Transfer from State School to a More Well Known School Increase Grad School chances?

Graduate School
1

<p>I am planning to transfer from Virginia Tech to The University of Virginia (engineering). I am planning to do a Ph. D in Computer Science (possibly Computer Engineering) in the future.</p>

<p>Assuming I have the grades to transfer in, would it be a prudent choice to transfer to UVA strictly for better research opportunities?</p>

2

<p>Not at all. The differences between those universities is not enough to justify the headache. Not to mention you’ll definitely end up delaying your graduation due to the transition.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the quick reply Michael. Would it make a difference it was from Virginia Tech to say Carnegie Mellon? Would you say that regardless of the school, there really is no “advantages”. Is really comes down to grades and research?</p>

4

<p>Believe me, even to Carnegie Mellon its not worth it.
And more than likely, your grades will drop if you go to a top school and that will matter a lot more than school prestige (which is a very minor factor in grad school admissions anyway).</p>

5

<p>Why are you so down on Virginia Tech? Just hit the books.</p>

6

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</p>

<p>If there are indeed better research opportunities and you can avail yourself of them, then yes, it will help your chances. But if you have good research opportunities at Virginia Tech and you are otherwise happy there, with good grades, then there’s no reason why you need to transfer. You might want to stop by the CS office at Virginia Tech to see where other CS majors have gone to graduate school. If the list looks like the B-list at a party, then you’d be better off transferring to a school that better prepares its students. But if even a few students attend top programs, you have nothing to worry about.</p>

<p>As for transferring to Carnegie Mellon for computer science . . . well, that will indeed help since it has one of the top CS departments in the country. Provided you can do well and dive into research there, you will have LORs from highly regarded CS professors. But the kicker is whether you can do well at a university that may have tougher standards in the classroom (although it may not) and whether you can adjust quickly enough to take advantage of the opportunities. If you transfer to CMU and don’t do well, even if it’s because you are trying to find your way in a new university, it will hurt you more than it will help you.</p>

<p>You have to weigh the risks.</p>

7

<p>FWIW, Virginia Tech is pretty well known.</p>