Tips for Intended Transfer?

[humanperson]

Hello,

I intend to apply for transfer to Harvard at the end of the Spring Semester of the 2016-2017 academic year. I am currently a freshman at UC Berkeley and would like to transfer for the following reasons:

1. I feel that Berkeley does not support undergrads. I am constantly buried in administrivia and have had to deal with issues regarding housing, financial aid, OOS vs Instate classification, etc. I would like to attend a school where I can focus on my academics first and foremost.
2. The student body is absolutely huge, class sizes are terrifying, and there is little opportunity to build relationships with professors as the courses are taught by TAs. This will no doubt be a huge obstacle when I am searching for recommendations.
3. I do not match the school's social and political atmosphere. While I enjoy Berkeley's activist mindset, the school is liberal to a stifling degree. I do not feel comfortably voicing my own opinions in public as a result.

Would these reasons be valid for a transfer application?

Additionally, what can I do to improve my chances of getting in as a transfer, aside from getting a 3.8+ GPA? I am aware that the school only accepts around 12 out of 1500 applicants a year, so what can I do to stand out? Which extracurriculars do you recommend? Should I bother taking any SAT IIs now that I’m no longer in high school? Will a post-HS SAT II be thrown out?

Questions about transferring to Harvard: How easy is it for transfers to have a joint-concentration or switch concentrations? I am currently planning on declaring a CS major, but Harvard’s join-concentration program is a unique and I would love to study both Econ and CS. Is this something I can apply for as a transfer?

My stats:
ACT: 34
APs: English Literature (5), Human Geography (5), Environmental Science (4), Macroeconomics (4), Microeconomics (4), and Calculus BC (3)
High school GPA: 4.0 (Graduated from a selective private school with honors in History, English, Science, and Sustainability Studies)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. If there are any users who successfully transferred to Harvard, I would love to know about the details of your process. Thanks.

[gibby]

My guess is that a third of accepted transfer students (4) each year are recruited athletes. If I’m correct, that means Harvard accepts about 8 students each year who do not have an athletic hook! Think about – 8 students!

Are your reasons valid? Sure! Will they make a difference to Harvard? Absolutely not! Yale’s transfer Admissions site says it best, but I think everything in it applies to Harvard as well

Wanting to leave one’s current school is not a sufficient argument for admission to Yale. Transfer candidates should explain in their application essays how studying at Yale would give them an educational opportunity particular to their interests that could be experienced nowhere else.

With that in mind, what ACADEMIC reasons does Harvard offer you that cannot be experienced anywhere else? What courses does Harvard offer that you can’t find at Berkeley? What professors do you want to study with at Harvard? The more detailed and specific you can be about your academic pursuits, the more likely Harvard will see that you would benefit from their resources.

That said, I’m sure you are aware that Berkeley’s Computer Science Department is currently rated higher than Harvard’s. IMHO, applying to Harvard as a transfer CS applicant from Berkley is going to be a “tough sell.”
Best of luck to you!

[humanperson]

@gibby Thanks very much for that information. I have done and am currently doing some research about the academic opportunities that Harvard offers over Berkeley.

While Berkeley’s CS department is ranked significantly higher that Harvard’s, I feel that the smaller classes and more intimate relationships with professors will be more beneficial to me. Additionally, I have heard and personally believe that the graduate department rankings at Berkeley do not translate to the undergrad department. One of the unique programs at Harvard that intrigues me is their “joint-concentration” program. I am considering applying for a joint-concentration in CS and Environmental Studies. As far as I know, Berkeley does not offer any such program.

Also, I was hoping you could give me some insight into how friendly Harvard is to transfers. Is it possible for transfers to change their major once at the school or to declare a joint-concentration/secondary concentration?

[humanperson]

@gibby Also, I want to point out that at Berkeley, undergrads must declare CS in their junior year to be assigned that major. So I would actually be applying as an undeclared student.

[gibby]

While Berkeley’s CS department is ranked significantly higher that Harvard’s, I feel that the smaller classes and more intimate relationships with professors will be more beneficial to me.

Meh. You need to do a bit more research on Harvard’s CS Department: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/2/13/cs-seas-more-concentrators/

My class has maybe 40, 50 concentrators, but then there’s roughly 200 students who aren’t CS concentrators taking the class,” Morrisett said. “The reality is that for almost any field that you’re in now…you’re going to use computation.”

And that was 3 years ago. Here’s something a bit more recent: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/9/11/cs50-breaks-enrollment-records/

Computer Science 50: “Introduction to Computer Science I,” attracted a record-breaking 818 undergraduates this semester, marking the largest number in the course’s 30-year history and the largest class offered at the College in the last five years, according to the Registrar’s website. Including non-College students, the enrollment number totals 875.

Lewis postulated that his course this semester, Computer Science 121: “Introduction to the Theory of Computation,” enrolled more students than it ever had before: 153.

[gibby]

I was hoping you could give me some insight into how friendly Harvard is to transfers.

Transfers students must hit the ground running, especially those who have completed two years at another college. Sophomore transfers (just like regular sophomore students) must declare their concentration by the end of the first semester of sophomore year, and must list every course they are going to take over the next 2.5 years to graduate with that degree. I’m not sure what happens with transfer students entering the college their junior year; they might have to declare a concentration the first month of school.

FWIW: http://static.fas.harvard.edu/registrar/ugrad_handbook/current/chapter2/core_options.html

**Core Requirement for Transfer Students **

Students who entered Harvard College as sophomores or juniors, like those who enter as freshmen, are expected to devote almost one-quarter of their undergraduate coursework at Harvard to the Core Curriculum. The minimum number of Core areas from which courses must be chosen is specified upon entrance, as each student’s transfer credit is evaluated:

First term sophomore transfers: five Core areas
Second term sophomore transfers: four Core areas
Junior transfers: four Core areas

Transfer students who “accelerate” in order to complete their degrees in fewer terms than anticipated must nevertheless satisfy their Core requirement as originally specified upon entrance. Transfer students who opt to extend their undergraduate studies must complete one additional Core area for each additional term, with the exception that junior transfers who remain for a fifth term do not need to take a fifth Core course.

To ensure that each transfer student is introduced to the breadth of approaches to knowledge offered in the Core Curriculum, the Core requirement of each student is individually defined. Those areas designated as required are those Core areas most remote from the work to be done in the concentration and from the coursework already completed at the previous institution.