transferring to MIT (unique situation)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hi. I'm trying to transfer to MIT (or Caltech)</p>

<p>During high school I was #1 in physics in my state and also ranked nationally. My math accomplishments are also quite respectable since I was the top 30 in a huge metro area (all star team) </p>

<p>My extracurriculars are great, I think. Because I also won finalist at an national invention competition sponsored by the US Patent Office. My patent is also being licensed by some companies. So pretty much I'm an entrepenuer.</p>

<p>My college GPA is 3.7 after 3 semesters.</p>

<p>Unfortunately my high school GPA is bad because I slacked off and was immature. During high school, (senior year) I did only want I had passion in (physics) and did bad in courses such as Spanish, English, and Consumer Ed, and Gym. I seldom turned in projects or homeworks for those classes. I spent virtually on my time on physics which made me #1 in State (a populus state too).</p>

<p>I regretted my action in high school and took grades more seriously in college.</p>

<p>Now I want to transfer. Can they forgive me?</p>

<p>Any pointers that can help improve my chances? Thanks</p>

2

<p>You might like to convey ur situation in ur essays! MIT is very considerate!</p>

3

<p>MIT also accepts something like 10 transfers per year, an incredibly small number. I don't mean this to scare you, but instead I think you should also consider some other top physics/math schools which are more open to transfer students.</p>

<p>To your question: I agree with IHS, explain the situation fully, try to find a way to indicate how much you've matured, and make MIT understand your passion for physics(the real reason why you would be accepted for transfer)</p>

4

<p>You might want to read through this thread for a discussion of some of the details of the challenges for an aspiring transfer student, including recent numbers and acceptance rate (<2%). </p>

<p>One thing is certain, though: your chances if you don't apply are 0%. If you think you stand out and have what it takes to impress the admissions folks, give it a try! It would just be wise for <em>anyone</em> hoping to transfer to MIT to have alternate plans.</p>

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<p>anyone know the transfer statistics for Caltech and Harvard?</p>

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<p>MIT's transfer statistics is extremely low. How much difference does it make to MIT if they accept 7, rather than 6 people out of 500? I would think it doesn't make any difference to MIT if they accept 6 or 7 or even 9 people. I'm sure they can squeeze in 1 or 2 people if they really want the student.</p>

<p>So why does MIT only accept 6 students instead of say, 7? Let's think logically here...one possibility might be MIT ONLY want 6 student that year. Accepting 7 would be lethal to MIT. Even if there were 7 applicants who were all IMO gold medalists or Sieman finalist who are millionaires by 22, they would've still only accepted 6, not 7. In that case, I can see it's very competitive. But I kinda doubt that's how it works.</p>

<p>Another possibility is that only 6 students impressed MIT. MIT could've taken 7 or 8 students or even 10 students, but there just aren't enough that qualify.</p>

<p>Could MIT's unusually low statistics due to the fact that most transfer applicants are simply good but not great? I mean, I'm sure many of them are respectable in everyway, grades, scores, some activities, etc.. But I think MIT is more interested in students that can truly stand out and specialize in something rather than an "all around good student". </p>

<p>2 -3 % is pretty gloomy for anyone. But I guess it's not "that" bad if an applicant truly have something that stand out on a national scale. Because 480 out of 500 people won't have them.</p>

<p>I think my poor GPA can be a double edged sword. On one hand it's a liability. But on another hand, it can really make me truly stand out. Trust me, I will probably have the worst high school GPA out of all 500 applicants. For better or worse, I would have grabbed the admission's attention.</p>

<p>But then again, MIT admission director Marilee Jones once said, " My friend, a well-known pediatrician specializing in adolescent medicine, says that the #1 quality of successful and happy people is resilience - the ability to spring back from life's bumps and bruises. Since learning this I have thought that we colleges should really be asking applicants not just for your many successes but for your failures as well, to understand how much experience with resilience you've had. Certainly MIT students need resilience by the boatload because egos are challenged here every day. " </p>

<p>Well, it's safe to say I've made a "come back" in a phenomenal way. After high school, I've gotten a money making patent and a national invention award that was due to my effort during spare time. I also got a company running thanks to the capitals I've made from my invention. </p>

<p>In my sophomore year during college I flew to Cambridge to compete in a Boston physics competition and got in the top 10. On the score report it actuallys shows I beat the #3 guy from MIT. This is a nice compliment to my high school physics accomplishment (#1 in state)</p>

<p>BTW, I hate talking about scores since I think they are meaningless and won't make me stand out in any way. But just FYI I got 800s on SAT Physics and Math 2C too. </p>

