Does anyone know of any successful transfers from WIT to MIT? Unfortunately I have no chance of getting into MIT out of high school due to my sophomore grades but I was wondering if it would be practical/possible to transfer after attending Wentworth. I really want to go to a college in Boston and since I am going to study computer science I want to attend a technology school and I have only heard great things about Wentworth. Who knows; maybe I will like it so much at WIT that I will decide to stay. But I am worried that attending a school like Wentworth (an easy to get into school) as opposed to a school like UCLA will hurt my chances of transferring to MIT. I want to keep my options open so my question is: If I excel at Wentworth is it likely that I will be accepted to MIT or is it more likely if I excel at UCLA?
It’s very difficult to transfer to MIT, typical admission rates are 5% and lower. One of the main criteria is that you could have obtained admission as a freshmen. In short, it is more difficult to transfer in, than obtain admission as a high school senior.
It would indeed be a Herculean task, so you’d have to ask yourself if you can meet MIT’s standards. The young man in the article I have linked is an exceptional young man, but his story addresses your concerns and questions.
I don’t understand the question exactly. You’re asking had he sought to transfer in from a traditional, though not a peer, four-year institution, would he have been summarily rejected?
If that is what you are asking, what kind of question is that? Why would you think that might give him a leg up?
It’s just that, here in California, transfer students from CC’s are given priority over transfer students from universities so I thought it might be the same type of thing. I wasn’t undermining his accomplishment if that is what you thought. @GirlChild
No, I know all about the CC-to-university pathway in California, but as MIT is not in California and has no such (as I am aware) relationship to core competencies which open the door to CC students anymore so than any other prospective college transfer, I do not believe coming in from a CC aided him in any way.
I think the strength of what he did as an enrolled student at an institution which recognized and fostered his innate skills and talents got him noticed there, and on the strength of that the CC probably wrote tremendous letters of recs for someone who delivered the commencement address (the young Huizar).
If you feel you can put yourself in the running as a viable transfer candidate, work hard, get a mentor at the school you will enroll in, and keep in touch with the boards and blogs at MIT to “hear” what it is the philosophy and practice of the university is.
I am not saying it is next to impossible, though the successful transfer numbers, if boolaHI is correct, may actually suggest that. I am saying you will have to work hard, plan things out, and be relentless.
Another thing you have to figure out is why the transfer? The most valid reason for transfer is your current school does not offer a major or degree, which MIT offers. Simply wanting to go to a better school will not be sufficient.
If one is going to graduate from MIT, the argument could be had, there would be no further need to explain one’s background. Even if the present school offers astrophysics, so the popular thinking goes, it is not astrophysics at MIT.
I think that is how many kids will see the desire/need to transfer, even if it is from State Flagship Honors College, USA.
The fact of it being a CC transfer deals with @boolaHI’s point: you have to offer a strong, academic case for why you want to transfer. The person finishing a CC has to transfer; somebody at WIT or UCLA does not.
Great point. In addition, CC are very sexy to Ivy plus schools, so if they see someone with scores in range, they are sometimes willing to roll the proverbial dice…
@boolaHI: I was talking about the kid in the linked article, Huizar, from the community college. Referencing your statement about the appeal of the CC student and the roll of the dice.