Transferring from UConn - High School Senior

<p>I am currently a senior in high school who is most likely going to be attending the University of Connecticut in the fall of 2013, majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Finance (perhaps vice-versa).</p>

<p>It has always been a great goal of mine to go to Harvard University and UPenn Wharton, not only for their prestige, but for their staggering alumni bases and program strengths in the topics I am interested in. </p>

<p>I will be going for an MBA after my undergraduate studies and I am certain that I will have a greater chance of getting into the graduate program, but nothing beats the undergraduate experience, right? I'd be missing out on a great deal.</p>

<p>What can I do to make myself competitive and increase my chances of getting accepted as a transfer? Should I write professors, asking them questions and showcasing my interest in their work at the university? I'm up for anything.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading, folks. All advice and criticism, however harsh, is welcome.</p>

<p>If you haven’t already, you should probably go to Harvard and Penn’s admissions website and read up what they say about Transfer Admissions. From what I know, transfer admission rates to these schools are extremely low, even lower than regular admission rates. While the number of people applying as transfer students is low, at schools like these the number of Freshmen choosing to leave (and thus opening up spots) can usually be counted on one hand. As a result, the percentage of transfer applicants accepted is usually very, very low. </p>

<p>That’s not to say you should lose all hope though! I think transferring is very similar to applying regular. Make sure you keep up your grades and stay passionate with your extra-curricular’s. I think it would be more important to build connections with your UConn professors so they would write excellent letters of recommendation rather than contact Harvard or Penn professors who don’t have much say in admissions. As long as you don’t work for them as a research assistant (or something along those lines) they won’t be able to do much in terms of recommending you.</p>

<p>The typical Harvard transfer admit was someone, who as a HS senior, was a very competitive applicant to Harvard-type admissions (i.e. actually was admitted by one or more very selective colleges). </p>

<p>About a 1-2% admit rate.</p>