I was just wondering about my chances of getting into Stanford as a transfer from my state college. My state college is one of the best on the East Coast, having been nominated for the Aspen Prize several times. However, it is still just a state college and not as rigorous as I would hope. I am a CS student, 4.0 GPA, 1500+ SAT scores, strong LOR’s and essays, volunteer work for an animal shelter, and won a small programming competition as part of the Computer Science club at my school. I have not taken multi-variable calculus yet, since the school won’t let me test into it. I do a lot of learning on my own using EdX and Coursera. I am also considering taking a couple of courses at Harvard Extension School or Stanford CPD. (Preferably HES, since it is cheaper) Would either of those help in my application? Also, what are my overall chances compared to the average transfer applicant?
Thanks!
Congrats on an excellent gpa and good SAT score. Unfortunately, even with such your chances of being accepted as a transfer are not that terrific. The school accepts roughly 16 transfers from a two-year college and 16 from a four- year. The overall acceptance rate is under 2%. Compounding the issue is it’s hard to know how many of those kids are athletic recruits or hooked in some other way. On top of all this, Stanford doesn’t need any more CS majors. You also would have to state and create a compelling case of why you want to transfer, and frankly, undergraduate CS is taught pretty much the same everywhere.
Sorry if that sounded discouraging. I don’t work in admissions so don’t take my word as gospel. Apply and see what happens. You never know.
Thanks for being honest. Still, it’s worth a shot, because the worst they can do is say no. Just gotta hope for the best. Really just concerned with my chances vs. other transfer applicants’ chances and however I can increase it.
Well, you are up against some pretty stiff competition. Being the 1 out of 50 they select will not be easy but someone has to get in, so it might as well be you. Be memorable - take some chances - you don’t have much to lose. Look into the CS+X program and see if appeals to. It will easier to craft a why Stanford around that program then to just say “Stanford has the best CS program so that is why I want to transfer”. They know that already and they have a surfeit of people pounding on their doors to get in for CS. They also have so many freshman thinking they will study one thing and then switching to CS that it is becoming a problem.
I still need an answer as to whether or not I should take a HES or SCPD course to help my application. Do you think it would be worth the ~$3,000 dollars?
@RookieCS123 These programs do not help with admissions for first-year/transfer students. I think there are a few threads on this site that address this too. I took one of these courses, and found it very enjoyable; however, the professor told 5 very ambitious students in our class that taking the class and doing well in it will not increase your chances of admission to Harvard College/Stanford undergrad.
@bradthegrad2019 OK. Out of curiosity, would it help when applying to grad school? Because I do eventually want to get a PhD.
@RookieCS123 I would say probably not, but I really don’t know anything about graduate school admissions. I just know that they are separate institutions under the same university.