Top Stanford "Feeder Schools"?

Transfer Students
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<p>I've searched extensively on both this site and others regarding the top feeder community colleges for Stanford, but have not been able to find any actual data or statistics on this. I realize that Stanford has no official feeder schools; I am more interested in knowing from which institutions the 50 or so yearly transfer students come from. I am only concerned with the top community colleges. </p>

<p>I have read that Diablo Valley College as well as Foothill College are among the top institutions from which Stanford selects it's transfer students. What are some others? Is there a site which lists such statistics?</p>

<p>I am currently attending my local CC, but plan to relocate and attend one of these colleges in hopes of bettering my chances of transferring into Stanford. Every little bit helps. </p>

<p>Also, please keep any negativity to yourself. Even if Stanford only accepted one transfer student per year I would still do everything possible to get in.</p>

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<p>It’s harder to transfer into Stanford than if you were a freshman applying to Stanford–just saying this to clarify.
You need Extra-Circ, lots of it. Outstanding civil service, community service, making a difference in service, create a club, and many other things other than a +4.0 GPA Honor Student. Get A’s in everything, nothing less.</p>

<p>You need a very high SAT/ACT scores and a very impressive high school transcript (Yes, Stanford still require these for transfers)</p>

<p>-Official Testing (SAT or ACT Plus Writing) sent from the College Board or ACT, yes Stanford still requires transfers to submit SAT scores.
-Two College Instructor Evaluations
-College Report
-Final high school transcript</p>

<p>And your question on which community college to attend for transferring to Stanford–its neither! They won’t help that much, maybe they do affect the decision barely if any is applicable. It’s your overall stats that is the main factor in getting into Stanford.</p>

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<p>I don’t want to derail my thread two posts in, but I suppose some background info is necessary.</p>

<p>I am 26 years old.</p>

<p>High School was not exactly my academic prime. I did not care about school whatsoever back then, and I did the bare minimum required to graduate. I enrolled at my local community college immediately after, and did not do well there either. Fortunately, I did not take any transferable courses during that time. I was enrolled in the Automotives Program at the college and dropped out before I moved on to general education, so not a lot of damage was done.</p>

<p>After dropping out I spent the next few years basically doing nothing. Simply working odd jobs here and there, but nothing of real value. I “dropped back in” to college during the Spring 2012 semester, and I have been a 4.0 student since.</p>

<p>I am confident that I can score very highly on the SAT’s with some preparation. I am an Electrical Engineering major and very good at math. I am a very strong writer as well and I am banking on my essays to do the brunt of the work towards me getting accepted.</p>

<p>Although my high school transcript is incredibly pathetic, it has been 8 years since I graduated high school, and 6 years since my previous stint at college. I’m hoping that Stanford takes this into consideration when they review my application.</p>

<p>My main concern is EC’s. Personally, I couldn’t care less about being involved in clubs or serving my community, however, I recognize that EC’s are a major factor — although I wish they weren’t. Any advice on how I may strengthen my future application in this area would be greatly appreciated. I know that everyone tells you not to do EC’s just to do them, but that is exactly what is necessary to get into almost any institution. I just hope this doesn’t become transparent in my essays.</p>

<p>Also, what kind of work load does Stanford expect of it’s applicants? Sure, I can get a 4.0 all day, easy. But I have only been taking 12-14 units per semester. Not because I can’t handle more, but because I REALLY want to learn the material. I’m not a Humanities major; the things I learn in class I’m actually going to have to use when I’m out of college. I could take more units and still get a 4.0, but I would be doing the minimum amount of work possible to get an A. I’m sure you all know that getting an A in a course and learning the material well can be two completely different things. My passion is learning, and it is not uncommon for me to spend my free time researching relevant supplemental info for the courses I’m taking.</p>

<p>I appreciate the help — I don’t want to have to settle for Berkeley. (Joking… sort of)</p>

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<p>Settle for Berkeley? That’s a top 20 school. Dude, with your situation, you should feel lucky if you get accepted to any UC. 4.0 students get denied from Berkeley all the time.</p>

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<p>would suggest to OP to re-adjust your sights…said you didn’t do well your first semester but that it didn’t hurt you too much…can I infer from that that your GPA overall is less than a 4.0? </p>

<p>I’m currently applying as a non-trad transfer applicant to Stanford and have limited chances realistically…am 1 year younger than you, went to CC 1 yr, transferred to a major state school, and have maintained a 4.0 through pre-med weeder courses, am a URM, am a USAF reservist, am currently involved in research, played pro-soccer for 3 years right out of high school and I give myself a 1 in 20 shot of getting in. Temper your expectations and aim for guaranteed admission to Cal or UCLA and be happy you have such great state schools to fall back on.</p>

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<p>What exactly is “[my] situation”?</p>

