<p>I am entering ucla as an international freshman going to study Engineering this fall. Berkeley and MIT were my top choices, closely followed by UCLA. I didn't gain admission into Berkeley or MIT, however. I want to have another try at MIT and Berkeley though as a transfer student, so I need some advice on what I should do. I am completely aware transfer to MIT is close to impossible, so I'd appreciate it if you guys don't keep saying its not a realistic target and all :)</p>
<p>1)Firstly, does my final high school transcript play a big part in their decision? I'm doing A-levels, so would straight A's or a mixture of A<em>s and As as opposed to straight A</em>s destroy my chances?</p>
<p>2) I have a 2220 Superscore SAT: M 790, W 750, CR 680. I'm aware that this isn't an ideal score, but from my other research I see that for transfers your college GPA is more critical. Is this true? Should I resit the SAT? </p>
<p>3) if any of you have successfully transferred into either of these schools please please share your stats and opinions about what you think really helped you.</p>
<p>4) I've also seen that I get in as a transfer, you need "compelling reasons", what kind of reasons are these!</p>
<p>1)No one has responded to you yet because you posted that at 5AM eastern time.</p>
<p>2) It will be extremely easy to transfer in to Berkeley from UCLA (or any UC really). Very easy. You should know, however, that they rarely take anyone transferring in as a Sophomore. They mostly want you to transfer in as a Junior (meaning you apply as a Sophomore to enter the next year). They do this mostly because they want to see a fuller picture of your college record before you transfer, and to put community college transfers on a level playing field (as most won’t transfer until getting their associates degree).</p>
<p>3) Retaking your SAT won’t help you. Most admissions officers won’t look favorably on SATs retaken during College. If you submit SAT scores from before AND during college many will only look at the scores taken before. And if you ONLY submit scores taken during college then they’ll know you’re withholding scores and that may even be a minus on your application.
(When looking at advice on whether to take your SATs remember that none of these SAT guidelines apply to students transferring from a community college, it’s a completely different situation for them, so don’t get confused).</p>
<p>4) I don’t know any specifics on MIT, but I’d guess, like most top 10s, they prefer transfer applicants to apply for Sophomore status, not Junior. So most likely you’ll be applying for MIT a full year before any UC, you should keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Agreed. Your application will be much stronger if you apply with a distinguished college record as a junior. Make sure you get internships, do research, are involved in an EC you’re passionate about.</p>
<p>Alright so basically apply Berkeley for entrance as a junior, and MIT for entrance as a sophomore? The logic behind Berkeley preferring junior transfers makes complete sense, but why doesn’t that apply to MIT?</p>
<p>I can’t speak to MIT specifically, but I know for Columbia the stated reason for preferring sophomore transfers is because they worry about how difficult it will be for students to fulfill the requirements to graduate on time considering the core requirements.</p>
<p>In my opinion, there’s also a bit of institutional elitism tied up in that policy as well. (Not to mention the fact that ivy students have a tendency to complain about transfers as, they tend to say, it’s easier to get a higher GPA at a “lesser” school and it’s unfair for someone to get the same degree with half of their GPA from a “lesser” school.)</p>
<p>And in response to your question about compelling reasons, they have to be SUPER compelling. Top schools hate accepting transfers who are looking to, as one UPenn admissions officer put it, “trade up bumper stickers,” (and let’s be honest, most are). If you search around you can find examples of typically successful reasons and essays, but obviously it’s different for each person. </p>
<p>And if you’re transferring to Cal, your high school record won’t matter very much. If your transferring anywhere as a Sophomore (like MIT) it will matter A LOT. Remember you apply to transfer as a sophomore halfway through freshman year, so they only see one semester of grades.</p>
<p>And one last bit of advice, don’t count on transferring. Concentrate on fully appreciating the resources UCLA has to offer. If you plan on going to grad school having a degree from MIT or from UCLA won’t affect your chances for an ivy league school as much as you might think</p>
<p>Berkeley won’t even look at HS transcripts. They won’t look at SAT scores. They only accept junior level transfers.</p>
<p>Your biggest problem is being a UC to UC transfer because Berkeley will prioritize California community college students first. If they fill up with CCC students you are out of luck. It might sound odd, but going to a CCC for two years is a MUCH better way to transfer into Berkeley because they are mandated to take CCC students first. You have a low chance at a UC to UC transfer these days.</p>
<p>I am also attending UCLA this fall, love the school and all…but…the thing is, I want to attend a tech school. UCLA is an amazing school, 8th in best for technology and engineering, but I feel overall is more orientated for premeds; half of the school is split in 25% undecided, 25% pre meds. That being said, I am an incoming freshman and cannot say that claim is completely true. However, at orientation I felt almost everyone was life science (and pre med, one way or another). I am a physics major, will attempt to apply to aero/ee in samueli, but still feel like…that UCLA is not as oriented for science as I thought. But again, I am just an incoming freshman, so I really have no idea if it is true. </p>
<p>However, I have to say it: I want to attend MIT. I really love UCLA…but MIT was the dream school; UCLA was the “realistic” dream school. I want to go into eecs. I don’t have good SATs, but is there an impact of college in getting better SATs? Or, is there an issue if I will be a junior by spring quarter? Will that be a problem for applying???</p>
<p>Also, feel free to give some ideas on Stanford, Caltech, Cornell, Cal, and Northwestern.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about this but MIT does, and berkeley doesn’g, look at SAT and GPA,which are generally in yhr same area as students accepted as freshmen. I think at most of the schools you were talking about you need to be going into your junior year.</p>
<p>astua117, you realize already that you have no idea what is true or not concerning UCLA and have formed some vague ideas based on the summer orientation session which is nothing like actually attending the college. And from that, you still have these dreams about MIT (and Stanford, CalTech) based on even more vague ideas that they may be “better” than UCLA… but everything you are trying to compare is based on almost zero first hand experience or less.</p>
<p>Once you get into a top 20 or even top 50 school you have everything you need on that campus to succeed and have a fantastic experience.</p>
<p>@annika, you are right, I just have to wait and see what UCLA has to offer. I know it’s an awesome school. I am excited to attend there this fall. Thanks :)</p>