<p>So I am going to start my freshman year at UCLA this fall, and I am an international. Though I love UCLA, MIT was my top choice and I really really want to have another shot at it without losing a year. I.e. I want to transfer. I know it's extremely extremely difficult to get in as a transfer, but I want to give it a shot anyway so I need someone's advice on a few queries I have please :)</p>
<p>1) does your high school transcript matter a lot? I am doing A-Levels, do will straight A's or a mixture of A<em>s and A's destroy my app as opposed to having straight A</em>s?</p>
<p>2) I have a 2220 superscore on the SAT: 790 M 750 W 680 CR. Should I resit it? I've also got an 800 and 760 respectively on the chemistry and math 2 subject tests, and I don't intend on resitting math unless I realize it'll be really easy once I've completed HS.</p>
<p>3) If any of you were accepted as transfers please share your stats and any advice you have!</p>
<p>Thanks Guys!</p>
<p>Also just to add to the 2nd q, I’ve read that your college GPA is way way more important than your SAT. Is this true? In that case I should forget resitting and focus on my GPA right?</p>
<p>It is true that your college GPA is very important. However, ideally all of your stats would be pretty good, AND you would be doing awesome things outside of classes and standardized exams. I would study (buy the official prep book and take practice exams) and bring your math 2 score up to an 800. That test actually tests more than just the propensity to make stupid mistakes. I also would try to get your critical reading score above 700, but if you’ve already taken it many times without improvement then don’t bother.</p>
<p>Remember that MIT admissions has a lot to do with your personality. If you weren’t a good fit a year ago, it’s unlikely that you’re a good fit this year. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it just takes a very specific kind of person to be happy at MIT.</p>
<p>You won’t be admitted because of high SAT scores or a high GPA, though the lack thereof can keep you out. If you really want to bring your chances up, really take advantage of your current school’s opportunities. Do awesome research in a lab, take hard and interesting classes, be active in the community, etc. What you do in your current school is MIT’s test for what you will do at MIT. Show them that you will do amazing things, and that the opportunities given to you at your current school simply cannot contain your awesomeness.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot Lidusha, that’s all really constructive advice! I’ve done the SAT twice, so I think I’ll stay with the 680 (their website says 650 is competitive so it’s just acceptable I guess) but I’ll definitely give the math 2 another shot.</p>
<p>And I’ll definitely try to take full advantage of my current college!</p>
<p>Also do u have any idea about the importance of my high school transcript for transfer admission?</p>
<p>Your college transcript is definitely more important, since it likely does a much better job than your high school transcript (or any of your standardized scores) of predicting how you’ll perform in college.</p>
<p>Hm…I have to disagree somewhat with Lidusha here. I think what she said is more applicable for applying as a high school senior. </p>
<p>I would focus on your college GPA, and beyond that, your standing in these classes. That is, try to get the highest grade in each of your classes. Go ahead and work in a lab in the summer, but I would not do it during your freshman year or commit yourself to anything else that is not just for fun or to blow off steam. </p>
<p>Forget about the SAT at this point. If you want to retake SATII math, go ahead I guess.</p>
<p>You can always try to contact an international transfer student from MIT and see what they had…</p>
<p>Forgetting MIT admissions for a moment, you don’t want to sacrifice or dilute your college experience trying to build up activities because of the remote hope that MIT will admit you.
Specifically, for most freshman I would not advise trying to do anything other than class. Allow yourself to adjust to college. Like Malcolm Gladwell says, small advantages quickly multiply. If you are a star in your core classes, it will be easier to be a star in your advanced classes and as a researcher later on. Think long term. What sort of things would you want to do during college to make it more likely to be outstanding at your job and thus contribute to larger society as an adult. Now is the time to invest in academics. Paraphrasing Nobel Laureate James Watson, “I respect philanthropy, but the time for it is when you are an adult.”</p>
<p>Hi, sorry to bump this up from 2 years ago, but I also have the exact same question; I would really love to have someone answer this; it means a lot to me. </p>
<p>As of right now, I’m committed to attending UCLA, although I’ll probably be cutting all communication permanently with extremely toxic parents (so perhaps the risk of debt). I apparently received this scholarship for the 2014-2015 year:</p>
<p><a href=“You are being redirected...”>Undergraduate Program | UCLA Department of Mathematics, </p>
<p>and am looking to be a math major, although I’m having more and more thoughts about doing theoretical CS as well, or possibly looking for CS internships.
What the scholarship entails, according to other people who received it, is the ability to take any math course (even graduate analysis with Terrance Tao, who has written a rec letter for one of the recipients), and the ability to fill up schedule while ignoring many requirements. </p>
<p>Stuff I did in high school mainly happened to be math olympiad + research, (I don’t mean to sound insanely bitter, but some stuff with violent dad made me incapacitated to take USAMO and possibly score for winner…I was one of those guys who trained on it), which is obviously a definite (big?) disadvantage. Hence not only was I rejected from MIT, but I was also barred from gaining an upper hand again on the USAMO last month…</p>
<p>My high school SAT was 2290, GPA was terrible due to having missed 80 days of school junior year.
My question is:
- Do they look heavily on things from high school? For my current stats, what would they think? For me personally, what would be the best road?<br>
- Is it worth it to transfer into MIT, due to costs? (although…I’ll probably be paying everything on my own…which leads to third question:)
- Should I double major in CS and math because of the need to pay off debts and etc. at UCLA? What will MIT think of this? (I really have no experience in CS, other than researching algorithms (which is still applied math), but haven’t programmed that much)
- My plan at the moment is to try to see if research in math will work out for me (both by using faculty and applying to summer research programs); if not, maybe try to focus more on CS. </p>