<p>I’m 8 years out of high school; my performance there hardly reflects upon me as a student today.</p>

<p>It’s true that transfer students have a chip on their shoulder, and I am no exception.You can call me arrogant if you want, but I’m a bit older than most college students and I know myself well. I can be just as good as anyone at Berkeley — anyone anywhere.</p>

<p>And just to entertain your thought… Anything less than a UC is simply not option. I didn’t go back to school to attend a CSU. If I got into no UC’s I would wait a year and try again.</p>

<p>Once again: I mentioned the 50 transfer student per year statistic in my original post to discourage comments such as yours. I know the numbers. 1,512 applicants, 34 admissions, 2.2%. </p>

<p>I’ll give up when they send me a rejection letter, thanks.</p>

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<p>Thank you yolocholo. My philosophy is to aim for the top of the ladder, and if I fall, grab onto the highest rung I can. If I aimed for Berkeley I definitely wouldn’t get into Stanford, and maybe not even Berkeley. Stanford is my dream and I see no reason to not do everything in my power to achieve it.</p>

<p>After high school I went straight to community college for two years (2004-2006). I started again in 2012. My first time out ('04-'06) I took Automotive courses which do not transfer to a four year institution. My counselor said that those grades will be in my official transcript, but should not hurt me too badly as they are; 6 years old; non-transferable classes.</p>

<p>During my 2004-2006 enrollment my GPA was a 2.x.</p>

<p>Since re-enrolling in 2012 it has been a 4.0. So on my transcript it is listed as a 3.3, although it’s slowly going up from all these A’s I’m adding to it. When a college looks at my transcript they’ll see I had poor grades 6 years ago, and a 4.0 from 2012 and on. Therefore, I don’t see my previous grades posing too big of a problem. I did not take a single class that is required for my major during my first college enrollment. All courses relating to my major have been taken from 2012 on.</p>

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<p>the problem OP is that you really have to stand out with your EC’s to get in to the top 10 schools. I’m a non-trad also and like to dream big but my expectations with my Stanford and Yale apps is for nothing to come of them…as an aside if you want a big name school check out the UPenn LPS and the Columbia-GS programs…targets non-trads like us…also instead of 9% admit rate they’re closer to 25% from what I can tell…once you’re in you just have to prove you belong.</p>

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<p>Forgot to mention, I am also a URM (Hispanic) and first generation college student.</p>

<p>I live in California (Bay Area), and would like to stay in state for school. Although I would consider CMU or MIT, but come on, not even I would give myself a chance at MIT.</p>

<p>When I do apply it’ll be:</p>

<p>Stanford
Berkeley
UCLA
Cal Tech</p>

<p>Haven’t given any others any serious consideration.</p>

<p>And yeah, I could go to Stanford for my Masters, but that’ll be even harder than getting in now. It’s easy to get a 4.0 at a CC, not easy at all to finish an engineering undergraduate degree with even a 3.0. That’s why I’d rather try to get in now while I can, than later when I can’t.</p>

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<p>…and if you don’t get into any of those four highly-to-extremely-selective institutions, then what? You just won’t transfer? Wait out another year, apply to the same four schools and maybe get rejected from the same four schools again? Why not apply to several other UCs? I’d be surprised if you didn’t get into at least one if you added Davis, Irvine and San Diego to the list. The difference between Berkeley and Davis isn’t that big and it certainly isn’t worth waiting another year for another non-guaranteed application.</p>

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<p>Actually yes, I would wait a year and then try again. I took 6 years off school, what’s another?</p>

<p>It’s only a year and gives me a second opportunity to attend a name brand school. The alternative being… not taking a year off, attending a less well known school, and having that reflected in a lower starting salary, and less employment opportunities—both quality and quantity wise—for the rest of my career.</p>

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<p>The difference in “name brand” between Berkeley and Davis isn’t that big, and if you plan on going to graduate school, that’s going to be the “name brand” that matters, anyway. Nobody will care that your BS is from Cal Poly Pomona if your MS is from Georgia Tech. My father has a BA from Cal State Northridge and a Ph.D from UC Berkeley. My BS is from the University of Idaho and I’m about to earn an MS from Indiana University.</p>

<p>What happens if you get rejected from all four schools two years in a row, which is a not-small probability given the extraordinary selectivity of two of them?</p>

<p>Furthermore, the difference in starting salaries between a UC Davis grad and a UC Berkeley grad is way less than the entire year’s salary you would give up by waiting a full year to apply again, thus pushing back your entry to the workforce by that full year.</p>

<p>After you start working, nobody is really going to care where your degree is from - what you do on the job is going to determine your career advancement. Ten years into a successful career in engineering, nobody is going to look at your resume and say “gee, he went to Davis instead of Berkeley, he must suck, we’re not going to hire him.”</p>

