Compelling Reason to Transfer

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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I had posted about transferring a few weeks back and @gibby gave me some really good advice that I’ve taken into consideration.

I just had one question about a “compelling reason to transfer”: Does this reason need to be academic?

My reason for asking is that my younger brother is attending a boarding school in New England (2 hours from Boston). My parents and older sister are not US Citizens and must return to their birth nation due to issues with their visas. They are not sure when they can return as they are also taking care of my grandmother, who is quite ill.

My brother and I, on the other hand, are both US Citizens. Is it a compelling enough reason for me to transfer because I want to be closer to my brother? For reference, I am currently at UC Berkeley w/ GPA of 3.5 (I have only completed two classes so far).

Thanks in advance.

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My follow-up question would be: why can’t you do that at just about any other northeast school? Why Harvard in particular?

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Also, why can’t your brother be the one to transfer to a school near you? I don’t think it’s a compelling reason at all from anyone’s POV but your family’s.

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I’d agree with the above posters - it’s potentially a somewhat compelling reason to transfer FROM your current school but not compelling for transferring TO Harvard in particular. There are other colleges nearby that could be viable options.

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YES. Harvard says so right on their website:

Succesful transfer applicants are able to demonstrate to Admissions specific academic reasons what Harvard can offer them that cannot be found at their current college, or at any other college in the US.

NO! Com’on, use some critical thinking skills here. Many families – possibly thousands of them – have multiple children, and when those children are of college age, Harvard doesn’t give preferential treatment to keep siblings together by admitting all of them to the college, or preferential treatment by admitting one transfer applicant because their siblings is enrolled in another school in the same state. Jeez – If you want that kind of treatment, may I suggest you try enrolling in a Massachusetts State College: http://www.masslegalhelp.org/school/beyond-financial-aid-2010/public-colleges-and-universities-in-massachusetts

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@bodangles I am only using Harvard here as an example (I figure the advice I get for Harvard will be applicable for most school), I plan on applying to more than one school in the northeast.

@gibby Thanks for detailing that. I’m not sure if you remember, but the previous time I had asked for advice, the reasoning I had given was that I felt Berkeley’s undergraduate Computer Science division was overwhelmingly impersonal and provided little to no support for the students.

At the time, you had responded saying that Harvard’s intro CS class had 40-50 CS concentrators with over 200 other students. Here at Berkeley, in Professor DeNero’s CS61A lecture, I sat with around 1,800 other students in the Auditorium because no classroom on campus could support the class size. Meanwhile, the CS61B lecture with Hilfinger was overflowing with over 800 kids. CS70 had 700.

This means that I am attending a class where ~1,100 people do not end up majoring in CS.

The reason I mentioned the situation with my sibling above is to narrow down the schools I am applying to. It is the reason I won’t be applying to UW, UChicago, Duke, or Stanford. I am applying to schools in the northeast because I want to a) have a more personal relationship with my professors and b) be closer to my sibling.

Additionally, I wanted to point out that is seems you think my brother is “college age”. He is 13, meaning he is only just beginning high school. This is also the reason that @redpoodles suggestion is inconvenient. It is considerably harder for a 13 year old kid to change schools in the middle of his education than it is for me, a legal adult.

@gibby The reasons I stated both above and in my previous post explicate why Massachusetts State would not be a suitable college for me. I am looking for a school that can provide more of a focus undergraduate education than my current school does.

I have no idea when you went to college, but based what you have stated previous about your own kids, I imagine you are not too far off from my father’s age. My father attended University of Pennsylvania. In his time there, he never once had to stand in line for 3 hours simply to pay his tuition, as I had to do this morning. He also never had a class of over 150 kids, which meant professor’s office hours couldn’t be likened to a rock concert as mine can. He lived in a dorm every year he attended the school and never had more than 2 roommates. Berkeley has become so bloated that their dorms cannot even support the incoming freshmen. I live in a converted study area with 3 other kids.

This makes up the 3rd reason I would like to switch to a private school. At Berkeley, students are forced to focus on the adminisitrivia and not on the most important part of college – the education.

I also made this post because I heard from a student who transferred from USC to Johns Hopkins simply to be closer to his family on the East Coast. I initially had decided against transferring but figured I would ask you guys to see what you thought.

This post may seem like a serious of complaints to some, but I do not see how else to provide my point of view. It was also brought up that a specific reason must be included for why I cannot transfer to anywhere else except Harvard. I do not have this one specific reason and I intended to apply to more than one school for transfer.

