What would a student need to know about transferring from the engineering school at Rennselaer Poly to Cooper Union? Currrently a HS senior. ACT 35, strong LORs, Advanced Math Seminar for 2 years, Calc AP - 5. Currently admitted at RPI for Fall 2022. Wishing that he had given Cooper Union a shot.
Oh, and GPA 3.7.
Does he want to transfer?
I don’t really know too much about those two schools as well as their transfer policies but you can check the website for transfer preparation.
I also know that transferring schools can be a bit tricky; a lot of it depends on the seat availability and preparation for the major to the receiving school. Also remember that financial aid is questionable for transfers because most schools save their merit dollars for freshman candidates.
Transferring to Cooper Union is described here:
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RPI is very good and well known for engineering, and is ABET accredited.
Cooper Union according to Prepscholar has an 13% overall acceptance rate.
My general feeling is that internships are more important than the difference between RPI versus Cooper Union, getting to know your professors can help with internships, and getting to know your professors might be more difficult if you transfer.
To me this looks like an unnecessary reach. It might be possible, but I would not expect it to happen.
If your son goes to RPI, I would expect him six or eight years from now to find himself working alongside MIT graduates and no one will care which employee graduated from which university. Working alongside Cooper Union graduates might be less likely just because it is so small, but again if this happens no one will care where your son got his degree.
Congratulations on the RPI acceptance. It is a very good university (I am assuming that you can afford it).
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AuntBea… cant really know right now. He’s a brilliant kid that does have difficulty with personal decision-making. I’ve stayed out of his college app process because I just felt it best, but now I’m wondering if he was as well served by his counselor as he could have been. ANYWAY… I’d never push him toward anything. We looked at Cooper about four years ago when we were in NYC visiting. He thought it was really cool, but we still had most of HS still in front of him. Thanks to ucbalumnus for sharing the Transfer Student link. I had a look at that, but it seems to lack info about what classes need to come from the previous college in order to “qualify” and it doesn’t cover much about how often transfers occur if they’re likey at all… etc. A call to admissions may be in order at this point. Good to know about the financial aspect as well… hadn’t totally considered that. He got a really nice offer with RPI.
I think it’s a mistake starting at a school with the intention of transferring, especially for a student who struggles with decision making. RPI is a great school for engineering. One of the smartest people I know did their undergrad at RPI and then went on to MIT. He should be getting excited about RPI, buying swag, and connecting with other accepted students. If after his first year he is unhappy, then revisit, but I think it’s a mistake to talk about transferring before he even starts. There is no need for buyer’s remorse with colleges.
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