<p>And my college GPA is pretty good too.</p>

<p>Therefore I think my experience is pretty unique and will definately make the admissions think "longer" than most of other applicants.</p>

<p>Think of it this way, the odds might be 1/50. But out of the 50 people, 30 of them will probabily be the type of students that MIT rejects right away...you know, the type with 1450 SATs, As and Bs, and a few weak activities.</p>

<p>Then 16 or 17 others will be the REALLY strong academic types...1550 SATs, straight As, good extracurriculars. These people might have a shot during freshman admission, but they are not special enough to transfer to MIT, simply because they do not have any NATIONAL recognition of any sorts.</p>

<p>Then we'll maybe have 2 or 3 people left out of every 50 people that MIT really try to choose from. </p>

<p>Seriously, if I were the director of MIT, I'd rather have a ambitious, capable student with a lot of fight in him who might someday "make it big" than a meek, straight A student who will be a "nice employee".</p>

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<p>what was your invention by the way? too lame to say?</p>

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<p>
[quote]
1450 SATs, As and Bs, and a few weak activities.</p>

<p>Then 16 or 17 others will be the REALLY strong academic types...1550 SATs

[/quote]
</p>

<p>There is hardly any difference between a 1450 and a 1550, and you will find plenty of straight A students with the former score.</p>

9

<p>A big reason MIT accepts so few transfer applicants is that there aren't any more spaces available. As texas137 said on the other thread I linked to above,
[quote]
they have been overenrolled for the past 3 years at least and there are very few people who leave.

[/quote]
None of us here knows exactly how MIT selects their transfer applicants each year. All we see is the result. I doubt it's accurate to assume that 30 of 50 transfer applicants would be "the type of students that MIT rejects right away" -- the pool of transfer applicants is usually quite strong. You will be up against people with very, very strong qualifications. And I wouldn't say any of the MIT students I've met could be classified as "meek, straight A students".</p>

<p>That said, your experience may very well be unique and earn you notice by the Admissions Officers who read the transfer applications. If you have the pre-reqs (as noted on the other thread linked above) and think you'll stand out, go for it! And, good luck! One of those 50 people <em>does</em> get accepted, after all! You won't know if you don't try for it.</p>

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<p>Does anyone know how much emphasis get put on high school grades when transferring (in general)? not just to MIT, but all other schools</p>

<p>Man. I'm really scared about my high school GPA, even after 3 semesters of college.</p>

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<p>One of the reason I want to go to MIT is because I have tons of friends at Boston. I really want to go to Boston.</p>

<p>But since MIT is even much harder than Harvard when it comes to transferring, I might also want to take a shot at Harvard. But I'm majoring in Electrical Engineering, so Harvard might not be a good idea. Are they pretty good at high tech stuff?</p>

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<p>From my understanding, Harvard isn't that great for high tech stuff, and excels mostly in the "hard" math and sciences (such as math, physics...), but not engineering.</p>

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<p>What are my chances
800 Math
740 CR
770 Wr</p>

<p>800 Phys 800 IIc</p>

<p>Science awards : numerous
Lots of research since high school
HS GPA 3.8+
College GPA 3.94 (Dean's List)</p>

<p>Publishes papers in Physics Rev Letter (Top Journal)</p>

<p>Spoken at confrences of the American Physical Society</p>

<p>Hook: MIT professor will write a rec letter for me , about my research</p>

<p>Sport: 6 years of kung fu
Varsiity Crew Team</p>

<p>Race: Black Male (Caribbean)</p>

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<p>Eventhough I don't generally approve of other people turning someone else's thread into their own, legendre, those are some amazing stats and honors. You should get in.</p>

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<p>Does MIT take into account of affirmative action for transfers?</p>

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<p>i'm not sure</p>

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<p>off MIT.edu under their admissions info:</p>

<p>Affirmative Action
In undergraduate recruitment and selection, MIT looks at each application holistically, taking account of many different factors that have shaped a student's experience, including his or her racial, ethnic, social, economic and educational context. We believe it is crucial for the successful future of our world to educate people from every walk of life, and we take great pride in the diversity of our student body, which is typically made up of 19-22% underrepresented minority groups.</p>

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<p>Legendre is an international student, where the odds are much lower. A lot of the internationals that post here stand a fighting chance, but the fact is tough cuts will be made - to say that someone will get in or will probably get in is raising false hopes.</p>

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<p>Also, this thread is over two years old. :p</p>

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<p>The good news for the OP is that Caltech has a very hard transfer exam in math and physics. (I'm guessing it covers freshman physics and calc through multi-variable, but I don't really know.) People who get below a certain score (near-perfect) are not even considered. This may work to your advantage.</p>