<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I am currently a Sophomore at ASU, I am looking to transfer to a better computer science school... preferably with a cyber security concentration. I am looking at schools closer to New York. Does anyone have any suggestions for good CS schools around the East Coast.</p>
<p>I have a 3.7 GPA and currently doing research regarding Computer Security. Also I'm a Teaching Assistant, on the deans list every year and participate in a computer sec club.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Cornell, With MIT you also have several security companies in the area to intern at while you’re completing your undergrad. MIT selects a very limited amount of undergraduate transfer students. I was one of them many years ago. It’s competitive but possible. </p>
<p>hey livingsmall,</p>
<p>thanks for the reply, I’ve considered looking into MIT but I feel like my application isn’t competitive enough. what did your stats look like when transferring?</p>
<p>I had a 3.9 GPA one semester from completing two Assoc Science Transfer in Physics and CS from a Community College, I also had a two Lab projects under my belt at a local 4 year public university and was working part-time at a MIT student founded start-up as a junior developer. I also took the SAT to strengthen my application which was 1550 back when it was on the 1600 scale. I also joined Mensa which easier than most people think. I did not have much community service pre-app, so before I submitted I got involved with a local non-profit so I could add it to my application. </p>
<p>Your essay is the biggest part though, you need to have a very compelling one since you’re taking up spots on campus plus they are losing tuition money on most transfers. Someone told me a few years ago that now you can’t have more than a year of college completed to transfer (could be wrong) I did lose several credits upon transfer (can’t remember how many) but it was worth it to get the MIT brand. </p>
<p>Also look at Carnegie Mellon, I’ve been super impressed with people I’ve met that went there for CS. One of my Cohorts in my PhD program went there and I think he was better prepared than I when we started our PhD. Also many of my local startup friends said they would take a new CS CMU grad over a MIT grad any day of the week. I love my alma mater but I’d rather give the unbiased view. From my discussions with my cohort CMU has more practical CS training undergrad than MIT. Both are great schools in this area though. I will argue MIT will still probably carry more prestige internationally than CMU. </p>
<p>But in reality it’s not where you get the degree it’s what you do with it, and how good you are in the end. Many of the top IT security people did not even attend college. </p>