Help me pick some good schools to apply for transfer

Transfer Students
1

<p>I'd really appreciate some help and advice. While I realize this is all research I could do on my own, please know that I HAVE been doing this research for quite some time but there's only so much information you can gather from college websites and the like. I'm not using you guys as a crutch, but I would seriously like some advice. So thanks ahead of time if you read on.</p>

<p>Firstly, my stats:</p>

<p>COLLEGE
Current school: UC Riverside
Applying as: Sophomore when applying (so I'm applying for junior status)
Cumulative Grade Point Average: 3.94
Major: Computer Science
Awards: A few awards just for having good grades, "Best Comedic Actor" in my senior year of high school
Extra-Curricular activities:
Main ones I'll focus on-
1. Creating, producing (professional quality), and performing music. I'm the leader for a band, and we're well known around my area, which I'm hoping might help to make it seem like a solid extra-curricular haha. We get about 500-1000 song plays a day on the internet, and have over 220,000 total. We've also played some very large shows with well-known bands.
2. Tutoring calculus to high school students</p>

<p>HIGH SCHOOL
Kinda bad stats here, but I'm hoping they won't count much since I'm applying as a second year
Unweighted GPA: Like a 3.2ish
Weighted: 3.6
SAT Reasoning Total- 1900
Extra-curriculars: I was in drama, did some school plays and musicals.</p>

<p>What I DON'T like about my current school:
1. It's a commuter's school.<br>
2. Everyone goes home on the weekends
3. No sense of school pride or spirit
4. Because of it's low prestige and the fact that it's the lowest UC school, people don't seem all too proud to go there</p>

<p>Reasons I want to transfer:
1. I want to transfer to a school that has a real community, where kids actually stay on the weekends etc.
2. My current school is so close to my home that I hardly feel like I've moved out at all
3. I want to graduate from a school that's well known or fairly well known for computer science where I can also get a solid overall education</p>

<p>What I'm looking for in a school:
1. Friendly, happy, open-minded, intelligent students, with a good sense of humor. Definitely not a "conservative" school, though not necessarily a "liberal" school either. Open-minded is what I'm looking for.
2. A non-competitive atmosphere. I'm certainly fine with going to a "hard" school, but I'm not cool with going to a school where kids screw other kids over to get good grades. I'd like to go to school with a cooperative, friendly atmosphere.
3. A cool city, or cool overall environment around the school. I'm very open-minded about where the school is located, and as long as some other people like the area, I'll probably find something to like about it as well. But Riverside (my current school) is just a plain bad area, with very little to do.
4. Nothing larger than a mid-sized school (small-mid would be a good size)
5. My family's income is <20,000, so I'm looking for a school that's need-blind in transfer admissions and gives good financial aid (so definitely no out of state public schools)
6. A school with a strong computer science program
7. A school that's not too focused in one area (even computer science), because I have many other interests than just my major.
8. A school that has fun, in addition to working hard. But I'm definitely not looking to go to a school like Cal Tech, or anything that would just be a ridiculous amount of work.<br>
9. A laid-back environment
10. Hot-girls would be a plus but not a necessity. Sorry for mentioning this, but I can't help but be shallow sometimes, and if a school is known for having ugly girls or something that would turn me off a bit haha</p>

<p>I'm looking to apply to about two schools (outside of other UC's), so I don't want to apply to schools that are a huge reach. I'd appreciate recommendations that I have a pretty solid chance of getting into, because transfer applications are really a lot of work, haha. </p>

<p>Thanks so much again, and if there's any other information you'd like from me to help recommend me a school, just ask!</p>

2

<p>USC, UCSD, UCLA, UCB all seem like good schools for you, although I have no idea about their computer science programs… but they all to me seem like laid back schools with great community where people are proud to be there and study hard, but also play hard…</p>

3

<p>although theyre not too small… </p>

<p>what about CMU?</p>

4

<p>UC Berkeley probably has the best computer science program in the nation, along with Carnegie Mellon and MIT. The program is very well known in both academic circles and in industry. UCLA and UCSD are also fine, although they are known to a lesser extent.</p>

<p>UVA is an out of state public school that gives need based aid (meets all demonstrated need). They are very strong and are probably less affected by the financial crisis. You can try UVA as well.</p>

<p>Maybe you can try the Ivies, like Cornell or Penn.</p>

5

<p>Hmm, well, like I said, I’m definitely already going to be applying to other UC’s (for sure UCLA, UCB, and UCSB), so I’m only really looking for private school recommendations. I was thinking about Cornell, but from what I’ve read, it seems like it has a stressful/competitive environment which I’m definitely not looking for.</p>

6

<p>CMU strikes me as a very difficult school with loads of work, but I definitely might be wrong in my impressions. Am I?</p>

7

<p>Well… UC Berkeley’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science program is a huge ton of work too and thier LAS Computer Science is probably hard too. Berkeley is probably a lot more cutthroat than Cornell with thier brutal Engineering curves (centered to a 2.7) and a lot of top notch students. </p>

<p>You have a 3.97 (and UCR is a top 100 university, even though it isn’t prestigious) and if you are considering Berkeley UCLA and UCSB, I think you should be able to handle to work at Cornell or Carnegie Mellon. Distance may be an issue but the program should not be more challenging. CMU, while having a challenging program, is also a very small and supportive program with only 300 students in the major. While you will probably be working hard, you will probably find the work fun if you like computer science. </p>

<p>Cornell also meets all need, while I believe CMU does not for transfers and the UC’s probably don’t either (but you have in state tuition).</p>

8

<p>I’ll have to look more into CMU’s financial aid because I’m definitely not willing to take out a bunch of loans. As for Berkeley being cutthroat, that’s the reason I want to look for other good private schools. I’d rather go to Berkeley than stay where I’m at, but I’d rather go to a school with a more laid-back environment than Berkeley. Also, I’m planning to apply for the B.A. program at Berkeley btw (the same core requirements, but less difficult science courses outside of Computer Science).</p>

