<p>Basically the chances that I'd get into one of these schools is just about the chance that I could jump off the Empire State Building and survive, so I'm putting my hopes in transferring.</p>
<p>My cumulative HS GPA is 3.2 because I kinda screwed up freshman year, but I underwent an epiphany during the start of my junior year, I suddenly developed a passion for physics and mathematics and my GPA shot up to a 3.5+ and now, during my first term senior, it's at a 3.7-3.8, maybe even 3.9, and I'm taking courses like Multivariable Calculus.</p>
<p>SATs
2270 800 M 790 W 680 CR</p>
<p>SAT IIs
800 Math Level 2
790 Physics</p>
<p>APs
Calculus BC 5
US History 4
AP Chemistry currently taking
AP Government and Politics currently taking
AP Physics C currently taking</p>
<p>I don't think I'd need to go in depth about my extracurriculars because they don't stand out now, let alone when I apply as a transfer applicant. But the most important of them is outreach to the Asian American community that I am part of by helping teenage immigrants adjust to life here in America. </p>
<p>So yea, <strong><em>what I most want to deduce from this thread is a solid, definitive plan for transferring to my dream schools</em></strong>. Of course there is the obvious, such as getting a 4.0, taking the hardest courses, and whatnot at whatever college I end up in that isn't MIT or CMU SCS, and then devoting myself to one or a few extracurriculars with great depth, in addition to great professor recs. But these are the basics. What are some specific things I have to know? If I want to transfer I'm going to have to do this systematically and methodically, by creating a checklist and making sure I devote each of my 24 hours a day to that checklist, as if it were the Bible. I need help with creating it.</p>
<p>The odds that you can successfully transfer in to either of those 2 schools for CS are still extremely low.</p>
<p>The odds that you can transfer in to schools that are very highly regarded in CS like UMich/UIUC/Cal/UCSD/UNC/UT-Austin (though it may depend on what CC you go to) are much higher (assuming that you have a good/great CC GPA).</p>
<p>the acceptance rate for transfer and senior year hs is about the same. maybe i wont end up at a cc but something in between it and MIT like nyu or boston univ. from there its not impossible to get into mit right?</p>
<p>My suggestion is to forget about MIT/CMU. There are many great CS programs. If you leverage your terrific SAT scores, you could probably get some nice scholarship money too. </p>
<p>@colorado_mom If I don’t get in, I’ll worry about getting over that later. For now my goal is to get in, and I will achieve it by any means necessary. Why forget about my dream schools? What should I keep in mind to achieve in my first year of whatever college if I want to transfer into MIT? Any extracurriculars related to my intended majors I should be aware of? etc etc</p>
<p>The rate of transfer is about the same as the rate of applying from HS, as I said, so if I can apply now and have the courage to do so now, I can apply in freshman year of college.</p>
<p>You might get a better chance IF you get 4.0 college gpa and apply as a Junior at that time your HS gpa and SAT will no longer be used to make admit decision.</p>
<p>OP - Some of us have been around CC a long time. We know MIT has under a 10% admit rate, with many very highly qualified applicants rejected. It’s simply a problem of supply/demand. </p>
<p>Why are MIT/CMU your dream schools? Often students say that because they are taken by the “name brand” reputation and/or ranking lists. Perhaps you have better reason. If so, also look for other schools with same attributes. </p>
<p>Indeed. Are you aware that there are other great CS schools that are easier to get in to or transfer in to yet can get you anywhere that MIT or CMU can?</p>
<p>Maybe UC Berkeley? There are lots of awesome state schools for engineering…but none of them are the REAL thing. None of them are the REAL slice of pie.</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan I don’t know, anything but MIT or CMU SCS doesn’t feel genuine to me. It’s like a bootleg version of Windows or like a fake Rolex. Yes you can scrape by with it but it’s not genuine… I know I’ll offend people by feeling like this but I can’t control my thoughts</p>
<p>lol “Um wut” is usually the first response people have when I tell them about how I feel about colleges so I’m pretty much alone in this</p>
<p>I’ve been an engineer for 30 years, and I"ve worked with some fantastic engineers. A few coworkers were from MIT, and they did not impress me any more… probably a bit less actually. I’ve also researched engineering schools in detail with both kids. The one with near-perfect stats decided that MIT was not the best place for him. </p>
<p>OP - Clearly you don’t want advise from people that know a lot more about this that you do. So at this point I will just smile and nod and wish you luck, </p>
<p>@colorado_mom I realize that some of the best engineering schools are state universities, like U Michigan, UC Berkeley and UT Austin, once again. But tell me what you know. I want to hear it and I want advice. But how much can you drill into a high school senior from a competitive high school of overachievers whose common application deadline is in 2 weeks that the school he goes to does not matter? I’m sure there is SOME benefit to MIT over whatever else school there is. </p>
<p>And that is just for engineering. For compsci, which I mentioned as another one of my prospective majors (and probably the one I want to go into more so than engineering), you need the school and you need the creds to work at Google, much more strictly than it is so for engineering. Compsci is more lucrative than engineering overall, actually, come to think of it. Want to go into Google from somewhere other than MIT, Stanford, or CMU? Good luck. </p>
<p>But yea, tell me what you know about engineering and compsci. I’m eager to know. PM me?</p>
<p>Yes, Stanford, CMU, and MIT are #1, #3, & #4 (while Cornell is #6), but Cal is #2 and has more CS majors working at Google than CMU or MIT while UIUC is #5 and has more CS majors at Google than Cornell. UCSD, UCLA, GTech, and UDub aren’t far behind. All of them (as well as UT-Austin) have more CS grads working at Google than Princeton or Harvard.</p>
<p>Also, while the state schools are bigger, their CS departments aren’t an order of magnitude bigger (they have a lot more different majors), so UIUC graduates a bit more CS majors than Stanford each year, for instance.</p>
<p>But hey, it’s your life, so believe whatever you want, man.</p>