<p>I'm a Sophomore (international student) majoring in Computer Science thinking about transfer from Cornell to one of the following places for the listed reasons (in that order of preference) -
1. Stanford - very strong alumni network. Incredible CS program. West coast weather.
2. MIT - probably the best tech college there is. Needs little explanation.
3. CMU - really good for CS. Some extremely awesome professors like Tarjan and von Ahn.
4. Harvard - huge rep points. Great alumni network. Not too bad for CS. Gortler's kinda a boss for Graphics. </p>
<p>In addition to this, there are several reasons I considered leaving Cornell. To be very honest, it doesn't make a huge difference to me and I'd be fine at Cornell, but there are still some things that bother me:
1. The weather. It's horrible.
2. The Graphics department is a little small.
3. Some of the well known faculty is retiring/retired.
In all honesty, I love campus, I love a lot of the professors and have great ties with some of them and I have great friends here.
Some other things you should know are:
1. I applied Cornell ED and made it, so I never knew whether or not I'd make my other colleges.
2. I really want to see if I "get in" even if I dont necessarily transfer.
3. Finances shouldn't be a problem for me.
My questions are:
1. Should I transfer at all? Will it be worth it for the little I'm gaining?
2. Should I send in my transfer application just to see if I make it?
3. Honestly, I know most transfer students come from not-so-great colleges for the most part. I think, as a near 4.0-er at a very competitive CS program, with an internship completed last summer, a great internship for next year and 2 really interesting researches under my belt, and nearly 2.5 years worth of credit, I consider myself a very competitive applicant. Given this, I'd like to ask how you CCers think I might fare in this extremely competitive application procedure?
This is a little peek of how bad transfer applications are -
http://***********.com/stats/transfer-acceptance-rates/</p>
<p>Please let me know what you guys think! Thanks.</p>
<p>It’s my understanding that to transfer among top schools you have to present compelling reasons for doing so. If you can do that it shouldn’t be an issue. From what I gather the top 5-10 range schools require some hook for getting in (URM, Athlete, amazing research, compelling story etc.)…beyond that tier you will likely gain admission to several schools with high grades @ Cornell.</p>
<p>Would you say weather is the biggest issue with the school? I’m likely applying for transfer admission for this coming fall.</p>
<p>If you don’t like the weather in Ithaca, then the only place you should leave on your list is Stanford. The weather at all of the others is just as bad - or possibly worse.</p>
<p>Try to come up with a compelling academic reason to apply for transfer to each of these places. That is what they will want to read about.</p>
<p>I see the point you’re making.
In terms of weather, yes Pittsburgh and Boston aren’t much better - true. However, you have to take into account the fact that Cornell’s on a slope and has a huge sprawling campus. The weather really does play in more so than my friends tell me it does at CMU MIT or Harvard.
As regards to a compelling reason to transfer,</p>
<p>I feel like I want to transfer to a place that will give me more opportunity more so than transfer out of hatred for my college.
Some of the professors at these colleges have really interesting research going on that I’d love to pursue, and some courses and focuses (like iOS and Python/C++) that Cornell doesn’t offer. </p>
<p>Does this not count as a compelling enough reason? I don’t know many transfer students so I’m not sure what magnitude the desire to transfer needs to be.</p>
<p>With regards to hooks, besides just having “good grades”, I’ve taken some Senior-level classes and have taken some really rough schedules. I don’t know about amazing, but the research I’m doing is quite exhilarating and has created several break-throughs in its field. Do you think that’s a start? Do you know if they expect more? I’m not exactly a URM.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re transferring to Cornell - it’s a great place. I, personally being from a tropical country, find the weather appalling but other students do just fine. It’s a big campus, and it’s on a hill so you’re calves will be ripped within the turn of the first semester. It’s a great place. It’s a beautiful campus. There is a lot of intra-collegiate dynamics, that makes for a really diverse academic student body. The atmosphere is great. Honestly, it’s just the weather.</p>
<p>I’m a transfer student majoring CS too-- I’m a freshman and will start applying this winter break. On my list are MIT, Brown, Cornell, CMU, and UPenn/Harvard.
From what I know, transfer rates have been really low these years for schools I listed above. And Harvard is nearly impossible because they admit too much for the incoming class.
The difficulty might be H>MIT=STANFORD>CMU.
From what I know, apart from GPA and Rec letters(and maybe some highlight researches or awards), the most important thing is the ESSAY, namely why you want to transfer, and you should write both why you want to transfer out your current college and why to the new one.
