Recent budget cuts and financial restrictions are contributing to the difficulty some students have when trying to transfer between colleges. 

N.C. State is composed of 10 large academic units, each called colleges. Within the colleges are departments, between which students can easily change majors. 

However, changing majors into another college can be more difficult. Some colleges can only accept a limited number of students, and many require a GPA of 3.0 or higher to apply.

A report by Greek Life at N.C. State found that in the spring semester of 2013, the average N.C. State student GPA was a 3.045. This is up from 2.977 in the fall semester of 2009. Despite the GPA increase, many students still face challenges when trying to transfer between colleges.

Associate Dean K. Shannon Davis from the Poole College of Management explained why the GPA requirement was so restrictive.

“The GPA is a 3.0 to be competitive to apply,” Davis said. “I can’t take everyone who has a 3.0 GPA. I can only take 250 students a year. There could be 450 students with a 3.0 GPA that want to get in and try to get in, but I can only accept 250.” 

According to Davis, Poole College of Management accepts only 750 people a year with the target numbers at 350 new freshmen, 250 on-campus transfers, and 150 off-campus transfers. 

Davis said that in the fall semester of 2013, a total owwwwf 2,446 new-freshmen applied to Poole and only 358 enrolled, although 976 were accepted. He also said that in that same semester, 717 students applied for off-campus transfers to Poole, 233 were accepted and 172 enrolled. 

During the 2012-2013 academic year of N.C. State, 484 on-campus students applied to Poole and 296 got accepted, which is about a 61 percent acceptance rate for that year, according to Davis. 

Davis said his department looks at what program a transfer student is interested in versus what he or she is currently studying. 

“If a student did worse in one program but did significantly better in classes in our program, they will have a higher chance to get in Poole,” Davis said. 

Davis said another factor in the low acceptance rate is a lack of resources.  

“If we had more facilities, more instructors and more advisors, we could accept more students,” Davis said. “Until then, I am limited to bring in 750 students a year, even if there are some really good students out there that I have room for.” 

David Parish, assistant dean at the College of Engineering, said that it’s not just the overall GPA that matters when transferring.

“From a student’s perspective, they think that if they make that target GPA, they should be allowed into that college,” Parish said. “However, is the student’s GPA indicative of the student’s success in that program, or are they only taking classes to improve their GPA?” 

Like Davis, Parish attributed restrictions in acceptance rates to a limited budget. 

“One problem in popular programs is that there are only so many resources available so there are only so many spaces for students,” Parish said. “Many times they will have more students apply than they have space.”

To help with the transfer process, colleges at N.C. State recently implemented a new program called CODA, which stands for Change of Degree Application.

Prior to CODA, students had to apply to colleges individually, and each college had its own specific application process and deadline.

“What CODA has done is allow students to apply using standard dates for consideration and the process of application across all colleges,” Davis said. “If your application is accepted by that college, you get notified by the system.”

However, despite CODA, constrained resources and budgets can still prevent some students from completing the transfer process. Even so, Davis said his most important job was to help students succeed after they transfer to the Poole College of management. 

“My job as academic dean is to make sure that [students] complete their degree in time,” Davis said. “Part of that is making sure they have enough seats, faculty, and resources…so they are successful, make progress towards their degree, and graduate on time.”