Transfer from Top 20 USNWR to Ivy, MIT, Stanford

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello, I am a freshman at Berkeley. I have been a student here for over a month now and am currently taking two courses (Math 1A and CS 10). I intend to declare a CS major and I’m in the College of L&S. I would like to be chanced for the following schools:

  1. Harvard
  2. MIT
  3. Stanford
  4. Columbia

In high schools, my stats were as follows:

ACT: 34
APs: English Literature (5), Human Geography (5), Environmental Science (4), Macroeconomics (4), Microeconomics (4), and Calculus BC (3).

I would like to transfer because I feel that I am not a good fit at Berkeley, both socially and academically. While I do like the school and the Bay Area a lot, I feel that the huge student body, the humungous class sizes, the inability to develop relationships with professors, and the TA-led courses are big detractors. I also feel that there is not very much support for undergrads at Berkeley (since there are so many of us) and have already been buried in minutiae regarding housing and other such administrivia, which is impairing my ability to focus on my education. Socially and politically, Berkeley is also very progressive, to the point of being almost restrictive. I am very middle-of-the-road and my outlook does not match that of the common student here at Berkeley. I feel that I am unable to voice myself as a result. Also, while I have lived in California for almost 10 years, I was classified as an out of state student because my parents are not citizens. As a result, I am paying full tuition at Berkeley and feel that a private school might be able to offer better financial aid or better opportunities for the same price tag.

Overall, I’m looking for a school that will offer more support to its undergraduates, does not have the same financial issues that Berkeley does (as this does impact my quality of life while I’m a student), might offer a better financial situation, and is a better fit socially. Additionally, I would like to transfer to a school that has programs that are more friendly towards double-majors, for example: the join-concentration program at Harvard. I am interested in CS and Economics.

Thanks for reading this and giving me advice.

2

You usually can’t transfer without a full year of coursework. You might want to look at the transfer requirements for these schools. Either way, your ability to transfer will depend heavily on your grades in college coursework at Berkeley. You’ll need a 3.8+ minimum, and some great ec’s in college to be considered. Additionally, the transfer acceptance rates for these schools are even lower than the rates for freshman acceptance, so they’ll all be huge reaches. Good luck studying this semester.

3

@danfer91 I didn’t explicate this in the post, but I don’t intend to transfer until the end of my spring semester Freshman year. I will have 3 semesters by then. Thanks for the advice. Are there any specific ECs you recommend? I’m thinking of applying to the school paper. Also, is there a benefit to taking SAT IIs once out of high school? In other words, will colleges look at SAT IIs I took as a freshman in college?

4

They’ll look at them but it won’t be very beneficial. Many schools don’t even require standardized tests from transfer applicants, and I personally think it’s kind of dumb that these schools do. I would concentrate on your gpa more than anything, as that’s by far the most important factor.

There are really no specific ec’s that will get you into these schools though. Although, it helps a lot if it’s something unique to you. I’m guessing you’re in STEM since you’re applying to MIT, so the school paper might be good of you were writing a technology column or something. But besides that I would try to do something really unique or something that helps the community. It should really be something you would do in your free time anyways.