The Office of Undergraduate Admission recently announced that, because an unexpectedly high number of students admitted to the class of 2012 accepted their offers of admission, the number of transfer admits this year would be halved from 40 to 20.

In mid-May, the admission office reported a record yield rate of 72 percent for the class of 2012, meaning that the University could expect 1,727 new freshmen next year.

In spite of the radically reduced size of the transfer class, Director of Admission Shawn Abbott said in an email that the Office of Admission remains committed to its tradition of selecting a majority of transfer admits from applicants studying at two-year and community colleges.

Because transfer students are notified of their admission decisions at least a month later than freshman applicants, the admission office had time to adjust the size of next year’s transfer class in order to accommodate the oversized class of 2012.

“Because of our recent freshman yield and our unusually high freshman-to-sophomore retention rate, we have very little room to accommodate new transfer students,” Abbott wrote.

In a previous email to The Daily, Abbott had cited the reduced rate of transfer admission as a “negative consequence” of this year’s record freshman yield. In each of the past two years, the admission rate for transfer applicants was only 1 to 2 percent.

Traditionally, just over half of transfer admits are students transferring from community colleges and other two-year institutions.

“There is a huge misconception that we favor students from elite universities in the transfer admission process when, in reality, the majority of admits come from community colleges,” Abbott said.

The admission director also said transfer applicants from community colleges can often bring the most unusual life experiences to campus.

“Many haven’t had the traditional high school to traditional college path and are often among the most ‘interesting’ candidates we review,” he said.

Kee Hoon Chung ‘08 is one such student. Chung transferred to Stanford two years ago after spending three years at Foothill College, a community college in Los Altos. Before enrolling at Foothill, Chung spent over two years serving in the Korean military.

“[Military service] is where I realized I want to do something good for my life and my country,” Chung said. “Serving in the Korean military, I realized that my interests lay in politics.”

Prior to his military service, Chung had spent a disastrous year at American University, eventually dropping out with a GPA of only 0.5. Because of his academic record, Chung was rejected by all of the schools to which he applied after leaving the military.

“I was kind of stuck with no place to go, and then I remember someone telling my sister that there’s a college called Foothill in California, and, if you do really well, you can go to Stanford,” Chung said.

Chung said he set his sights on Stanford because “academic credibility” is crucial to political success in Korea, and he was attracted by Stanford’s reputation for having well-rounded students.

Although Chung’s advisor at Foothill cautioned him that Stanford was extremely selective in admitting transfers, Chung could not be discouraged. He was accepted to Stanford as a transfer student after completing three years at Foothill.

At Stanford, Chung said his background made his accomplishments all the more meaningful. He also felt that his performance reflected on other transfer students from community colleges.

“I had a mindset that I should do really well, because if I don’t do well, it might affect future community college students who apply to Stanford,” Chung said. “That’s one thing I really like about Stanford, that they accept a lot of community college students.”