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http://www.computersciencedegreehub.com/in/massachusetts/

There are many top colleges in Massachusetts that teach computer science - both public and private. Harvard does not necessarily have the best CS program in the state for every student.

So, why is Harvard a good fit for YOU? Why not MIT? Or what about Tufts, Boston University, or Northeastern? Or Brown? Brown – just 45 minutes from Boston by train – has the top CS program in Rhode Island. And, most importantly, what do YOU offer these schools, especially Harvard, in return? What do you bring to the table besides a good GPA and test scores? What have you accomplished at Berkley that would make you desirable to Harvard? With about 12 transfer slots available – with probably a third of them going to athletic recruits – why should Harvard give you one of their 8 spots? That’s the question you are going to have answer for yourself.

I’m sorry about your brother, but I don’t think it will matter to Admissions that he is 13 years old. If you mention your brother, it is likely to come across as a sob-story (http://www.theprospect.net/how-to-avoid-writing-a-sob-story-college-essay-36689 and http://www.getintocollegeblog.com/2009/03/how-not-to-write-college-essay.html).

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@humanperson You’re still missing the mark by a long shot IMO. Your post is full of grasping rationalizations (“I had to stand in line for three whole hours!”) and devoid of even one legitimate and provocative reason. Also, 13 year olds move ALL THE TIME. If he’s two hours from Boston, which college where you can get individualized attention is near him? Why aren’t you asking about transferring to that one?

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@humanperson, I reread my post and realize I sound very snarky. I apologize to you for that. But these are my questions.

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@redpoodles I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 13 year old move without the support of one or both parents. Which is what he would have to do, since my parents and older sister cannot legally enter the country. Regardless, whether this is a possible feat or not, this is not something my parents or my family will consider or pursue.

And my reasoning in the previous post was this: At my current school, education takes a back seat to a number of other factors. This can be evidenced by the “non-payment cancellation” policy, which would allow the university to drop students who do not pay 20% of all fees by the 29th (which totals around $20,000 for my family). In fact, an employee of the university suggested I skip classes to stand in line and pay for the very classes I would have to skip.

More simply put, because it seems my point was lost in the last post: I wish to transfer to a school that is closer to my brother’s school, will have fewer students (allowing more professor-student interaction), and a focus on academics without the nickel-and-diming.

In response to your final point, the reason I cannot transfer to college near my brother is that he attends a school in rural New Hampshire. The only 4-year university relatively close to him that also meets the other criteria I have detailed is Dartmouth (about 1 hour south of his school), where I also plan on applying.

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@gibby Thanks for the response.

Those resources are definitely very useful and I think this was the response I’ve been looking for. It really helps me figure out what exactly I need to search for and what I should be focusing on if I do go through with the whole transfer process.

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Once you’ve had the first one or two huge CS classes, the remaining ones are unlikely to be as large.

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@humanperson You have very good reasons to transfer. They are compelling you to do so and most here can appreciate that. In order to be most successful in meeting that goal, you’ll need to approach your request for transfer from a more academic point of view, then possibly mention in one sentence the desire to be closer to your brother as you have become his de facto local guardian. Dig into the CS classes and professors and research opportunities at the schools you will apply to. Find other combinations of academic interests - find out if you can combine your CS skills by modeling human health data, or automating the lighting for a new art project or faster search of the literature department catalog of illustrated poetry…I don’t know, but you get the point. Don’t complain, and don’t tell the school something they already know about themselves (smaller class sizes that you could get at Mills college down the street from UCB). Tell them how you will shine because of a unique interest and drive that will best be brought out by their environment. Good luck.

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Your post implies that you’re seeking a more personalized education with fewer crowds, but with the same sort of “prestige” as Berkeley. I would say forget Harvard, but I’d say that to anyone. Focus on some liberal arts colleges to see if you like their fit. Some good names for east-coast LACs with CS that DO accept a reasonable number of transfers: Hamilton (NY), Amherst (MA), Williams (MA), Middlebury (VT), Connecticut College (CT), Vassar (NY). All things to consider. Good luck!

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FWIW: My son started out on the computer science track, but quickly became bored with the the way his college was teaching CS. He ultimately graduated with a psychology degree but continued to pursue CS on his own during his four years of college. He’s now working as a Data Analyst at a well known tech company – you probably have the AP on your phone and computer – and making more money than a 23-year old should be allowed to make!

Bottom line: you don’t specifically need what Harvard offers in the field of CS to succeed. You actually might be better off by being a big fish in a small pond at some of the schools @senior2016m named in the post above. What you really need to learn is how to nail the 3rd interviews at tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, Drop Box, Spotify, Snapchat etc. And you can really do that on your own.