<p>To start off I think I might have made a mistake by going to cal poly pomona instead of going to a cc and transferring to a school with a better computer science program. From what I understand its very hard to transfer from a CSU to another 4 year school because we have lowest priority. So I think I will just get my degree from cal poly pomona then go to grad school somewhere else. I just don't know how the process works, after I get my B.S. from cal poly do I start applying to grad schools? Or is it like a transfer?</p>
<p>I'm trying to figure out what I will be doing, and this is somewhat confusing.</p>
<p>What year are you? I’m not certain, but I think Cal Poly is respectable. If you are on a road to grad school, get some research experience. Talk to your profs and try to get added to research. Apply for summer research and REU’s.</p>
<p>If you want to try to transfer, you can only do so by applying. Transfer rates are low, in general, so stand out by your grades, you personal statement, and your references.</p>
<p>Once you graduate, you don’t transfer, you apply as a grad student. You will usually need 3 letters of reference. Letters of ref that just say you did well in class are useless. The letters should be from professors you did research with.</p>
<p>I don’t think you made a mistake by going to a CSU, you are actually saving yourself a lot of money. The engineering program at Cal Poly is pretty well-known, so there shouldn’t be too much of a problem with that. As long as you preform well the school you went to will not hinder you from attending a top graduate school.
You should start researching the schools you want to go to and look into the GPA requirements and start studying for the GRE. You may also want to visit some of the departments that you are interested in. It is also important that you start talking to your professors about your plans, since their letters will be instrumental to your graduate school applications.
Good Luck!</p>
<p>So from what I understand after I get my BS I can then apple to whatever graduate program I want right, its not like I need to transfer its like applying to college all over again, right?</p>
<p>I would really like to attend one of the following (in no particular order)
carnegie mellon
mit
cal tech
UCLA
stanford
UCSD</p>
<p>Thanks for being helpful so far, I’m not used to a online forum with such friendly helpful people.</p>
<p>Yeah, you just go to the grad school websites and fill in the application and send in your scores and LORs and so on.</p>
<p>You didn’t say what year you are but, I would definitely suggest that you look for summer REU programs at the schools you mentioned. I know for a fact Caltech has some.<br>
I did a summer at the school I am going to for my PhD and am planning to work with the same person I worked with during the summer as an undergrad.</p>
<p>sorry I forgot to mention im a freshman, Im set to graduate in 5 years though so I’ll still be a freshman next year too.</p>