Intl student transferring from Imperial College London

Transfer Students
1

<p>I'm a British Citizen living abroad in Australia. I've recently completed my IB Bilingual Diploma course in November 2009 and I was admitted to the Imperial College London in materials engineering for Fall 2010. </p>

<p>In the meantime I have just started(for two weeks) my five-month full-time internship in a IT company with 130-ish employees, working from 9am to 6pm every weekday, and my job deals with server maintenance in government agencies. </p>

<p>I was deeply fascinated by computers ever since, especially with programming skills in Linux, Windows batch scripts and networking. And I'm a quick-learner in this area, already surpassing a few employees who studied computer engineering and worked in the company for a few months.
That's the reason why I want to change major to apply for computer engineering in the usa, hoping that I'll eventually work in some mega-tech corporations like Google, Samsung or Nokia. </p>

<p>Back to my current situation, here's what I've got so far:</p>

<p>IB Bilingual Diploma (for taking two languages at a literature level)
Chinese A1 SL: 5
English A2 SL: 6
Mathematics SL: 7
Business HL: 5
Physics HL: 6
Economics HL: 7
Theory of Knowledge + Extended Essay score: 1
Aggregate IB points: 37 (top 10th percent against all IB Diploma test-takers)</p>

<p>I've also received a grade of A in the British GCE A-level Pure Maths exam(self-studied). </p>

<p>SAT1 score: 1870 (CR580 W570 M720) (I know it is uncorrelated with my IB English A2 score)
SAT2 score: 800 for Math-level-2, 790 for Chinese (do colleges really care about this?)</p>

<p>ECAs(I'll just list two notable ones):
-Teacher Assistant in a profitable day-care center which aims to assist introverted/extreme-tempered children to be assimilated back into the society
-Bronze award for Duke of Edinburgh award</p>

<p>Awards(I'll just give a notable one):
-Distinction in Australian Mathematics Competition </p>

<p>I'm planning to transfer to UCLA, Berkeley and Cornell for Fall 2011, and I'm planning to take the ACTs(with writing) in Sep 2010, aiming for 34 in composite score. </p>

<p>What are my chances?
Also, how can I make use of my work experience in my college applications?</p>

2

<p>Solid chances my friend. If you DO get a 34 on the ACT, I would say you will be in for all three schools you mentioned. Your writing score is a bit low, but engineering is more quantitative. Send in all of your SAT subject test scores regardless of relevancy because it will help. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Oh and there will be a place on the application for you to list any work experience.</p>

4

<p>hey thanks man.
Any comments from other users?
Also, is transfer admissions for year 2 genuinely harder than the freshman admissions?</p>

5

<p>I think Berkeley and UCLA only accept junior transfers (you’d have to be over a certain number of units, about 60?). You’d probably be a sophomore in Fall 2011, and I don’t know how IB/AP credits factor into transferring units…do some research into the UC system.</p>

6

<p>oh, and transfer admissions are usually more difficult - not only because transfer acceptance rates are often lower than freshman acceptance rates at top schools, but also getting both secondary schools and college transcripts and paperwork is a pain. good luck!</p>

7

<p>You should seriously consider staying at Imperial. For what you want to do, it’s about as good as the places you mentioned. Also, it’s impossible to know what your chances would be until you get back your first year university grades. That said, you’re citizenship and the 1 you got could be serious barriers. Seriously consider staying at Imperial though. I lived in Singapore for 6 years, so I knew a lot of people who went there or wanted to go there, and for technological stuff it’s every bit as good as Cornell or Berkeley. The thing with those places too is that you’ll have to compete with a lot of other people from other great universities like MIT or Stanford that are as good or better than those two schools for IT jobs. By contrast, Imperial is head and shoulders above almost any other school in the UK or Europe. You might be competing with some Oxbridge types and some graduates of Moscow State, Ecole Des Mines, or ETI Zurich, but broadly speaking you’ll still be right at the top. What I’m saying here is that Imperial would put you in a better position for IT jobs in Europe than Cornell or Berkeley would for similar jobs in America. Also, getting a green card can be tough, so don’t bet too heavily on working in America. Consider these things before jumping off to Berkeley or Cornell.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for your detailed reply.
Imperial is one of the top engineering schools in Europe and in the world after all.
Certainly, staying there is a valid option and a wise decision. </p>

<p>But there may be a problem-I’ve chosen materials engineering for Imperial just for the sake of getting in to that school. I’m unsure whether I’ll enjoy the course or the career pathway beyond that degree.
Do UK schools allow students to change major, say, at the very start of the school year?</p>