Chances for Transfer from UT Austin to Stanford and USC

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello,

I’m a third year at the University of Texas at Austin studying both Public Health and Civil Engineering.

Due to a plethora of family emergencies, and other personal issues in my life, I am potentially looking to transfer to other schools outside of Texas (where my family lives) in hopes of improving my mental health, get access to more interdisciplinary education, and better financial prospects in terms of financial aid and need-based scholarships.

I have a deep rooted passion for incorporating health conscious perspectives into urban planning and doing this from pursuing an MD/MPH. A lot of my goals in life are incredibly ambitious and I am afraid that my passion may dwindle and pass from frequently dealing with these issues surrounding my family. It’s pushing me to where am I am now: considering transferring as a third year student at a great institution.

Because of all these issues, I believe my stats themselves may not be nearly competitive enough, yet I wonder how much/how appropriate it would look to an admissions committee for me to explain that this was due to these issues to them. Nevertheless, it is a stats driven world, and this website is no exception haha.

High School:

SAT: 2030
GPA: 3.97
EC’s–> not sure how relevant this information is because I am applying with more than 2 completed years of college. But, there were a lot and they were fun, cool, etc.

College:

Majors: B.S Civil Engineering, B.S Public Health
Overall GPA: 3.48
EC’s: Communications Co-Chair in UT Senate, Outreach Director in Student Gov, American Society of Civil Engineers, Counter Balance ATX (local non-profit aimed at improving the lives of and empowering black women), Health Peer Educator (lead over 30 health education workshops and other things like condom deliveries), Central Austin Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee (works on advising the City of Austin on zoning issues, sustainability, proposals for safety studies), Engineers for a Sustainable World
Internships/Research/Work: Research Assistant for Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, Certified Clinical Medical Assistant for Urgent Care Clinic, Environmental Engineering Intern for the Texas Environmental Health Institute, Dell Medical School Health Leadership Apprentice

Also am currently working on a thesis where I’m studying how structural community design influences the prevalence of diabetes amongst lower income communities in Travis County

Hmmm, I think that’s it/the most relevant stuff

Schools I am applying to:

Schools that have better/on par CE/environmental engineering programs (who’s deadlines are still going) such as Stanford (their new Environmental Systems Engineering B.S), University of Southern California,

Thoughts on whether I’d have a decent chance at all considering these things and my low stats? Also thoughts on other places I should apply?

2

If you are a Texas resident, it would be advantageous to stay in Texas for easier access to interviews at Texas medical schools, which are relatively inexpensive for Texas residents. But your GPA looks marginal for medical school admission, so you need to work on raising it.

3

I’m curious in transferring to USC as well and have some done research on it. USC’s website and plenty of transfers have said that your academic success is weighed far more than your extra circulars. Your GPA is on the low end, the average Viterbi transfer has a 3.7 GPA, but if you did well in all your math/science/engineering related courses, you might have a solid shot.

If you have the money and want to get out of state, there are lots of good private schools I’m sure you could get into. Since USC takes GPA over ECs, I’d say it’s a slight reach, but again, it depends on how well you did in what courses.

4

I’m wondering if they take into consideration the difficulty of the course load and also whether they distinguish between a 3.7 at a community college vs. a 3.7 at a 4 year university. Also, UT does in fact have a much better Civil Engineering & Environmental Engineering program than USC does. I’m wondering if these things would also be taken into consideration. I’d love to want to stay in Austin at the school, but unfortunately it seems I might be on a more mentally & emotionally better path at another school.