Is it ever possible? - international transfer

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi. I am a prospect college freshman, and I know it's little too early to discuss such an issue, but here I go.</p>

<p>I've been currently accepted to University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, but I am thinking of transfer in my second or third of college (there is reason...). I was thinking of transferring to another US schools, but one UK school came into my sight, and as you probably can guess, it's Cambridge. Several resources showed me that transfer is not something very common in UK and transfer to school like Cambridge is virtually impossbile. Is it true? If not, I wish to know detailed process of applying for transfer student... (major is phyiscs)</p>

<p>Plus... this is not about int. tans., but I am wondering how important is high school grade in transfer admission. I certainly did NOT bomb my high school years, but the only weakness I have is that I took several not rigorous courses in my 9th grade. I am not sure what my college transcript will look like, but I am nearly sure that they will be really good (aiming for GPA of 3.9~4.0). My dream schools are MIT, Caltech, and U Chicago, and I would appreciate your advice regarding this. It will be fantastic if you transferred to one of those schools from U of M...</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

2

<p>I can only answer the second question, and it depends on how many college credits you have. If you have 30+ your high school academic record seems to be less important.</p>

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<h2>From Cambridge website:</h2>

<p>Q. Can I transfer to Cambridge from another university? </p>

<h2>A. It is not possible for a student to transfer to Cambridge to pursue only part of a degree course. All students must start in the first year of our three- or four-year undergraduate programmes.</h2>

<p>So, as you can see, it is not virtually impossible to transfer to Cambridge. It is impossible to :frowning: </p>

<p>You can always finish UMich with a 4.0 and become a Rhodes Scholar and go to Cambridge :)</p>

4

<p>Oh yeah. But if you have stellar scores, essays, ECs and is absolutely determined then nobody can stop you from using the freshman application :). In the US we have to apply as transfers but its different in UK. Regardless, you know the odds. “Virtually impossible”</p>

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<p>That, too, is impossible… seeing as how Rhodes scholars go to Oxford, and not Cambridge.</p>

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<p>Haha. yeah, u r right. i didnt really check that. just remembered that Rhodes leads to a most pretigious UK school. Anyway, a lil bit off topic, so Cambridge & Oxford, which is more pretigious?</p>

7

<p>Yeah, it’s merely impossible to transfer. Cambridge have a strong cooperation and exchange programs with MIT, and have strong ties with Harvard, Yale, Penn, but that’s not about transferring, but spending one year abroad.
Anyway, if you prove yourself an extraordinary applicant, you can go to Cambridge as a Gates scholar to work for a masters or a PhD. (Ten years ago Bill gates donated $210 to Cambridge, to establish a scholarship like the Rhodes. )</p>

<p>More prestigious? Well…they’re roughly equal. Oxford slightly have more prestige than Cambridge, at least in the eyes of average Joe, but not in the academia. (Not everywhere of course, in China for example, Cambridge have the edge over Oxford.) Contrary to this, Cambridge is the stronger university (ARWU World: Cambridge 5, Oxford 10, QS World (which is the list used by US News) Cambridge 1, Oxford 6. Recently the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings (what a name…) placed Cambridge 3rd, while Oxford 6th among the most prestigious universities worldwide.
Cambridge is also a powerhouse in hard sciences, just have a look: [List</a> of Nobel laureates by university affiliation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_university_affiliation]List”>List of Nobel laureates by university affiliation - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>People used to say that Oxford for humanities, Cambridge for sciences, but this is merely a might, caused by some article in the Times about 200 years ago. (Also, nowadays sciences rule, and humanities are not that important, so it’s not the best myth for Oxford :)I came to Oxford after having a Cambridge MPhil (Masters) in hand, mainly because of financial reasons, but I like Cambridge more, have to say. Or at least the town. Oxford is very conservative, while Cambridge is more liberal (compared to Oxford, and Oxford only…), but both are excellent, world class universities with fantastic prestige, and 900 and 800 years old history, respectively.</p>

8

<p>If you really want to attend Cambridge why not just apply next year (into the first year, not as a transfer)? If you get in and decide to attend you’d still graduate at the same time as your US counterparts, because as I’m sure you’re aware the degree only takes three years.</p>

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<p>No it isn’t.</p>

9

<p>Oh my. I’m dealing with humanities, still, it’s clear that when it comes to ranking, prestige, or most importantly, funding, humanities not threaded equally with science. It is a fact, no matter whether you like it or not. Nobody would care much about an institution purely based on humanities, while many care about the ones based on science (MIT, CalTech, Imperial, for instance) and pls. don’t argue that “but MIT deals with humanities too” - it’s not their priority.</p>

<p>Oxford is the most traditional and conservative school I’ve ever been into, or ever visited. It’s definitely more conservative than Cambridge, although I agree, maybe the “traditional” would be a better word.</p>