Cambridge/stanford/mit

<p>hey everyone, I am about to start my freshman year at Duke University, and have a couple of questions about transferring. I understand that many of you may feel it is too pre-mature to already be thinking about other universities, but I am simply taking this as a pre-cautionary measure. Duke is an excellent institution, and I am proud to be attending it, however, I am highly interested about transfer admission into the following schools: </p>

<p>1) M.I.T
2) Stanford
3) Cambridge (U.K)
4) U.Penn
5) CalTech</p>

<p>If I do decide to transfer from Duke, these will be the five institutions I am most interested in. Basically, I am just wondering what you think my chances are, and what I should do to prepare? </p>

<p>My Stats:
SAT: 2200, 750 C.R, 750 W, 700 M
SAT 2S: Math 2C 700, History 700
G.P.A: 4.0 + (weighted), 3.7ish (unweighted)
H.S School: Top 10 (private) in the country
E.Cs: Highly unique; performer on broadway/lincoln center, employee at columbia, triple varsity athlete,
Ethnicity: 1/2 Mexican/ 1/2 Middle Eastern</p>

<p>College Decisions (for this previous year):
Accepted at all 9 schools except Stanford (deferred scea, then rejected)</p>

<p>Anyway, so what are my chances, and what should I do to prepare for transfer?</p>

<p>Wow. Looking to transfer before you even start? What possible reason can you have other than wanting to upgrade in terms of university prestige?</p>

<p>I have no idea about transfer admissions at most of the place that you mentioned, but I can tell you that your chance of transferring to Cambridge is 0%. If you are admitted to Cam you would have to start from the beginning.</p>

<p>Yes I understand that I would have to start over at Cambridge, but it is only a 3 year institution, so therefore I would still be on track. </p>

<p>As for my rationale, it has very little to do with upgrading the prestige, and more to do with making the right choice for colleges this time around. </p>

<p>When I applied to schools my senior year, I went with what my counsellor said and applied to Stanford (deferred -> rejected), Columbia (accepted), Duke (accepted), UChicago (accepted), Bowdoin (accepted), Dartmouth (accepted), NYU Stern (accepted), Johns Hopkins (accepted), Middlebury (accepted), and not with what I truly wanted. The only school I wanted to attend, was the only school that rejected me (stanford). </p>

<p>Anyway, as I said above, this is merely a pre-cautionary measure, and I do not intend to transfer from Duke without even experiencing it…</p>

<p>UPenn and Caltech are probably realistic transfers. Stanford seems unlikely. </p>

<p>Also Duke is probably more similar to Stanford then UPenn, MIT, or Caltech.</p>

<p>I think URM status doesn’t help as much at Caltech and MIT, and your math scores will make them tough. Pay attention to requirements for freshmen at MIT. If you want to seriously try, you’ll need to take these prereqs. Stanford is worth another try as is just about any school if you have a good year. Pretty sure Caltech also has a transfer exam.</p>

<p>Wow everyone, thank you very much. The mere fact that you even encourage me to apply to these universities as a transfer is very encouraging. </p>

<p>So even with a 1-2% acceptance rate, and a senior year deferral then rejection, you still think I should try to apply to Stanford?</p>

<p>Also, my G.P.A is very deceiving. Because of my career (on broadway/lincoln center), I started high school with a mediocre G.P.A of around 3.2, working up to a 4.0 senior year. Obviously, this didnt really seem to matter to any of the schools I applied to this year, but do you think it will matter as a transfer? (assuming I maintain a 4.0)</p>