INTERNAL TRANSFERS

Program Overview

First-year students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Nursing are eligible to apply to transfer to the Villanova School of Business in the spring of their first year. Internal transfer to VSB is highly competitive. Applications will open on January 15 and close on March 15. Final decisions are not made until after spring grades are posted in May.  

Review the steps for applying for internal transfer to VSB below.

Step 1: Determine your eligibility and review admissions standards

Only students in their first year at Villanova in CLAS, Engineering, and Nursing may apply for internal transfer to VSB.

Per university policy, if a student has transferred into Villanova from another institution, the student may not apply as an internal transfer to VSB.

Transferring to VSB is highly competitive. Competitive applicants interested in transferring to VSB should have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.9 and have taken at least one class in a quantitative course listed in Step 3 with a grade of at least A- at Villanova (not including AP credits). The average GPA of last year’s class was 3.95 and less than 25% of applicants were admitted to VSB last year.

Students not meeting this academic profile are strongly encouraged to consider the Summer Business Institute (SBI). Students who complete SBI gain access to VSB resources, additional VSB courses and minors, and are well positioned to pursue careers in business and other industries.

Step 2: Review VSB curriculum requirements

Before students decide to apply for internal transfer to VSB, they should carefully review the following items:

First, applicants should review the VSB core curriculum requirements. These are courses all VSB students are required to take. Make sure to select the appropriate class year for when you started at Villanova. Note there is some overlap between VSB core curriculum requirements and CLAS core curriculum requirements.

Second, applicants should review the VSB major requirements. While students are not required to declare a major until the end of their sophomore year, students should be familiar with the requirements for majors they are potentially interested in.

Third, students should review how the courses they have currently taken will count towards VSB requirements, if at all, through DegreeWorks. You can learn more about DegreeWorks and how to use it here. 

Go to your DegreeWorks audit, select the “What-If” tool, select “Bachelor of Business Administration B.B.A.” under Degree, and “Business (SB)” under Major. Make sure to leave your class year as your current class year, and click process. Then, you will see what classes you have taken and where, if at all, they apply to VSB requirements. Any courses in the “Unused Courses” section will likely not count towards any degree requirements.

Step 3: Register for mandatory quantitative courses 

Applicants for internal transfer to VSB are required to take a minimum of one of the quantitative courses listed below. Completion of MAT1500 Calculus I and/or STAT1430 Business Statistics is recommended as they will also satisfy core curriculum requirements in VSB. 

Strongly recommended quantitative courses list:

• ECO1001 Intro to Microeconomics 
• ECO1002 Intro to Microeconomics (or higher-level economics course) 
• MAT1500 Calculus I (or higher-level mathematics course)
• STAT1430 Business Statistics (or higher-level statistics course)

Other quantitative courses considered in your application but do not count towards VSB core requirements:

• MAT1312 Biocalculus (does not satisfy VSB calculus requirement)
• MAT1320 Calc I for Liberal Arts (does not satisfy VSB calculus requirement)
• STAT1230 Intro Statistics I (does not satisfy VSB statistics requirement)
• STAT1313 Statistics for Life Sciences (does not satisfy VSB statistics requirement)

Step 4: Consider alternative VSB programs

Students applying for internal transfer to VSB are strongly encouraged to also apply to the Summer Business Institute (SBI) at the same time. Students who complete SBI gain access to VSB resources, additional VSB courses and minors, and are well positioned to pursue careers in business and other industries.

Internal transfer admissions decisions will be released a few days before SBI begins. Students enrolled in SBI and accepted for internal transfer will be dropped from their SBI courses and receive a full refund on their SBI tuition and deposit. No action is required for students enrolled in SBI and not accepted for internal transfer, as they will already be registered for their SBI courses. It is strongly recommended that all internal transfer applicants consider SBI.

Students not accepted for internal transfer to VSB in the spring are eligible to apply for the Academic-Year Business Minor in the fall of their sophomore year. However, the Academic-Year Business Minor is  as competitive as the internal transfer program.

Step 5: Apply for internal transfer to VSB 

Applications for internal transfer to VSB will open on January 15, 2027 and remain open until March 15, 2027. Check back in January for the application link.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Internal Transfer advising team at  vsb-ug@villanova.edu.