<p>I’ll try to get more info on Cornell. I had the impression it was a very cutthroat environment, but maybe I was misguided.</p>

9

<p>Many off these programs are very difficult, because they curve the grades and only give out so many A’s. However, I don’t think it should matter that much. By going to a better program, you will have more recruiters on-campus (meaning more internships) and they will know how tough the curriculum at Berkeley/Cornell is and they won’t realistically expect a 4.0. Similarly, grad schools know how rigorous these programs are. Obviously, not all the students there are cut-throat there and people are definitely not studying all the time.</p>

<p>While CMU’s program (as an example) is known to be tough, 90% or so of thier grads get jobs and the remaining students go on to get Ph.D’s; the average salary is $80,000. Salaries at Berkeley and Cornell should be similar. And many of these students are below average. Considering you have a 3.97 at UCR, you can probably be above average at Berkeley, Cornell, Rice, or any other school you are considering.</p>

10

<p>Thanks a lot for the info and suggestions indianpwner. After looking into Cornell a little more, I feel like my “cutthroat” impressions might have been wrong. In fact, it seems like a place I’d like to go to, and the students seem cool (at least judging by some videos I found on youtube haha). However, it sounds like the weather there is just godawful and I’m not sure if I’d be able to cope with the great amounts of snow. </p>

<p>I think I’m going to eliminate CMU from my list just because of financial aid. I really would not be able to attend a school that didn’t meet all or almost all of need, and I don’t get the impression they would based on their website.</p>

11

<p>I’m gonna bump this because I’d love other opinions</p>

12

<p>The University of Maryland has one of the top computer science programs in the nation. It is a real friendly campus and you’d definitely get the college atmosphere you’re looking for, however, it is a large campus and large student body, close to the mid 20k in population. Same goes with UT-Austin, U of Illinois Urbana-champaign, UWashington Seattle, UWisconsin-Madison. For smaller privates, try Rice</p>

13

<p>Hey man, thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, I need a lot of financial aid and doubt any public schools will give it to me. I’ve definitely been looking at Rice. I’ve never been to Texas before though, and wonder if I’d even fit in down there…</p>

14

<p>Well since you’re already in college I assume you’re familiar with FAFSA and EFC’s - as you may or may not know, there are several colleges in the nation that cover 100% of you need - with <20k I’d guess your EFC is 5k or less? (My best friend’s parents make more than that and hers is 5k). In short, with only 2 years left, you’re looking at 10k or less if you go to one of these schools.</p>

<p>I’d say maybe Harvey Mudd? They’re like the number 2 undergrad engineering school in the nation, so I imagine their comp sci program is pretty decent. If they’re anything like Rose-Hulman, the school I went to, they have some ugly girls (your standards will change… we call it wearing “rose goggles” and the girls get an ego - “rose princess syndrome”) Although I believe Harvey Mudd is incredibly close to some other campuses that do have girls (I’m thinking one of them is an all-girls school?) so it probably won’t be as bad as Rose. HMC also may not meet your specifications for being a well-rounded university (I record stuff too, and there was a distinct lack of musicians at Rose compared to my high school, I’m hoping Vanderbilt will be different - that’s where I’m probably going in the fall)</p>

<p>Anyway - here’s a link to get you started:</p>

<p>[Schools</a> That Say They Meet Full Need - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/paying-for-college/2008/09/05/schools-that-say-they-meet-full-need.html]Schools”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/paying-for-college/2008/09/05/schools-that-say-they-meet-full-need.html)</p>

<p>There’s quite a few in CA</p>

15

<p>Hey dshinka, thanks for the list but I just checked it out and don’t think it applies for transfer students, just first year. I say this because Brown University is on that list, and I know for a fact that they are not generous in transfer aid (it says it on their website).</p>

16

<p>Vandy says the same thing on their website - there are no transfer merit scholarships available. Most schools aren’t generous in transfer MERIT aid (I found this out this year first-hand). I think most to all of the schools on that list give the same transfer NEED aid as freshman need. Vandy, I know, gives their “expanded aid program” to transfers, as well. However, Brown has this policy which would work towards your detriment:</p>

<p>“Transfer students are admitted to Brown under a need-aware Admission policy. Need aware means that financial need will be taken into account in making the admission decision.”</p>

<p>In other words, your low family income would count against you. However, I could find nothing on the website that says transfers don’t receive NEED aid… In fact:</p>

<p>“Families with total parent earnings less than $60,000 and assets less than $100,000 are not required to make a contribution toward the cost of education.”</p>

<p>Meaning if you got in, and transfers get need aid, you would go there free :slight_smile: I would send a simple e-mail if you’re seriously considering Brown… and show me where it says that transfers do not receive need-based aid (the fact that they’re need-aware to transfers implies, to me, that they do…)</p>

17

<p>My evidence is pretty weak. I actually applied to Brown last year, but was rejected, and I was under the impression that they didn’t meet all of the need for transfers because some kid I talked to on here who was admitted as a transfer said they didn’t meet all of it. But, it does seem more likely that they’d give the applicant the aid he/she needs, and they just accept less kids who ask for financial aid.</p>

18

<p>You should apply to Ivies. But you MUST retake SAT. I PMed you with details.</p>

19

<p>I really do not feel like retaking the SAT’s. Are they still important for junior transfers?</p>

20

<p>I’m also looking for one safety to apply to, since I’m honestly not willing to stay at UCR for the four years. Does anyone have advice for that? Despite my GPA, I don’t consider UCSB a safety since it’s likely I won’t have all their prerequisites done.</p>