What schools should I apply to? (transfer student from Caltech)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My current list is</p>

<p>MIT, Stanford, Princeton
Harvey Mudd
UChicago, UCLA, UWashington</p>

<p>These schools are completely arbitrary and entirely based on hearsay.</p>

<p>I know I probably need to apply to many more colleges (or think of applying to many more) but I haven't been in the admissions game for several years, and when I was a freshman I only applied to one school. So can you help suggest a few colleges that might be good for me?</p>

<ul>
<li>I really liked Caltech. It was a small school and everyone was nice. Not to mention there were lots of smart people there, and the problem sets were always fun and interesting. (+ easy to get into a lab)</li>
<li>I'm mostly interested in math but it would be awesome if there were interesting courses in comp sci, physics, and psychology.</li>
<li>I don't have many other criteria. Basically I just want a good school that'll take me. I have a 3.8 gpa and probably two papers, but I am skeptical about my chances because the transfer admissions game is ridiculous (among other reasons).</li>
</ul>

<p>Thanks guys :)</p>

2

<p>I don’t think Chicago has an engineering school, but you can always try NU.</p>

<p>you have almost zero chance of getting into UCLA as a transfer applicant, so you would rather apply to USC.</p>

3

<p>Why do you want to transfer?</p>

4

<p>why would she have almost 0 chance at UCLA? I think she’s got the best chance of almost anyone…especially considering they admitted a third of transfer applicants:
<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/Tr_Prof09.htm[/url]”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/Tr_Prof09.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Where she does have a zero chance is at Princeton; they do not accept any transfers.</p>

5

<p>Morsmordre, the UC schools give TOP priority to california community college students, then students from other UCs, then lastly to students from other 4-year universities. That’s why it’s extremely hard to transfer.</p>

6

<p>thanks, i guess i should cross princeton off the list then</p>

7

<p>“Morsmordre, the UC schools give TOP priority to california community college students, then students from other UCs, then lastly to students from other 4-year universities. That’s why it’s extremely hard to transfer.”</p>

<p>But according to the “transfer from” statistics, there is still about an 11 percent acceptance rate from non CC schools. Not a “safety”, but getting into Caltech must have been just as hard.</p>

8

<p>Why you want to transfer might help guide suggestions.</p>

9

<p>Fizix2, again, why do you want to transfer? You say you liked Caltech, and it is certainly an excellent school. Is there something you didn’t like about the school? Anything you Caltech didn’t offer that you’re looking for in a transfer school? These seem like important considerations as posters continue to give suggestions.</p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>no. caltech was a perfect fit for me and i loved everything about it. (this will be tough to write about in my essays)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>something happened and they want to see me go to another school for a year before letting me back in, and even then they might not let me back in.</p>

11

<p>That sounds like a difficult situation. I understand if its something you’d rather not go into in depth, but might I ask if it could have an effect on your applications (i.e. disciplinary action)?</p>

12

<p>i don’t think it would, but they might be able to tell anyway because i did the same thing last year and went to a school close to home</p>

<p>so my record looks like</p>

<p>Caltech 2007-winter 2008 (passfail)
FAU fall 2008 (gpa = 4.0)
Caltech spring 2009 (gpa = 3.8)
FAU fall 2009-spring 2010 (gpa = hopefully good)</p>

13

<p>Look at Rice… their math department and engineering disciplines are very strong!</p>

14

<p>i will, thanks for the recommendation!</p>

15

<p>what do you want to major in? there are a lot of options</p>

16

<p>“But according to the “transfer from” statistics, there is still about an 11 percent acceptance rate from non CC schools. Not a “safety”, but getting into Caltech must have been just as hard.”</p>

<p>I’m not sure about this but I really suspect that the bulk of those 11% who got into UCLA as transfers are from other UC campuses, California universities and California residents. But whilst this is kind of fuzzy as I’m not quite familiar with UCLA’s transfer admission system, it’s going to be a hell lot more difficult to transfer to Berkeley from a peer university. And, yes, I just checked. Princeton does not accept transfer students. </p>

<p>OP, you might want to include USC, and most specially, NU, in your list. So, should be Rice, CMU, Georgia Tech and Michigan, which all have fantastic engineering programs.</p>

17

<p>What about USC? They have engineering & it’s close to CalTech, physically. They are known to take a lot of transfers. Don’t understand your mysterious need to transfer, but that’s up to you & CalTech.</p>

18

<p>i’m a math major.</p>

<p>what is NU? sorry i’m not familiar with the abbreviations</p>

<p>oh yeah, close to caltech is great because then i can see my friends and possibly do research there
it’s not necessary, but it’s an extra perk :)</p>

<p>and thanks for the recommendations guys.</p>

19

<p>sorry for writing my response without providing additional information. a) i still dont understand “something happened and they want to see me go to another school for a year before letting me back in, and even then they might not let me back in.”
and b) what is fau?
i was under the impression you are at cal tech or still are at cal tech and what is FAU all about?
sorry for sounding ignorant, but you also mentioned that cal tech wants you at another school for a year before they take you back in again? seems pointless if you’re able to obviously handle cal tech if you get a 3.8. If its a matter of disciplinary action, then have you checked if cal tech will really let you in??because most all schools don’t accept any transfers above junior level, and if you’ll go back to cal tech after 1 year wont that make you a senior at cal tech?</p>

<p>and lastly look at ucla statistics(like others have mentioned) they have broken down admissions by 4 year schools(from the past) and in general it is harder to transfer in from a 4 year school let a lone aprivate</p>

20

<p>OP, </p>

<p>NU stands for Northwestern University, and I bet you’re very aware how prestigious NU is. It has an excellent program across all major fields, including maths and other highly mathematical and mechanical majors. Should you want to major in economics, NU is one of the best for econ as well. </p>

<p>Of course, if you can get into Stanford or MIT, then by all means, go to either of the two, if you think you’ll fit in either environment.</p>