I would suggest visiting these colleges on your list as much as you can, talk to profs and students there, know more about them and compare them to Cornell to see if you really want to transfer or not.<br>
Also one thing you should notice, sophomores’ transferring may need more requirement on the courses you have taken.</p>
<p>Can I also ask you a question? How would you rate the CS in Cornell if the factor of Graphic dept is eliminated? Are all other parts very good or just so-so? Because I want to transfer to Cornell for CS, but I don’t know very much about it for now.</p>
<p>NO! I did not say the Graphics department was bad at all! We have some legendary professors like the guy who designed the algorithm for rendering Golum’s skim in LOTR. We have some of the most state of the art graphics research going on at Cornell. One professor made the research backing the famous Photosynth app on the iPhone and the current “pamora” feature on the iPhone. He’s doing work in telling where a picture was taken with no additional information. It’s quite legendary.</p>
<p>I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear but Graphics isn’t my only interest. I,m only a sophomore - I’m interested in learning a lot of new things. Some of those courses and fields I’m CS, Cornell’s not the best in. We’re comparing the top 5-6 CS colleges in the world here - nothing is bad.</p>
<p>I’ve loved every moment of Cornell CS so far. 3110 is crazy hard and awesome and legendary for the genius TAs and hat I thought was a lot of fun, I took Graphics which was awesome. We have some great professors and with Gates Hall coming up soon and the NYC Tech Campus, we have a lot of things going for us in terms of CS advancement. Like all CS schools, it’s cut throat and intense, but well worth it if you’re passionate enough. I’ve heard similar things from all the colleges I’m transferring to as well. </p>
<p>Also, cormell has fairly high transfer rates. I’m not sure if this applies for engineering transfers though. And why Brown/Penn ? These colleges have remarkably worse CS programs. Brown has some pretty bad rep when it comes to Ivy engineering and Penn is primarily known for its business - just a few reasons I’m not applying to either, thought I’d share.</p>
<p>I hear what you say about essays. I’ll have to work on mine. Did you find it extremely awkward asking your professors for recos though? I knew mine fairly well and I felt really weird asking them.</p>
<p>I’ve visited most of the colleges on my list. I’ve been to MIT/Harvard and I’m dropping by CMU for a hackathon in early Spring. Stanford’s really not that feasible to visit. I know students at all these places and they all are asking me to transfer vehemently. They think I’d be a good fit, and I trust my friends’ judgement. I can’t really compare them to cornell though.</p>
<p>TeslaBoy:
What a coincidence! Although I’m taking the CS101 offered in my college, in the next semester I’m going to get an independent study class taught privately by my current professor. He will teach me OCaml as an accelerated CS102, following the syllabus of Cornell CS3110!!!</p>
<p>Well, as for my choice. I really don’t know about UPenn and Harvard very much, and haven’t decided to apply. However, Brown’s CS is OK, though not as good as CMU, Stanford, MIT, it is certainly not bad as reputed. Yet the engineering is bad. The reason why I apply for it is that I like many other humanity subjects apart from CS, and I’m not very into the engineering part but rather the software development.</p>
<p>I already nailed down my three recos. One from my CS prof and it would be super great. Actually I didn’t ask him officially. Once when I was in his office and he accidentally saw the MIT transfer checklist in my folder, and he told me to give him some materials and to expect a very good reco from him.
You have to ask. As early as possible since it might take them more than a month. Don’t feel stupid/awkward. Actually I asked my CS prof the same question, and that’s his reply
“It’s not awkward at all. It’s your education. You decide on it. I know our average students are dragging you behind. But I don’t want to slow you down. Go ahead.”
They would understand your motivation.
Another of my reco comes from a prof teaching both in my college and Harvard. But I’m still hesitant about applying for it. The admission rate is less than 1%.</p>
<p>I think here is the problem: it seems that you want to transfer to these colleges for their reputation, and others’ judgement. But I believe what AOs want to see is that why their institution is of particular interest to YOU. You could confirm them of your ability to study well, but every other transfer could, too. If the reason for transferring is only your friends’ judgement, or a vague feeling that Cornell is not best in certain fields, your application is not very promising.
Do some more research about these colleges during the winter break, and find the reason why you like them better than Cornell. It seems that you are already in a great CS program now, so that might be harder for you.</p>
<p>Don’t you think we should communicate more and share some of our info? We are on the same boat to good CS colleges.
PM me your email. I haven’t finished 15 posts so I cannot PM.</p>
<p>I wrote a longass reply which got deleted for some reason. Anyway, I’ll get back to this thread. @octref
I’ll PM you when I have 15 posts myself.</p>