suehl

Hi everyone,

I feel really outdated posting here again after all the college admission craze I went through last year as a hs senior.

Anyways, so i am about to finish my freshman year at cornell. i am in the college of engineering and kind of in electrical engineering/computer science track, but through taking some biology related courses here, i have come to realize that engineering isn't what i really want to do: biology turns out to be my true love.

i have a couple of good reasons why i want to transfer out of cornell. my question is then, a)does mit have a good biology program?(i am not a premed) and b)does mit have lots of researchs going on? (cornell is a huge school=>lots of research opportunities)


about me/specs:

my GPA from the fall semester is 3.5. but considering the grade deflation at cornell AND the difficulty of the courses i took/am taking, I think 3.5 is just slightly less than ideal. (if you wonder, for the first sem, i took orgo(for sophomores), an intense cs programming course(for sophomores), and 1st year engineering math(with an A). and others are just required freshman stuff)

this semester i'm taking: microbiology for sophomores, biochemistry for juniors/seniors, 2nd sem engineering math and 1st sem engineering physics and some other required courses. i am expecting and hoping for something higher than 3.5 for this semester.

i also work in this genetics/biochem lab as a lab technician, but i will be doing intense research over this summer (which i believe is rare for a freshman)

i have a couple of other good extracurricula but since i already cut the ivy line in the past, i don't think this much hs stuff is necessary here.

RECAP:
a)does mit have a good biology program?(i am not a premed)
b)does mit have lots of research opportunities for undergrads?
and c)do i have any shot in tranfer?

thanks in advance.

PS. major reason for considering transfer: while taking first sem orgo, i was actually using course material found on MIT open courseware website to study=>realized the huge gap in the depth of materials between MIT and cornell.

molliebatmit

MIT's biology program is one of the top biology programs in the country. MIT, Harvard, and Stanford have probably the top three biology programs in the country at a graduate level, and all three programs are outstanding.

Virtually all MIT undergrads participate in research. MIT has a large number of professors and relatively few undergraduates, so there are plenty of spots in lab for everyone. The availability and depth of undergraduate research in the sciences and engineering is, I think, one of MIT's greatest strengths.

I can't comment as to the transfer -- as you are no doubt aware, it is very difficult to be admitted to MIT as a transfer student.

PiperXP

1) Listen to Mollie - if I recall right, she was a bio major and now she's studying more biology at Harvard =D Also, Johns Hopkins might be worth looking into.

2) Not sure if you've heard of UROP, but that's worth looking into. It's the Undergrad. Research Opportunities Program, and something like 80% of students participate. There are definitely plenty of opportunities here, right from freshman year.

3) I believe the admissions for transfers is less than 10 per year. Go to the admissions site, maybe talk to an admissions person - it's worth looking into.