TRANSFER APPLICANT- ADVICE MUCH NEEDED

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>Hello all,
I'm a freshman at a very competitive yet unknown program at a CUNY - a public school in NY. I would like to be a computer engineer, which is not a program offered here. I'm also interested in international development, as irrelevant as it sounds.</p>

<p>I'm considering applying to MIT - but I'm not sure how I should approach it! I know it's nearly impossible, but I still would like to try.
I looked at their website four times, but didn't find much specific information. If anyone has experience, or information, please PLEASE share. </p>

<p>1) What classes should I take?
2) Does it help that I'm learning a new language, my 4th?
3) How important are high school grades? (I'd gotten admission to UMichigan-Ann Arbor, but they wouldn't be competitive whatsoever for MIT.)
4) I expect my GPA to be around 3.87 -- does that make me totally disqualified?</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

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<p>I don’t know how much help this will be, but check this out if you haven’t: <a href=“Transfer eligibility | MIT Admissions”>http://mitadmissions.org/apply/transfer/before&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>That details that there is no set GPA, but competitive applicants would have to be 3.5 or higher.</p>

<p>Here is the actual application page:</p>

<p><a href=“MIT Transfer Admissions - SlideRoom”>MIT Transfer Admissions - SlideRoom;

<p>Hopefully this helps!</p>

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<p>If you want to be a computer engineer, why didn’t you go to U of M? They have a great EECS/computer engineering program.</p>

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<p>financial reasons^
now it’s still an option, but I’d rather stay on the coasts.</p>

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<p>@DaftNe:
If you cant afford UMichigan, can you share how you believe you’ll be able to afford MIT?</p>

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<p>@jpm50:
MIT can indeed be less expensive for some students. Anyone whose parents have very low income will find that MIT gives much more generous financial aid then the state schools will give. MIT figures out how much money each student’s family can afford to contribute toward tuition+all expenses that MIT estimates a student will need to attend their school and then they completely supplement the rest in the form of grants, no loans that are expected to be paid back, only grants. One exception is the student’s own contribution, that all students no matter their own personal income and savings, are expected to pay by working during the semester or summer. However that contribution can be lower for the students in the lowest financial brackets because of government grants that they may be eligible for. </p>

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<p>Thank you UglyMom. I do agree with everything you stated. </p>

<p>The part about @DeftNe’s comment that didn’t seem right was that he/she had written off UMichigan even before going though the financial aid process. MIT can be less expensive for some, but applicants should have their “plan b” options in place. Too many find out otherwise when it’s too late.</p>

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<p>Absolutely, the top schools are frequently cheaper, but nothing is guaranteed. Princeton was tops for this last year, where 74% of students graduated without debt, and the median debt for the remaining 26% was something like $5500. Whereas at MIT, last year only 59% graduated debt free, and the median debt for the 41% who graduated with debt was $11000. While MIT lags far behind Princeton, it is still well clear of most of the universities in the country. Some 90% of last years class received some form of financial aid. That’s just not true of most state universities for out of state students.</p>

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<p>@jpm50 I didn’t write off UMich. I really wanted to go there, and did go through the financial aid process, and begged them again and again, but it was still not affordable.
I obviously have my plan b. but this is not a discussion about my financial status but my application, so if you have anything constructive on that topic, please feel free to share.
i appreciate the concern in the comments about financial facts, but it is really for me to decide what option (debts, loans, scholarships etc.) to go with. …ONCE i get in.
This is NOT a feed about financial aid. i am asking about the application itself - eligibility to be accepted. thanks.</p>

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<p>@DaftNe:
Definitely do apply to MIT. No one can tell you if you’ll get in or not.</p>

<p>Spend time reading the MIT admission blog pages for what the school looks for in their freshman applicants.<br>
They’ll be looking for similar attributes in you.</p>

<p>There is no recipe for transfer students. I was accepted as a transfer. My academic profile was on the
weak side, but some of my other areas were exceptionally strong.</p>

<p>When you post a question on an open forum, be ready for any kind of response.</p>

<p>All the best.</p>

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<p>Part of the problem with asking about transfer is the very limited number of transfers that MIT accepts. MIT gets maybe 500-600 transfer applications per year, and accepts maybe 15-30. With those sorts of numbers, there just isn’t the population of people with direct experience in the process. The folks who have been around this board for a while have a pretty good view of the applicant pool for freshman undergraduate admissions. There are very few here (and jpm50 is one of the exceptions) who know enough about it to offer anything more than platitudes.</p>