I’m a freshman at UC Berkeley. For a number of reasons, I’m interested in applying for transfer to Harvard College, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Carnegie Mellon University. As a senior in high school last year, my freshman application to each of these schools was rejected. However, my interviewer from each school assured me that I’m definitely qualified, and that my reason for being denied admission was most likely related to factors not under my control. So, after this academic year concludes, I will make another attempt, this time with a full year of college grades to further prove my academic prowess. I would greatly appreciate any advice regarding what steps should be taken to maximize the probability of a successful application.
Well I’m part of the Stanford class of 2020 so I will help as much as I can. You have applied to these schools in the past and you were admitted to Berkeley so you know what a successful application entails. I think that Stanford admitted about 45(very few) transfers. I met 3 transfer on campus. Two were older students that came back after working awhile and the other was an URM. So you need a compelling reason for them to accept you. Do you have a specific question?
My advice for all of those schools is the same as my advice I posted on your thread on the Harvard Forum.
Several items you might want to consider
In the last several years, Harvard has accepted about twelve to fifteen (12-15) transfer students from a pool of about 1500 applicants -- that's a 1% transfer acceptance rate. My guess is that a third of admitted transfer students are recruited athletes (4-5), so the real-acceptance rate for non-athletes is probably 8-9 students for an acceptance rate of about 0.05% to 1%.
Yale has some solid information for transfer applicants that applies to students seeking to transfer to Harvard:
With that in mind, what academic opportunities would Harvard (or Stanford and MIT) provide you with that cannot be obtained at UC Berkeley or any other college? Successful transfer applicants can answer that question – can you?
I have no doubt that your interviewer was correct -- you were qualified. However, Harvard is on record as saying 80% of applicants can do the work on their campus and 40% are -- just like you -- highly qualified. If you take Admissions at their word, that means 14,000 students were also highly qualified. (35,000 X .40 = 14,000), but Admissions only has room for 1,660 of them. Thousands of qualified students are rejected every year. It's the same at MIT and Stanford.
Harvard keeps an electronic copy of every rejected student's application for three (3) years. Therefore students who apply for transfer admissions will have their rejected freshman application re-read, along with whatever notes the Admissions Officers made at that time. So, whatever reason(s) you were denied will need to be addressed in your transfer application.
Realistically, you were NOT waitlisted last year -- you were not a runner-up! Therefore your application was not even close (sorry -- I know it hurts, but it's the truth).
it’s extremely rare at Harvard, MIT and Stanford – almost to the point of an impossibility – that a rejected freshman applicant will be accepted as a transfer student. So, let it go. If that’s difficult to grasp, try this: Transfer applicants must have stellar recommendations from their college professors. And to get those recommendations, freshman must ace their first year courses, getting straight A’s. And, it’s very difficult to get straight A’s when you are unhappy with a mindset that is making plans for a quick exit.
With all the above in mind, my suggestion would be to enjoy your freshman year at UC Berkeley, put the thought of transferring completely out of your mind, work hard, play hard, and revisit the issue in a year! Best of luck to you.
Note that when Stanford announces welcomes to incoming students, it seems to make a point of highlighting the non-traditional backgrounds of many of the few transfer students it admits.