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For many students, college isn't a straight path – there may be a few twists along the way. These moves can often be intentional, with a student transferring from a community college to a four-year school, or the result of a student switching schools for a better fit.

Regardless of the reason, transferring schools is quite common. A National Student Clearinghouse Research Center report from 2019 found that nearly a third of students in the 2012 cohort who first enrolled at a community college transferred to a four-year school within six years.

A challenge that remains for transfer students is getting into highly selective schools. A report from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a scholarship organization, found that schools with highly competitive admissions are less likely to accept transfer students from community colleges.

The most selective institutions often have acceptance rates in the single digits for first-year students. For transfers, that can be even lower. One such example is Princeton University in New Jersey, which enrolled only nine new transfer students in 2018, or 1% of transfer applicants, per U.S. News data.

But transfer students are highly prized at some colleges. In fact, according to a 2019 poll of admissions directors conducted by Inside Higher Ed and Gallup, 72% of respondents said their college will increase efforts to recruit transfer students.

The average acceptance rate for new transfer students in fall 2018 was 63%, per U.S. News data collected from 1,159 ranked universities in an annual survey. These schools enrolled, on average, around 480 new transfers.

By comparison, among the 10 schools that enrolled the most transfer students in fall 2018, the average acceptance rate was nearly the same – 64% – but the average number of new transfers enrolled was significantly higher: 5,101.

Nine of these 10 schools are public universities. The lone exception is Liberty University in Virginia. Most of these schools are also National Universities, institutions that are often research-oriented and offer bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.

Below is a list of the 10 schools that enrolled the largest number of new transfer students in fall 2018. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find college transfer statistics, complete rankings and much more. Sign up for the U.S. News Extra Help: College Admissions free email newsletter to receive expert advice twice a month.