<p>I am currently a sophomore honors undergrad majoring in Electrical Engineering at a state university. I have a 4.2/4.0 (or 4.0 unweighted) and just need ~21-25 more credits (4 tech electives, honors thesis, and humanities) to graduate. The reason for this was because I came in with 65 credits from AP Exams, for which I was my state's AP State and Nat. Scholar. I have done research work ever since beginning of freshmen year. And I have currently published a paper (1st author), with a co-author of another paper, and will present my work at a conference this coming spring (depending on my decision below). </p>
<p>All seems well, but I have a very significant decision to make. I decided to apply to transfer to MIT - EECS Course 6, and I was admitted for Spring 2010 and need to reply back by the first week of Jan. The major problem of attending is the costs (35-45k/year) as I hate to say. </p>
<p>I know that I could earn all A's in my current program and publish and possibly patent with the exciting projects that I am doing now. But I know that transferring will put me at an advantage for MIT's MEng program considering that a technical GPA of >4.3/5.0 is almost guaranteed admission for MEng. From your experiences, which route should I take?</p>
<p>Can you and your family afford MIT? If not, then you’ll have to console yourself with the knowledge that you are good enough to get into MIT but chose not to.</p>
<p>If you can afford it, then your decision is much more complicated. Revisit why you chose to apply for transfer to MIT in the first place. Was it for the prestige or for the opportunities? Was it because you were unhappy with the rigor of your current program or because you had the grades to go elsewhere? Once you determine the real reasons, your answer may become more clear.</p>
<p>MIT is known for grade deflation, so yes, your GPA will likely take a hit, but that won’t affect your chances for graduate school since programs are perfectly aware of the average MIT GPA. In fact, your transcript from your current school will provide a nice counterpoint to whatever you earn at MIT. </p>
<p>Since you are already in some great research projects, I suggest that you contact faculty at MIT to see whether you can get into a research group BEFORE you decide to accept. You are an unknown, and it might be difficult to break into a research group. Certainly, research at MIT is likely to be looked at more favorably than research at a lesser known institution, but getting to MIT without being able to research might be worse than staying where you are.</p>
Not to put too fine a point on it, but transferring is actually the only way you can get into MIT’s MEng program, as the MEng is available to MIT undergraduates only.</p>
<p>I’m a senior graduating in EE at Caltech, and I feel that I had a ton of opportunities in terms of research opportunity that I wouldn’t have had at a state school. I think if your family can swing it it would be a great opportunity.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s inputs. It really sucks that the financial aid is the only issue that is keeping me from going. My school does not weight - it is the consequence of scaling an A+ to a 4.3 and A- to a 3.67. However, the max GPA is a 4.00 since half of the professors don’t use +/-'s.</p>