Course Requirements for Penn and MIT/ My chances?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi guys. I plan to transfer from Purdue to Penn or MIT. I am in my freshman year ( 1st semester ). My major is Electrical Engineering. However, Purdue has compulsory engineering courses instead of a whole year of Physics of Chemistry ( You can test out of these courses - I did ). Will my application to Penn and MIT get affected because of this since they require an year of calculus based physics courses? </p>

<p>*Also, does Harvard take in transfers through majors? And do campus visits to the universities help? </p>

<ul>
<li>Is it safer to apply for the junior year? That is after completing two years at Purdue? </li>
</ul>

<p>Colleges that I am aiming for:
*MIT
*Caltech
*Harvard
*Yale
*Columbia
*Brown
*Dartmouth
*UPenn
*Cornell
*CMU
* UC Berkeley
* UCLA
* Duke
* Harvey Mudd
* Stanford
* Northwestern
*Uchicago ( Computer Science)
*NYU ( Computer Science)</p>

<p>My stats :</p>

<p>Current Univ:Purdue University, West Lafayette
Major: Electrical Engineering
*Currently in my freshman year - 1st semester
* Expecting a GPA of 3.8+
* General Manager of the College Mentor For Kids, Purdue Chapter
* Member of the IR Committee, IEEE, Purdue Chapter
* Member of the Purdue Linux Users Group
* Member of Purdue Entrepreneurship Club
* Enrolled in an Entrepreneurship Certification Course
*Awarded the Purdue Academic Success Scholarship, 2007
*Awarded the Purdue Valedictorian Scholarship, 2007</p>

<p>SAT 1: 2190 - M 770 V 730 W 690
SAT 2 : MII 740 P 760 C 740</p>

<p>High School GPA : 4.0/4.0
Recs : Excellent
ECs : National Level Quizzer, Programmer, Pianist, Debater, School Headboy, Journalist
Awards : Numerous Olympiad Certificates, All-round development awards, Academic Excellence awards</p>

<p>p.s. I am an international student from India</p>

2

<p>Wow dude. You will get into one of those colleges for sure. Good luck budy. Might I ask why do you want to transfer? Which part of India are you from?</p>

3

<p>^^^ no doubt in my mind that if you get a 3.8 in college coupled with your scores and hs grades... your in at half of the schools you listed. </p>

<p>PS try to narrow that down that is like 1000$$ worth of app fees hahah</p>

4

<p>You're an international student from India. There is no way you are getting into Penn or MIT as a transfer international</p>

5

<p>@atomicfusion : i wudnt agree with Penn. Penn loves Indians! I personally know of people from my own school transferring from UMich/ lower colleges to Penn.</p>

<p>Thanks for the encouragement guys. I screwed up my app essays in the freshman year - thats why I wanna make up for it as a transfer.</p>

<p>@SmartChild - im from kolkata, west bengal. well...why i wanna transfer even though purdue is quite good for engineering - i guess the undergrad experience and contact base is MUCH better in an ivy than purdue. I plan to attend business grad school , so being in an ivy environment would help me tremendously - more than purdue i believe.</p>

<p>@ixjunitxi - yeah i thought of that too....app fees killed me during my freshman year too!</p>

<p>P.S. guys any PARTICULAR point to be noted while writing essays?</p>

6

<p>oh btw would work experience or an internship in the summer help boost my chances?</p>

7

<p>Did you rank for debate</p>

8

<p>@logos - i never won a national final for debates...though i did manage it for computing and quizzing.</p>

9

<p>If your major is electrical engineering, why Harvard, Yale or some of the other Ivies? I can understand MIT and Caltech but Harvard and Yale have relatively weak engineering programs compared to Purdue. Also, MIT transfer admissions is very very difficult. Its rate hovers around 2-7%</p>

10

<p>will you be the one out of tens student accepted as transfer INTERNATIONAL at MIT? remember MIT only takes about 100 international student total per year. Well, I guess if you have some international olympiad medals (silver and above) you may got a chance.</p>

11

<p>If your major is electrical engineering, why Harvard, Yale or some of the other Ivies? I can understand MIT and Caltech but Harvard and Yale have relatively weak engineering programs compared to Purdue. Also, MIT transfer admissions is very very difficult. Its rate hovers around 2-7%</p>

<p>The OP does not seem to want to be in electrical engineering per say, just a high ranking UG degree with which to pursue an MBA at at a top biz school, of which Harvard and Yale are quite good at doing. </p>

<p>Notice*
Uchicago ( Computer Science)</p>

<p>which does not even have a school of engineering. </p>

<p>NYU being on there though scares me. Is its CS program something I should of heard about but just havent? Stern is the **** ya, but thats not where you would be going. </p>

<p>Anyways, at the OP (havent I answered these before for you =P?)</p>

<p>Transferring to the tip top crap-shot schools is very difficult after one year. I would say its almost necessary to spend two years at your current university so that they have a good idea of what they can expect from you, and thus can compare you to the rest of the application field. Otherwise they might not even think your reasons for transfer are solid enough. And you even being an international makes it worse. And for Cal, I dont even think first year is an option. </p>

<p>And this becomes problematic because most people who transfer to Caltech and MIT after two years elsewhere, go in as sophomores, thus adding an extra year of college (which can be a good thing if you chose to think that way), but it might not be worth it fiscally. Remember I had to do 25/30 unit quarters to just stay in line with the Harvey Mudd requirements for one year.</p>

<p>But it is very possible to get into Cornell, UChic, and Mudd after 1 year since they arent doing <2% acceptance rate crap, but anything over that is pushing it. Penn might fall here though. Personally I think Cornell might be your sweet ticket in that list since its possible to get in after one year and has the whole Ivy thing that you are going for. Plus, its engineering and science friendly. </p>

<p>P.S. guys any PARTICULAR point to be noted while writing essays?</p>

<p>be yourself and try not to gloat. Humor is good, especially if its in good taste and shows off your personality as fun to be around. Also be creative. Look at the U Chicago essay prompts to get a feel with that aspect. just aim for friendly and fun to be around I think.
*
oh btw would work experience or an internship in the summer help boost my chances?*</p>

<p>yes, though for a frosh it will be quite difficult to get anything outside of summer research at Purdue.</p>

12

<p>I agree with atomicfusion -you're an international transfer aiming for more or less every top-15 school with no true safties. Unless you have an outstanding hook I've missed, there's little to no chance you will get into any of those schools.</p>

13

<p>Yeah, why DOES Penn love Indians so much?</p>

14

<p>Yeah..it is hard for international students to transfer to ivy league. However, since you are already in a top eng. school, you might have a chance. however, you will have better chance of going to ivy league after you get your B.S. from your school.</p>

<p>I wonder the same...why does Penn love Indians...maybe I should apply there. :p</p>

15

<p>y didnt u get into any of those schools as a freshman? 4.0 with all that ****, u should hav gotten into atleast one of those, unless u went to one of those indian schools out in the jungle that writes on stone or somthing.</p>

16

<p>"y didnt u get into any of those schools as a freshman? 4.0 with all that ****</p>

<p>with all what ****? I must be missing something. Don't 4.0s commonly get rejected from those schools? His list entirely reaches and he has mediocre SATs and ECs.</p>

17

<p>i screwed up my essays dude</p>

18

<p>lol sry no chance in he11 for MIT,</p>