Future international transfer from Berkeley

Transfer Students
1

<p>Summary: Planning to transfer out of Berkeley due to financial reasons - Class of '16 international student - Need advice on which schools of the ones listed give aid to int'l transfers and on what I can do at Berkeley to increase likelihood of transfer admission to these schools.</p>

<p>Full version: I will be starting at Berkeley this Fall (or summer), but I know I will need to transfer out after a year or two purely for financial reasons. From everything I've heard of Cal, and from a short visit, I'll love it, but I'll be taking out huge student loans (~55k/year) which are just not in keeping with my plans of going to grad school soon after college.</p>

<p>Details:
Prospective major: Physics
International Applicant, class of '16 at UCB</p>

<p>So I have two questions.</p>

<p>1) Out of the following, which colleges will provide at least 20-30k to an international transfer? From what I've gathered (please correct me where you see I'm wrong):</p>

<p>Amherst - Need blind
Bowdoin
Brown - Limited (?), need-aware
Caltech - Apparently no aid to int'l transfers?
Carleton
CWRU
CMC
Colby - Limited, need-aware
Columbia - Terrible with transfer aid in general?
Cornell - Limited, since TATA for Indians is mostly exhausted by freshmen?
Dartmouth - Need-blind
Duke
Georgetown - Generous, need-aware?
Grinnell - Generous, need-aware
Haverford
Harvard - Need-blind
HMC
JHU
MIT - Quota for int'ls, but need-blind for all int'ls
Malacaster
Middlebury - Generous, need-aware
Northwestern
Oberlin
Penn - Stingy, need-aware
Pomona - NO aid to int'l transfers?
Reed - Generous, need-aware
Rice
Swarthmore
Stanford - Generous, need-aware
Tufts
UChic
URochester - Limited, merit schols
WUSTL - Limited, need-aware
Wellesley
Wesleyan
Williams - Conflicting info from different sources
Yale - Need-blind</p>

<p>(These are based on likelihood of grad school placements)</p>

<p>2) Apart from the usual (good GPA, some extra-currics), what can I do during my first year (or two) at Cal to better my chances of admission to the above unis? My high school grades suck (freshman and senior - but UC GPA was good), and SATs are decent (I'll probably retake to increase them by another 100 points). </p>

<p>Will it be better to NOT take the hard weeder courses at Cal right in the beginning, and take the easier breadth/humanities courses first for GPA purposes? Any other suggestions?</p>

<p>Alternatively, I was thinking of completing my Cal degree in 3 years and saving 55k, but that would hurt my grad schools plans (lesser research, credits, lower GPA due to overwork, etc.), so if you have any experience regarding grad school apps after completing UG in 3 years, please tell me.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>PS - I am coming to the US prepared to pay for all 4 years at Cal, it's just that that'll be a massive suicide for my grad school ambitions.</p>

2

<p>I would not got to Berkeley. It’s much harder to get aid as a transfer than as a freshmen. You can absolutely not count on a school that will give you big aid as an Indian transfer. </p>

<p>Borrowing $55K/yr for 2 years is nuts! Who’s going to loan you that much? If your parents qualify for that loan you probably don’t qualify for $30K/yr in aid.</p>

3

<p>I would second wavily. Don’t go to berkeley.</p>

<p>You already know that financial aid for international student is scarce but it’s even worse when it comes to transfers.</p>

<p>For example, HMC won’t even look at your application if you are an int’ that needs financial aid. I believe it will be similar for quite a bunch of the schools of that caliber. Beside, it’s also more difficult to get in as a transfer compared to freshman applicant.</p>

4

<p>Thanks guys, but I have no other choice, since I haven’t paid the deposit to any other school. I know the general attitude towards loans for UG here, but we thought about it a lot. The loans will be private, not federal, with a relative cosigning. We’re also hoping to sell off a property in a year or two, and cover the expenses for 2 years through that.</p>

<p>It’s not impossible to get aid. U Rochester would be easy to get into, I think, and I’ll take it if the COA comes down to 30k and my financial situation doesn’t improve. Otherwise, I am planning on applying to schools I got into this year and which gave me scholarships - but the main focus right now is grad school placement and research opportunities in Physics, hence those selective schools I listed.</p>

<p>Telayl, are you sure about HMC? That’s very sad.</p>

5

<p>Also, Georgetown is apparently need-blind for internationals. Can anyone confirm/deny this? Is it true for int’l transfers as well?</p>

6

<p>I am sorry for HMC but for at least this year, this is true. It may change when you apply but it’s not that likely. </p>

<p>We are not saying it’s impossible that you get aid as an int’ transfer but you will have to truly shine to get it and competition will be ferocious. When it will come to top schools such as Amherst, Columbia or even Harvard, they won’t accept many transfers and you will be competing to two other groups with better chances that you to get in: int’ with no financial aid need and us transfers. Spots in each schools will be really limited. To give you an idea, HMC usually receives 70 applicants for transfer and accept about 10 of them. That’s about 14% and their freshman rate is 30%. When it comes to Stanford, they accept about 6-8% in freshman year, they accept 2% as transfer.
I am not saying it’s impossible but you will reduce your chance to get in if you apply as a transfer. If you add financial aid, your chances to get in will be even lower.</p>

<p>What you may want to consider is to take a year off, work during that time and reapply to a list of college that you will be able to afford for four years. It’s a legitimate reason to postpone your enrollment and you will still have chances to get into all those great schools. If you really want to start next year, considering a loan may be a good idea.
Also note that if you consider going to grad school in the sciences, your expenses may be a lot inferior that what you expect.</p>

<p>Also note that it’s not because the odds are against you that it won’t work, it’s just less likely.</p>

<p>PS: Should get my transfer decision from HMC tomorrow, fingers crossed.</p>

7

<p>Good luck for HMC! Hope you get in!</p>

<p>I know it’ll be really hard to transfer with aid, which is why I am prepared to pay for all 4 years. However, if I do well for the first couple of years, who knows…</p>

<p>I must enroll this year itself, as I’ve already taken a gap year due to personal reasons.</p>

<p>Does anyone know if it’s easier to transfer from a more prestigious school like Cal to something not as prestigious (but still hopefully a research uni)?</p>

<p>Also, the question I asked above about the humanities classes. Will my transfer app look weak if I choose to not load myself with the weeder science courses and instead take more humanities requirements initially at Cal?</p>