Community College Transfer to Ivy League Schools [has LLB, wants to study computer science]

Transfer Students
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Hi everyone, I just want to get some opinions on how to strength my chances of getting into ivy league schools and schools like MIT or Stanford as a community college transfer student. I plan to start applying Fall 2024, so I wanted to get brutally honest input from you all on how to improve my chances of getting accepted as a transfer student.

A little about me: I’m a 24 year old who speak French (fluently, learned in Paris when I decided to take a gap year) and English. I have lived in 4 different continents (North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia). I have a non-traditional background as I’m a lawyer switching to tech. I have not taken the SAT/ACT as I did my high school in England so I took the IGCSEs and A-levels.

My background in Law: I obtained my law degree from a university in the United Kingdom then went on to get qualified and called to the Bar in Nigeria. I have an LLB, Bachelor’s of Law from university (my final grade was a First Class Honours, 4.0 GPA, with 3 prizes for coming top in my final exams) and a qualifying certificate and Call to Bar certificate from the Nigerian Law School (I got a Second Class Lower, 3.0 GPA, they look at your grades in all classes and pick the lowest grade gotten, my lowest grade was a B and a B in Law School is a 3.0 GPA). I just graduated law school in December 2022. But started my tech journey in November 2022.

My background in tech: I started with the self-taught route and learned HTML, CSS, and JavaScript then in February 2023 I did a coding bootcamp for 15 weeks and learned JavaScript, React, Python, Flask, SQL, and I also self-taught myself Java. I took a 2 month bereavement leave and came back to finish the coding bootcamp which I did in early August. I have done projects in all of these languages and have two projects I really love (one has AI included in it and the other uses both python and java as back-end languages).

I then decided to enroll in community college at BMCC to continue learning since the job market is not very good right now for entry-level devs. But I’ve noticed that I love math and computer science even more now I’m a full time student again and I don’t just want to get my associate’s degree; I want to continue on and go all the way and finish a 4 year degree.

Community College: So right now I’m a non-degree student because I couldn’t get any of my transcripts (HS and Uni) evaluated on time. But I’m taking classes in line with what current freshman at BMCC should take and my only extra-curricular, for now, is that I’m part of the math club. I wasn’t able to talk to an academic advisor this semester (because of my non-degree status), but I know I will have a few of my law credits count towards my associate’s (and ultimately bachelor’s degree). I also did A-levels (Politics, History, Economics, and Chinese), which seem to be the equivalent of AP exams, but I’m not sure if my A-level grades will count towards credits. I will be matriculating next semester, so everything will be more clear. And also next semester, I plan to take statistics classes since I want a minor in that.

As for extra-curricular’s, I joined the math club this semester, I also write articles about coding on medium. I want to start working on open source projects (starting next semester), along with coding projects on the side. I’d also like to do research with a professor, but I’m still new to the school so I haven’t figured out who to work with yet and how to go about it. Are these enough ECs for an Ivy League like Columbia or Cornell or other top schools?

As for my grades, I’m on track to get all A’s in my classes for this semester and I’ll have a 4.0 GPA this semester if I manage to get an A in math (seems very likely). I have to practice math everyday due to the 8 year gap of not taking it at all (last time I took a math class was IGCSE when I was 16). I can’t make it to the Dean’s List or National Honour Society this semester because I’m currently a non-degree student. But should be on them next semester and fall 2024.

I also plan to keep looking for work, and plan to work part-time before next year runs out. I haven’t worked before, so I have no job experience even in the legal field. I graduated law school and immediately switched careers. Though I do have a lot of legal internships.

What I want to do moving forward: I want to transfer to a 4 year university, any top school (Ivies and the likes). I want to major in computer science and minor in statistics because I have an interest in machine learning and predictive technology overall.

If anyone can give me tips to prepare myself for the applications that would be of big help. I want to start early, but I will also update the things I’ve done/I’m doing next year when I really start to apply. Thank you in advance!

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Nvm

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You need to check if the schools in question admit second bachelor’s degree students, since you already have a bachelor’s degree.

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The Ivy League universities are not in general the top ranked universities for computer science. You did mention MIT and Stanford which are among the top schools for both computer science and mathematics. However it is not clear to me that you need to attend an Ivy League or “top 10” university. There are many other universities that are very good for computer science (and also very good for mathematics).

Somewhere like U.Mass Amherst or McGill or one of the SUNY’s might be worth considering.

There is also the issue of whether you should be looking for a bachelor’s degree or for a master’s degree. You are likely to need some course work in math and computer science before applying for a master’s degree program in these areas, but you could take these classes as a non-degree student.

Some universities will admit students who already have a bachelor’s degree and want to study for a second bachelor’s degree, and some will not. In some universities whether they will accept a second bachelor’s degree student will depend upon the major. You will need to check with individual universities and see what their policy is. I thought that Harvard for example does not accept students with a bachelor’s degree to Harvard College (which is the undergraduate part of Harvard), but you might want to double check this.

It is also very difficult to predict your chances for admissions to any particularly university given your unusual situation.

However, if you can afford to stay in university, this should be possible to do. If you want to do it then doing it sooner would make sense rather than waiting.

What level of math are you currently taking?

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How much can you afford?

What is BMCC? Are you currently on a Visa in the US?

Why must it be an Ivy? Their spots are so limited and they’re not particularly best known for Comp Sci.

When Stanford has admitted transfers, you can count the number of students on one hand. I’ve seen military vets, parents/grandparents who never had an opportunity to attend college, be admitted as well as, people who have had years of experience in their fields.

