Need Some Transfer Advice For Now and Future!

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi all! I had a few questions and I needed a little advice regarding my transfer plan for the future. Any help is appreciated! For background:</p>

<p>So for high school I had a good, but underachieving career. I won a few not too impressive awards such as National Merit Scholar, AP Scholar, etc., took an intensive course load with math up to abstract math and linear algebra, took a ton of AP's, but didn't quite have GPA and test scores as high as I wanted to them to be. With my head up a little too high, I didn't get into the few places I had in mind.</p>

<p>I ended up at Colorado State University and I just finished my first year there double majoring in electrical engineering and computer science. I had a very successful year in my book, 4.0, 42 semester credits, many leadership/extracurricular opportunities, and high department recognition including being the only freshman to win an achievement award in a very large engineering department. </p>

<p>As bad as it was, I kinda told myself I was going to transfer from the start. Though I gave a full shot, my fears turned out to be true; as good of a school CSU may be, it is absolutely not the school for me on almost every level. I started the transfer path, determined not to mess up my apps again. I applied to Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvey Mudd, Santa Clara, Stanford, USC, Yale, Berkeley and UCLA. I was a little disappointed to only get into Santa Clara and USC and wait listed at Dartmouth because I was very happy with my applications. At this point, I could still go to USC (enrolled), maybe Santa Clara, or stay at CSU.</p>

<p>My big questions revolve around if have a decent shot of transferring next year. I'm already considered a senior at CSU, will have 125ish credits (some AP) there by the end of the year, and with 50+ credits in my major (mostly EE), I could easily graduate with a EE degree in 3 years. None of my options turned out perfectly this year. As good of a school as USC is, I'm not completely sold on it, especially considering CSU doesn't cost me a penny but USC would cost me a substantial bit. So while I'm still exploring that option, I thought I would check my other options for few years. I could just stick it out at CSU for undergrad or try again to transfer next year.</p>

<p>Would people even consider me though? Places like Berkeley, Cornell and Stanford (Stanford is my dream school. If not for undergrad, grad school there is incredibly important)? I just feel like I wouldn't be considered because of all my credits (mostly all in math, science, engineering, or tech) and my degree completion rate. As I've found out this year, transfer admits aren't always the ones with the most impressive apps. Schools have full choice on the types of admits they want and I'm very worried that if I didn't fit the profile this year, I doubt I would next year. I consider my transfer attempt this year to be a failure and I don't want go through all the time and thought again if I'm inherently doomed.</p>

<p>Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Given the financial difference and the fact that you want to get a graduate degree anyway, I would recommend finishing at CSU as quickly as possible and getting some research experience to prepare for admission to a strong graduate program. If you decide for a masters degree, you may have to self-fund and saving money now will give you flexibility later.</p>

<p>Graduate programs don’t really care what school you did your undergraduate work at as long as you have a strong academic record, good GRE scores and strong letters of reference. All of this is possible at CSU if you put in the effort.</p>

3

<p>Truthfully, if you achieved a 4.0 and were not accepted to those other universities, it probably had to do with your essays. Unless you think you can really improve your essays, it is unlikely you will be admitted. Additionally, if you decide to reapply, you should focus on four or five schools and really make those applications glow. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>xraymancs speaks from a position of authority, and I would definitely follow that advice. Since you’re considered a senior there, I would also recommend concentrating on that affordable degree, and begin researching graduate admissions requirements, contacts and your GREs. Your dream is still achievable!</p>

5

<p>Thanks for all of your advice!</p>

<p>@xraymancs + SJTH – I completely agree with you that CSU is very likely the better option for the financial, career, and graduate aspects. I would likely get involved with research projects this year and I would be in hopefully be in good position to get into “elite” schools for grad schools (something that is very important to me if I were to stay at CSU). The complication is though that I really am miserable at CSU. I really don’t enjoy it here and I feel like I’m wasting some of the best years of my life from a living aspect to me. So I guess another question I have is, how do the graduate years compare to the undergrad ones in terms of being able to fully enjoy college? I’ve always thought that undergrad was the time to have fun and that graduate school was when things got serious. If I knew that grad school could be just as fun at a good university, I think I could probably struggle through the next few years a little easier.</p>

<p>@lexieam – Yeah they might have had an effect. I put varying effort into them; a few of my essays were very good and others were half-assed. So while I could definitely improve some of them, I don’t think I could really improve upon say, my Stanford ones on which I spent weeks on. I completely agree, if I applied again I would narrow my search. If I applied again, I’d probably only apply to Berkeley, Cornell, Stanford, maybe USC, and maybe one other. Though would my current degree status and classes that I’ve taken perhaps hamper my chances? Because I wouldn’t think that schools would really be interested in taking people who could be close to getting a degree.</p>

<p>Also, does anyone have any advice in choosing between personal life and student/career success?</p>

6

<p>Bump! Any advice, new or old, I could really use! Thanks!</p>