My life and my story.

Transfer Students
1

<p>I guess this is like a "What are my chances?". But I just want to share my story and see what the community thinks!</p>

<p>When I went to UMich, I took full course load as a freshman, and I got a 4.0, with 3 A+'s. Then, my parents suffered a financial lawsuit, and went bankrupt. I was forced to work multiple jobs to support myself and my family. </p>

<p>My 4.0 eventually became a 3.5. I got B- and C+ in Introductory computer science classes, my intended major. And even a B+ in Intro Econ and Chemistry. At the same time, I was working on my own research project with a professor. I got an A+ in this "research project" class. This led to 2 algorithms, invented by me (patent-pending).</p>

<p>I took a leave of absence from UMich, so that I can focus on working and helping with my father's lawsuit. At the time of my departure, I had accumulated 3 semesters.</p>

<p>I realized that the Algorithm I invented had large potential. So, I started a technology company based on this new invented technology. As things got better, I traveled by myself across the country to Silicon Valley (San Francisco)...There were times when I literally had to eat ramen noodles every meal. Fortunately, I was able to find a job at Sony as a software engineer as well as focus on my own company.</p>

<p>My adventure was amazing, and I experienced so much:
-As the CEO of my company, I assembled a team of 9 people. Some of them are big-name CEOs and executives who decided to join me.
-Raised about 1 Million in funding from wealthy angel investors
-Invented technology that resulted in 2 patents-pending.
-Integrated with technology that was born at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Genentech (5 patents)
-Our technology won the R/D 100 award. This is a significant award, and it is very competitive (Fortune 500 companies applying every year).
-Created partnerships and licensed our technology to large, publicly-traded companies.
-Please note: many of these things were accomplished by the company, not ME individually. (I only created the core algorithms)</p>

<p>However, my company failed. I truly learned a lot. I met many people, and my experiences could not have been any richer. If I stayed in college, I would not have been able to gone on this wonderful adventure. But...Just because the initial company failed, it does not mean that the vision and technology is dead. I want to continue my education and create the next big thing. I have an idea in mind, but I realize I need more education to turn it into reality.</p>

<p>I am currently 21 years old, and I took 2 years off of college. I want to transfer to Stanford because I am addicted to Silicon Valley. My entire network of people is here. I'm accustomed to life here, in the valley. I want to study at Stanford so that I can remain in this environment. I lived an adventure that took me up and down many roadblocks, across states, successes, and failures. In the end, I failed, but I want to stay here. Because it is here at Stanford that I can continue to be involved in the high-tech environment.</p>

<p>I understand that my GPA is a negative hit. Especially since I am a computer science major, but got a C+ in Introductory Programming. What do you think? I also want to apply to MIT and Berkeley.</p>

<p>(I was top 1% of high school class. 33 ACT. I also took 2 high-level classes at a community college, and got A+'s . They're computer science related.)</p>

<p>Thank you for your thoughts :]</p>

2

<p>you can’t apply to harvard or princeton because they don’t take transfers. yale takes a really small number of transfers every year. good luck with stanford, your story is pretty impressive.</p>

3

<p>You have an impressive story, one that I think Stanford will like very very much. However, Stanford takes a RIDICULOUSLY small amount of transfers each year. Because of your unique story, and your involvement in the Silicon Valley, it might be worth talking to the admissions committee at Stanford. </p>

<p>Anyways, I’d say you have a great chance, but that would be a lie, because NO ONE has a great chance of transferring to Stanford, haha. But good luck.</p>

4

<p>I would talk to as many people at Stanford as I possibly could until application decisions were released. Its a phenomenal story. Kid creates a company that gets funded. Stanford would love another google story, if you find another big thing. Other than getting your story out and letting people at stanford know that you’re applying. Next would be focusing on your studies and getting some great grades from here on out.</p>

<p>Dean of admissions
Admissions counselors
Dean of the engineering school</p>

<p>All the above people have quite some pull and can drop your name to the readers so they can get a glimpse of your app while its under review. There’s rules but… its people, people break the rules all the time.</p>

5

<p>Stanford only offers transfer admission for the fall term. This means, as far as I understand, that you couldn’t transfer there for an entire year since it’s way passed the deadline for this coming fall semester.</p>

<p>Your story is extremely interesting! I’d say you’ll have about as good a chance as anybody could ever hope for in applying as a transfer to competitive schools. :D</p>

6

<p>If you can articulate yourself well, get connected to different people in admissions (calling and explaining your situation), and provide evidence to all of this, I think you could get into -any- college you wanted.</p>

7

<p>Stanford is good but if you’re very attached to that area, try Berkeley as well. it’s just so hard to get into Stanford that you should aim for other schools as well.</p>

8

<p>If college applications were objects and I was a method that acted on them, your application would have just thrown an exception.</p>

<p>Sorry for my crappy Java analogy. I really don’t know what to say, except that you’ve had some exceptional circumstances and you would be a special case to any university and there’s no way to really even remotely accurately predict how an admissions committee would respond to your story.</p>

<p>I agree with what was said earlier - talk to some people in the admissions department in the schools you wish to apply to - see what they have to say.</p>

<p>On a side note, I’m not going to forget this board - I fully believe you have the potential to become the next google :)</p>

9

<p>Thanks for the advice, everyone. It seems that everyone advises me to talk to the admissions committee. </p>

<p>My question is:
Since I already know why I want to go to Stanford, how should I approach them meaningfully? Is it normal to ask an admission officer, “What do you think of my situation?” </p>

<p>They get a thousand transfers a year. Why would the admission officer want to speak to me if I already know my objective? Won’t the admission officers see it as a way for the student to “get in”? He’ll just tell me to apply and see what happens.</p>

<p>Can someone please reinforce the concept that talking to admission officers really work? </p>

<p>Thanks :)</p>

10

<p>i think it would work because if you impress them, theyll remember your name… talk to them about the school, get a list of questions and ask :slight_smile: even if you know some of the answers :)</p>

<p>also, you said you have a lot of contacts around the area, and that a lot of big-name CEO’s joined you… well, see if they have any pull, maybe they know the dean or are alumni? anyone with influence is a good contact for you right now :slight_smile: ask them to write you a LOR, or maybe see if they can talk to the dean for you if they know him… you see what i mean ?
stanford is such a ridiculously hard place to get into as a transfer that no one is safe… you have a great shot(as far as shots @ stanford go) imo, but still, you need to do everything that you can :)</p>