<p>I'm currently a student at the University of Chicago, but I may have to transfer in a year since my custodial parent's income is going to rise to $60k, meaning that Chicago will probably boost my tuition to $30k-40k/year, something I simply can't afford. So, in short, I'm looking to gain entrance to another great institution that's great in mathematics. In particular, I'm looking at Columbia, Yale, Harvard (I'm aware of its recent transfer block, though), Stanford, and MIT. So here goes...</p>
<p>HS Record: Pretty good, took some difficult courses, including MVC, Diff Eq, Linear Algebra, et al. ECs involved community service, being president of Go Club and Anime Club, a Japanese competition (in which I ended up being the regional champion), and some more stuff that I can't recall off the top of my head. Covered 3 years of Japanese in a semester, did independent study under the head Japanese professor for the remaining 1.5 years of my residency (I went to a regionally reputable boarding school).</p>
<p>University of Chicago GPA: 3.72, will probably rise to 3.75-ish by the end of the year, and up to 3.8-ish by the end of next year.
- Tested out of Chicago's Honors Calculus course, was one of 10 out of 1300 first-years invited to take Honors Analysis and one of about 5 first-years still in the course.
- Tested out of 1st-year Japanese, the only first-year to be taking Intermediate Japanese. Will probably attempt a test-out of 3rd year Japanese into 4th-year Japanese over the summer. May take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 1 or 2 December of this year.</p>
<p>Recommendations:
- I can probably get a good one from a rather prominent graduate analysis professor here. I'm the only first-year in his Complex Analysis class and scored about 20 percent above median on the midterm and will probably do pretty well on the final.
- I should also be able to get a pretty good recommendation letter from my Algebra professor next year, who's a pretty prominent research mathematician. Should be particularly good since my research interests lie in K-Theory, so I should be well-acquainted with him by the time 2nd-year is over.
- If necessary (and I mean COMPLETELY necessary), I can get a recommendation from Paul Sally, undergraduate chair of mathematics and famous mathematician. I'm taking Honors Analysis under him this quarter, and I should be getting at least an A-, but honestly, he makes me extremely uncomfortable, so I don't want to ask him unless it's absolutely necessary.
- I don't know if a 3rd recommendation is recommended or required or whatever, but I can almost guarantee that I can get another one from another math professor or, if necessary, from a humanities or Japanese professor.</p>
<p>Essays:
- I did get into UChicago and got As in my HUM classes, so I think I should be able to write some pretty good essays, particularly about my love for math. But in all honesty, I don't know what a transfer application encompasses. Even though I'm transferring primarily due to financial issues, I can demonstrate great interest in the respective universities, so I don't think there will be any problems here.</p>
<p>I'll be extremely grateful for any comments or advice you can give me. I'm also interested in any more colleges you would like to recommend. Also, if there's any more criteria you need for judgment, feel free to ask.</p>