<p>My dream undergrad and grad is University of Chicago but my HS records are not so great but if I get the required grades for Chicago, is transferring easier? :(( </p>
<p>Chicago has a graduating rate of 98%, that means only 2% turnover. It is exceedingly competitive to transfer to Chicago. Its lot easier if you can get in as Freshmen, especially in the EA round.</p>
<p>I would start looking at other places. </p>
<p>A dream school is kind of silly, but get good grades as an undergrad and aim for grad school.</p>
<p>It bothers me that people put this division between “state schools” and “prestige schools.” Some of the most prestigious universities in the world are state schools. UC Berkeley and several other UCs. U of I at Urbana-Champaign, and numerous others. </p>
<p>That said…UChicago is a VERY competitive transfer institution. During the last round of admissions, I believe they accepted roughly 8% of transfer applicants. Many of these transfers were coming from other highly prestigious schools such as Ivy’s, MIT, etc. Some of the transfers obviously came from less prestigious schools as well, but you really have to bring a lot to the table to be a strong candidate for transferring into UChicago. </p>
<p>No the Transfer acceptance rate at UChicago is around 2%</p>
<p><a href=“Transfer Acceptance Rates at US News Top 50 - Transferweb”>Transfer Acceptance Rates at US News Top 50 - Transferweb;
<p>well the link might not work, but all you have to do a google search</p>
<p>Good point by @comfortablycurt.</p>
<p>By alumni achievements (which is how I prefer to tier schools, to get rid of the effects of gaming), Cal is an Ivy-equivalent. In some fields, UIUC is one of the top schools and better than UChicago (which I respect a lot, BTW).</p>
<p>2%? I must be remembering another statistic. Thanks for the correction. </p>
<p>UIUC better than UChicago? I think that might be a stretch. In some respects, certainly. UIUC definitely has a better engineering program. UIUC ranks higher than Stanford and MIT in many branches of engineering, which is saying quite a lot. Physics and UChicago are basically on an equal playing field for physics. UIUC is #2 in the country for accounting, after UT Austin. </p>
<p>So, I don’t know if I’d necessarily say that UIUC is -better- than UChicago, but I think they’re certainly on the same playing field. Neither of the two have anything to envy with respect to the Ivy’s, MIT, CalTech, Berkeley etc. aside from the instant name recognition from those schools. </p>
<p>@comfortablycurt, didn’t I say “in some fields”?</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan - Whoops, I read that wrong. I read “Cal is an Ivy equivalent in some fields. UIUC is one of the top schools and better than UChicago.”</p>
<p>My mistake. I shouldn’t read so quickly. </p>
<p>Actually it is very easy, that is why it is a top school because they accept everyone who applies. This is so obvious.</p>