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<p>By the way, I understand where you’re coming from. I took time off too, worked my way through a California community college and earned my bachelor’s degree at the age of 26. I’ll be 29 when I finish my master’s.</p>

<p>Waiting is OK. I just don’t think you should wait a full year to begin finishing your degree based on the frankly slim chance that at the end of that year, you get accepted to one of four highly-selective schools (two of which accept virtually no transfer students) that you were rejected from in the previous application cycle.</p>

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<p>I addressed your first argument in a previous post of mine. Although a Masters would override my undergraduate education. It will be significantly more difficult to get into a top Masters program than it is to transfer from a CC. Like I said, a 4.0 coming out of a CC is easily attainable if you work hard enough and put the time in. Contrast that with how difficult the EECS program at Berkeley is. I definitely won’t be getting a 4.0 coming out of that.</p>

<p>Starting salaries are one thing. Missed opportunities on the basis of my alma mater are another. I’m no expert on engineer salaries, but it’s pretty easy to see that even a slightly lower yearly salary will eventually amass to a large sum of money lost over the course of an entire career.</p>

<p>I do see your reasoning. I’ll admit I haven’t given transferring a great deal of thought as I’m still at a very early stage in my education. Perhaps when I get to the point when it’s time to make such a decision I won’t have as bold of an attitude. I hate Davis, both the town and the school, but I would of course consider UCSC, UCSD, etc.</p>

<p>I am not at all prepared to not go to Berkeley though. Stanford may be a pipe dream, but I’ll still try. But Berkeley I feel is a realistic goal.</p>

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<p>That’s simply not true given that two of the four schools you’re applying to accept virtually no transfer students. Acceptance rates for high-level master’s programs are much much higher than the 2% transfer acceptance rates at Stanford and Caltech. Stanford’s MS in EE accepts about ~30% of its applicants.</p>

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<p>You don’t need a 4.0 to get into a top master’s program. Virtually nobody has a 4.0 in college. Maintaining even a 3.5 would put you among the top students in an EE program. Acceptance into graduate school is not all about GPA anyway - it’s about research/professional experience and academic recommendations. My undergraduate GPA was 3.1 and I was accepted and funded at several top programs in my field.</p>

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<p>All selective schools are going to want to see transfer applicants taking challenging coursework, in both the number of credits and the rigor of the classes. IMO this is particularly true for transfers from CCs. Before any flames, I am a CCC > Cal > MS > PhD, so I’m not saying this to be condescending, but rather realistic. While the content of the courses at a CC will be comparable to that of a 4 year, the academic level of the cohort will not be, particularly when one considers that many transfer applicants to a school like S will be from schools with competitive fr admissions. Also, S will want to know that any transfer they accept will be able to succeed while carrying a full load.</p>

<p>p.s. You’re getting very good advice from members, I’d agree with the previous posts.</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, regardless of how long ago your high school was, they still use your high school transcript for admissions as a transfer. They are very strict about this (In fact, all the students who went to Stanford had overall near perfect academic history. Meaning stellar grades in high school, honor students, and etc.). Also, I believe the transfer that were accepted to Stanford were also the one with stellar high school transcripts, academic history, E.C., and etc. And high school transcript weighs in just as heavy as the SAT score, college grades, and everything else. Even though you graduated from high school a long time ago, they still base that transcript on the decisions.</p>

<p>Yes, they also know that everyone changes, grows, and mature since high school, that nobody is perfect–but they also know that denying admission to you is not the end of the world and that you can still succeed without going to Stanford. So, they do reject people easily and nonchalantly. </p>

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<p>That’s great! The average SAT scores of the incoming accepted freshman was 2350. The entire SAT score is out of 2400. So, you want to aim for–almost–perfect scores.</p>

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<p>The whole point of EC is because they want students who have the ability to have the drive in changing the world, they don’t just want students with high grades. There are many students with high grades and high scores, but what makes you stand out? E.C will.</p>

<p>Also, Berkeley is a superb school and they are considered a public ivy league school. You should not be ashamed at all since they are nationally and internationally known. Berkeley is also a great school with many of their graduates getting accepted into Stanford for Master’s, Professional, and other advance degree’s. However, because of your previous academic past from your high school, I do believe it will weigh in heavily against you. But don’t give up, give it a shot! You might never know unless you give it a shot!</p>

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<p>Good luck with that ridiculously anti-intellectual, self-absorbed attitude.</p>

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<p>Lawlking, I do want to change the world, I just don’t agree that EC’s are a valid measure of your determination to do that.</p>

<p>akingofcrimson, thanks kid. You’ll work for me one day.</p>

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<p>That is true and I also agree with it; but unfortunately, those are the rules. :/</p>

<p>I wish you well, good luck!</p>