Long story short, I want to transfer out from my current college(top 150) to the one which will offer strong CS department. I‘m into AI/AR/VR and my college is not really developed in this sphere( we don’t have anything upperlevel related to AI/AR/VR).
I’m female freshman from under-represented country, my SAT is 1470 and HS GPA 4.92/5.0.
Im in honors college with so far 4.0 GPA after first mids. I’m heavily involved into school (3 on Campus works (one of them is really prestigious around and I’m only freshman among seniors/master students working there, ACM capter and a few other clubs + I’m in one of the programs of one of the Fortune 100 companies)+ won a few Hackathons.
Where can I transfer out? I’m currently on 90% financial aid and will need the same package. Or what can I do to improve my chances? And is it better to try after first year or to try for this year application period?
Your stats are good, and your reason for transfer is clear. Go ahead and apply this year. If you are unsuccessful, you can try again next year.
However, you also need to find good ways to pursue your interests where you are. Perhaps by arranging independent study on the advanced topics. The chance of you receiving the aid you need is not good at all.
Where to apply? Spend some time investigating programs that offer what you want, and check the aid policies at each of those places.
We are paying rn around 7K a year, max we can go is 15K for a really good school. @austinmshauri
@happy1 I know that it will not be probably same, but I will apply probably to only schools which meet full demonstrated need.
@happymomof1 thank you for your advice!
Would I have better shot at female colleges like MH, Bryn Mawr and Wellesley? I didn’t apply to any of those as senior as my parents were against, but they have good CS programs and now my parents don’t really care where I will transfer. I want a strong CS department but at the same time I don’t really want tech school, even as senior I mostly applied to LACs and Columbia/UChicago(waitlisted). Would you suggest trying out any of the Ivies or MIT? I just don’t want to apply to many colleges, as I want to focus on colleges where I have realistic (relatively speaking) chance of getting in.
At my current school, I think if I stay , I will try to take research in these areas and do more internships. Another option which I have is joint degree with Columbia, but as I know they are not good with fin aid to internationals in this program. My school sends 5/6 kids each year to Columbia through joint degree (we are pretty close located), all have decent fin aid packages but all are citizens, haven’t heard of anyone who is international and has gone that path here.
I’m and my parents are ok with taking loans, but not sure if I will have such option. So, transferring in traditional way would way better choice in my situation.
Also, I have SAT subjects (math1&2(710&720) and chem (600)), should I even report them or should I retake them ?
In HS I studied in humanities truck, so all of my sciences sucked, tbh. Till the last point I was going to apply only as Pol Sci major or International Relations/Business(and then follow law path) and applied to all of my top choices as that, but probably that was first time when I went against parents and applied to Comp Sci to a few other colleges (and was honestly accepted only to those). So, for only that reason took Subjects, but didn’t have time to prepare for them or do anything to improve.
Rn I don’t have any problem with Calc, I’m getting straight 100 on every assignment and test and remaining A grade in intro to Java.
So, now I can easily retake math 2 and chem and score 800ish. But I wonder if I should even do it as I already started college(i haven’t taken chem class yet, tho).
Yes consider the women’s colleges if they have the courses you need. Read their catalogues very carefully to make sure about the classes that are offered. All of them have cooperative agreements with other nearby colleges and universities, so check those programs too.
Check to see if the SAT subject tests are required for transfers, and only take those exams if you absolutely need to. Your most important task is to get the best grades that you can which means you don’t have much spare time right now for exam prep.
You could try Columbia and U Chicago again because of last year’s waitlist. You also could take a look at Barnard. Would you be able to major in Comp Sci there? Your profile is strong, so the other ivies, MIT, etc. aren’t impossible. However, the most important issue for you is to verify that need-based and/or merit-based aid is available for you.
Thank you!
I have learned that UChicago is not providing aid for international transfers, but Columbia does.
About Barnard, if I’m not mistaken CS majors take classes at Columbia SEAS, tho Barnard was planing to open this year a new CS department(still all classes are in SEAS) as I remember from last year tour. But they do not offer financial aid for transfer students.
So, far I have found these schools meeting full demonstrated need of transfer international students :
Reed, Rice, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth(rejected as senior), Princeton(reacted as senior), Yale, Cornell, MIT(rejected as senior), Amherst(rejected as senior), UPenn, Colgate, Stanford, Harvard(rejected as senior). Should I apply to ones from where I haven’t applied last year? or can I still apply to the ones from where I was rejected(as I wrote before I applied with totally different major and didn’t even mention anything related to CS).
I have checked Wellesley(fall term applicants), which also meets full financial need of int transfers if admitted, and also I learned this. Maybe someone will use this information. "Any student applying from an institution outside the U.S., who is seeking financial aid will be considered as a first-year candidate.”.
MH and Bryn Mawr also meet demonstrated aid for anyone transferring from US colleges and Universities.
So far, I found these colleges, if you have any suggestion which ones I need to check , please let me know!
I will dig more into their programs and decide where to apply among them.