Transferring from Berkeley

Hi, I’m currently a freshman at UC Berkeley and it’s really not all that I thought it would be (socially, academically etc). I am thinking of applying to Stanford to transfer. I’d love to hear people’s thoughts on this.

Stanford admits only a few dozen transfer students per year, and appears to heavily emphasize non-traditional students in its transfer intake.

Almost impossible to transfer from UCB to its archrival.

unless you can qualify as a recruited athlete, it ain’t happening. sorry

If you really don’t want to continue attending Berkeley, then you should consider other institutions.

ok. Can anyone suggest any other institutions like Stanford (similar vibe / community feel) that is more transfer friendly?

I think Brown is. Princeton is accepting transfers for the first time, so they may be more open. One issue is that Berkeley has grade deflation, so it’s easier transferring to these universities from small LACs vs. Berkeley.

What aspects of “similar vibe / community feel” other than prestige / selectivity are you looking for?

Size wise, UC Merced has a similar number of undergraduates as Stanford, but Stanford has a far larger number of graduate and professional students.

what specifically do you not like about Cal? The main reason why I ask is because it will help to identify what colleges have exactly what you want