UIUC transfer out

Transfer Students
1

<p>upon posting this I noticed how long it was... tl;dr: incoming cs freshmen at uiuc. is it worth transferring, what are my chances, I think I might have been able to fair better.</p>

<p>I'm an incoming cs freshmen at UIUC. UIUC was a bit of a safety for me (though in hindsight maybe it should've been a safety/target). My feelings about going there are really sort of mixed, for various reasons, and I'm, very idly, at this point, considering possibly transferring to a different school.</p>

<ol>
<li>Should I even bother? I'm very serious and passionate about going into CS - from what little I've seen of the school so far I'm fond of its overall student community and the CS community - the very fact that there is a noticeable CS community is something that's important to me, and part of why I picked UIUC over my other main option, NYU. Anyway, my point is that there are few schools that beat UIUC in CS anyway. In my mind, the places that are better than it for undergrad cs are MIT, Stanford, probably CMU, and possibly Berkeley - I think UIUC is better or at least on par with any other CS department. So, given that those are my choices, should I bother transferring? I hear MIT and Stanford have very very low transfer accept rates. CMU and Berkeley seemed a bit more promising, but the figure I saw for CMU was overall, not for SCS, and I think I heard somewhere that Berkeley only accepts junior transfers. Are any of those departments better by enough to make it worth disrupting my time at UIUC and readjusting to a new place?</li>
</ol>

<p>I have anecdotal bias against this: my dad had been rejected from Wharton as a high school senior and went to NYU. He was pretty happy there, had pretty good grades, liked the people, but he still wanted to try for Wharton and got in as a transfer. He then hated it at Wharton - it took him 5 years to graduate, his grades were pretty bad, and he couldn't get any jobs. He says he would've been much better off going to NYU, which was at the time pretty far behind Wharton for economics and business, what he was interested in. So I don't want this to happen to me - I don't want to leave somewhere I may be perfectly happy at and doing well in for a "better" school where I'll end up doing worse for unforeseen reasons.</p>

<ol>
<li>What are my chances, at any of the places I mentioned (MIT, Stanford, CMU, Berkeley)? My junior GPA was a 3.933 - it's probably going to drop a bit from my senior year grades, but hopefully not too much. SAT was a 2270 (super score from 2 tests - 690r, 780m, 800w). If I begin to seriously consider transferring I'd probably retake them and actually study this time. SAT II math2c was an 800, chem was a 680 (I'll probably retake, and study this time). My ECs were okay, not terrific, hopefully I'll have some research or an internship at UIUC to talk about.</li>
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<p>As far as how I faired this year: my two main choices were MIT and CMU - I got rejected at MIT and waitlisted at CMU (I know some people from this year and last who were about as or possibly less qualified than me who got in to SCS at CMU, but they had applied ED - I applied regular decision). I also applied to Princeton, Columbia, and Cornell kind of randomly (ie, without having shown any kind of interest in them) - got rejected from them. Like I mentioned, I also got in to NYU, and also to Rutgers. I had also applied to UMich and got wait listed, though I'd say that was probably because I applied right on the deadline and also had shown no interest - a friend of mine who did get into UMich (and had applied earlier) got flat out rejected from CMU (while I got wait-listed). I hadn't applied to Berkeley or Stanford. I doubt I would've gotten into Stanford, and relatively optimistic about Berkeley, based on how other people from my school faired.</p>

<p>Friends of mine were sort of surprised that I didn't get in to MIT and CMU. A friend of mine who did get into MIT had once told me: "You're definitely getting into CMU. I'm willing to bet that you will get into every school you applied, with the possible exception of Princeton." Me: "And MIT?" him: "No - you'll get in. I am 100% sure". He seemed pretty convinced at times that I was going to keep him out of MIT - ended up working out for him, though. A teacher of ours said to me (in private): "[MIT] took [him] and not you? Well, maybe they only wanted to take one person from our school" (which wasn't the case, but anyway). Another friend (the one who got into CMU), also told me (after I was rejected) that he had been sure I'd get into MIT. I'm mentioning this stuff just to explain why it's sort of in my head that I might want to try to transfer.</p>

2

<p><em>bump</em></p>

<p>Anyone have any thoughts or advice?</p>

3

<p>You are at a good enough school. Only transfer if it will make you happier.</p>

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<p>Oh - also worth mentioning: I don’t think that many of the other schools whose CS depts are on par or are slightly behind UIUC’s are worth transferring to for other reasons (ie, better overall school, something like that).</p>

5

<p>You are at a school with a seriously good CS reputation, so you are right to think twice before trying to transfer. Give the first year your all and see how you like it. Try not to second guess yourself too much. With highly selective schools, that’s just how the chips fall. In this situation, the overall perceived prestige of the school doesn’t matter as much as the department reputation and at UIUC you will be very will positioned for industry or grad school. All the employers will know you came from one of the strongest CS schools.</p>

<p>I agree that if you did want to transfer, you should likely just target CMU and MIT. those might be interesting because of the smaller population. But I don’t think it is necessary at all. It does take a year to get used to a school and make friends, so you will have to go through that again, but there’s no reason to expect you should repeat your father’s scenario.</p>

<p>Make your decision after you experience UIUC and the CS community and profs and opportunities available. Only change if you think you will get more opportunities and a better education. </p>

<p>Congratulations, UIUC is a better pick for you than NYU. Are you instate? Don’t forget to consider the cost when you think of a transfer.</p>

6

<p>Smaller population doesn’t really concern me, I’m at the very least indifferent about going to a larger school, and I might even end up preferring it. The thing that concerns me most is really just the average intelligence level of the school and its students. And are you saying I shouldn’t try for Berkeley or Stanford?</p>

<p>Also, costs aren’t really an issue. I’m not in-state for UIUC. NYU would’ve actually cost us less because of scholarships, and CMU would’ve been a bit cheaper, too (they tell people on the wait list their financial packages).</p>

7

<p><em>bump</em></p>

<p>wondering if anyone else has any advice</p>

8

<p>another <em>bump</em> ?</p>