I don’t think they will admit you as an undergrad. The Ivy League is a sports conference. These are all very different schools-no two are alike. You already have a degree. Comp Sci is very popular and gets full. You are trying to get into a major that is impacted at a number of universities. You need to speak with an advisor at your CC and see if they have any suggestions.

You can try to get into a Masters program somewhere, but the elites tend to “save” their spots for people who have been seen on media and reported as being very proactive in environmental and social causes for their communities for many years.
I wish you luck.

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Are you on a student visa? How will.you pay? If you qualify for in state tuition, your best bet is probably your in state flagship state U.

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Sounds like you’re at CUNY
https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/StartHere/

“If a student has previously earned a bachelor’s degree, they cannot apply for a second bachelor’s degree at Cornell. ”
https://admissions.cornell.edu/how-to-apply/transfer-applicants

CUNY has MS in comp sci
https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/admissions/computer-science-ms

  • Applicants should have a Computer Science background. If there are certain deficiencies in your undergraduate study that can be made up by taking undergraduate courses, conditional admission may be extended to those qualified candidates.
  • Applicants should have a solid background in mathematics, i.e, Calculus 1-3, Linear Algebra, Discrete Mathematics.
  • Programming background and programming language is also looked for when reviewing candidates for admission.
  • Candidates must have a 3.00 undergraduate GPA.
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I’m taking PreCal right now. And will graduate after taking Cal II

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Thank you so much! I might just go the masters route, but I hope everything I learn in Community College will be enough? I do have coding experience thanks to the bootcamp.

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I don’t know if completing only CC work will be enough to gain admittance into a Masters program. Specifically, since you’ve never really been employed in your previous (or any) field? It is very competitive out there, so it will be tough.
These “kids” learn to code very early and are tech gurus by the time they reach their high school age.

I know with my two CS children, they completed summer internships in their junior and senior years of college, in the private sector, and were responsible for projects, contractual requirements and learning how to work within budgets with their teams. In other words, they had work experience in CS and jobs that were waiting for them when they graduated.
Their companies offered to sponsor their Master’s degrees.

Research your local universities and see if they accept students who have already completed a degree. Remember to list your previous educational history when applying, and know that the colleges and universities use a National Clearing house to check for your previous schooling. Keep us updated.

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What UK University?
Are you a US citizen or legal resident?
Are you currently living in NYC? NYS? When did you start living there?
Are you currently working (any job)?

^ this to establish whether you’re a NYS resident, why you have a British degree and went to Nigeria with it rather than stay or move to the US, how much you’re currently making and what work experience you do have, and as a result of all these answers whether you could benefit from a transfer agreement to CALS.
Curious as to why you’re not trying to use your LLB by complementing it with the requisite elements to work as a lawyer first, saving money to keep options open - assuming you’re not living off a trust fund ofc, which would be a different situation wrt to BS v. MS degree.

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My best guess is that you will need more math before you apply to a master’s. Thus it might indeed make more sense to get a second bachelor’s degree. Differential equations, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, probability and statistics would all be useful. These could be taken in a couple of years as you earn a second bachelor’s degree.

Of course there are also multiple computer science classes that would be valuable (data structures and various algorithms come to mind, although I am not sure how these are divided up into course work and there are other subjects you would want also).

Once again there are a LOT of universities that would be good for a bachelor’s degree in computer science, and you do not need to attend an Ivy League or equally highly ranked university.

By the way, what is your status in the US? Are you a citizen or permanent resident?

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How do you plan to pay for this next step in your schooling…and your living expenses?

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You should also look into taking more advanced undergrad CS classes at a local university as a non-degree student. Often, public universities will allow this (check into it). There are also a few universities (not many – but I teach at one, so I know they exist) that will allow you to get a second BA without completing general studies requirements. So it’s like a fast-track BA/BS. I would only recommend it for someone who’s planning a significant career shift like you are and needs a different undergraduate background to move forward. But the non-degree course work would be the cheaper option, and if that’s enough to prepare you for an MA program, all the better.

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I’m a US citizen. Okay you are right on this!

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Alright thanks I will check this out!

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But do I have to do the SAT/ACT for a second bachelors? BMCC just took me in without those.

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A university that admits second BA/BS students may also allow courses taken for a previous BA/BS to fulfill general education requirements that match the content of the courses.

But some people do go to work in computing without a BA/BS in CS – they may have a BA/BS in something else, or no BA/BS at all, but have the needed skills and knowledge. Sometimes, the needed skills and knowledge can be learned from self-education, but they can also be learned (or a foundation learned) in community college (for lower level courses) and as a non-matriculated student at a university (for upper level courses).

For suggested course work, consider the following at a community college:

  • Math: calculus, linear algebra, discrete math
  • Introductory computer science sequence

At a university:

  • Statistics or probability theory (calculus-based)
  • Upper level computer science courses, such as operating systems, algorithms & complexity, networking, security, database, artificial intelligence, software engineering, etc.
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Many colleges do not require SAT or ACT.

Have you talked to CUNY advisor, for those returning to college

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You don’t need to do the SAT/ACT, nor should you. You will probably wind up finishing a 4 yr degree in Comp Sci (assuming that is what you want) at CUNY. You’re a US citizen, and I’m assuming that you have a place to live in NYC with family, since you’re at a CUNY community college now. You’re probably qualifying for Pell grants for tuition, since the US doesn’t know that you already have a bachelor’s degree from abroad. Look into a transfer to Hunter or CCNY. Sure, you can apply to anywhere else you like, but you’ll probably do just fine even if you wind up at Hunter or CCNY.

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