable to obtain academic evaluations, you may submit one from an employer or a supervisor in a community activity where you have worked. Evaluations/recommendations from friends and relatives are discouraged.

The midterm report must be completed by applicants currently enrolled in college courses. You may self-report midyear grades, but if you are admitted and choose to enroll, you will be required to submit official grades. Please list the courses you are taking in the current semester on this form and return it to our office immediately following the midpoint of the semester (March 25). The form gives us a sense of how you’re doing in your current coursework, so ideally you would fill it out closer to midterms. If you turn in a form with no grades, it will not be considered in your file.

Wellesley College will continue to be test optional for those applying for entry in fall 2025. Since the introduction of test-optional practices at Wellesley, approximately 45% of our enrolling first-year students chose to apply without testing. As always, testing is just one part of our holistic, committee-based application review process. We review each applicant thoughtfully and within the context of their available resources. Regardless of an applicant’s decision to submit test scores, the admission committee is particularly interested in an applicant’s demonstrated writing and quantitative skills as key predictors for success in Wellesley’s curriculum.

The College will continue to assess the test-optional policy, and we will communicate updates for future application cycles as they become available.

If you choose to take the SAT or the ACT, we recommend that you complete testing by the end of your junior year. If you sit for a standardized test in your senior year, here are the latest dates we recommend taking it in order to have the results available in time to include them in your application:

• Early Decision I: late October/early November

• Early Decision II: early December

• Regular Decision: early December

If you have a special talent in the arts, you might want to submit an Arts Portfolio. Our art, music, and theatre studies departments will accept electronic submissions of portfolios, recordings, or presentations. The appropriate department will review your material.

Wellesley College does not have a dance department and does not review creative writing materials. Please do not submit any dance and/or creative writing supplements as they will not be evaluated.

You must submit your portfolios, recordings, or presentations through the Wellesley Applicant Portal within one week of the application deadline. Wellesley does not accept Arts Portfolios through the Common Application or the Coalition Application. Please do not mail any materials to the Office of Admission. Submissions sent by mail will not be reviewed or returned.

Follow the guidelines and instructions outlined by Wellesley’s art, music, and theatre studies departments.

If you are interested in competing in varsity athletics at Wellesley (Division III), submit a recruiting form to the head coach of your sport.

If accepted, an estimation of your transfer credits will be included in your admit letter. Neither the registrar nor the Office of Admission will supply an estimation before that point. Prospective transfers can get a sense of what courses will transfer by visiting our course catalog. The College will consider awarding transfer credit only for courses similar to those taught at Wellesley.

​If you are applying from an international institution, you can request a credit evaluation of your previously completed university courses following admission and arrival on campus in the fall. Some of your earlier academic work may be applied toward the fulfillment of Wellesley’s requirements. Credit will be granted only for those courses determined by the College’s registrar to be comparable to courses in Wellesley’s curriculum. To gain credit for previous coursework, you must first successfully complete one year of study at Wellesley.

These types of courses generally transfer to Wellesley:

• Economics from a community college.

• Lab science from a community college, with department approval.

• Single-semester introductory or intermediate language course. Note: These will not qualify for transfer until the second semester of that level is complete.

• Freshman seminars (syllabus required for evaluation).

These types of courses typically do not transfer to Wellesley:

• Courses that are not classified as liberal arts and sciences, and are not offered at Wellesley.

• Courses graded pass/fail, unless you submit a letter from the professor who taught the course, stating that you would have earned a grade of C or higher.

• Courses for which you earned a grade of C-minus or below.

• Mathematics subjects prior to calculus (precalculus, college algebra, trigonometry).

• Business (management, finance)—except for one accounting course.

• Communications, including speech.

• Computer science courses that cover microcomputer applications or nonprogramming topics.

• Criminal justice (to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis).

• Journalism.

• Physical education or dance, lab-only, and nonacademic studio art.

• Distance or online learning.

• Individual study or self-paced courses.

• Internships, practica, workshops, how-to courses, or experiential learning.

Keep this information in mind when thinking about the transfer of credit:

• One unit of Wellesley College work typically equals four semester-hours or six  quarter-hours. That means if you attended an institution where you took five  courses each semester worth three credits each, each course could transfer as 0.8 or 0.75 units of Wellesley College work, depending on the total number of credit hours needed for the degree.

• Students may transfer in a maximum of 16 units, only four of which may be earned in summer sessions.

• Distribution requirements (except for writing) must be fulfilled by taking or transferring in one whole unit of coursework.