Transfer chances and advise

JHS
Mon, 10 Aug 2015 21:20:24 +0000

I have a lot more interest in humanities (especially econ, business and international/middle eastern affairs) than I did when applying to colleges last year and do not think I can stand the geeky and academically super-intense atmosphere at CMU for four more years.

1. I hope you are more honest with yourself than you are with us. What you wrote isn't exactly credible. You have a lot more interest in [a bunch of non-humanities subjects that are taught everywhere, and that you don't seem to know aren't "humanities"] than you did three months ago when you picked CMU over Cornell? You can't stand an atmosphere anymore you haven't actually experienced yet?

I really hate to say it, but this is like a little textbook in how to take a great resume and turn it into a terrible application. The only message you send is that you don’t give a crap about anything except rankings.

1. You are going to be spending at least one academic year at one of the best colleges on the planet for computer science -- clearly seen as better for that than any of your prospective transfer destinations except Stanford. Why would anyone even think of admitting you as a transfer student at one of those colleges unless you show you know how to get the most out of a great faculty? Forget demonstrating your interest in the humanities -- that may work as a functional explanation for why you want to transfer, but it's not going to impress anyone at Harvard or Yale, given that they already have scores of students who have been living the humanities they way you have been living math for most of their lives. Demonstrate that you are a world-beating student by finding the best and the brightest at CMUCS and sucking them dry (not to mention getting them to support your transfer application).

As a bonus, there’s more than a chance that (a) you will find that you LIKE the atmosphere at CMU and it’s a great place for you, and/or (b) if you are not successful in transferring, you will be on your way to a super-successful career at CMU and beyond. That’s a far better bet than transferring to HYS.

1. And stay at the front of the pack in math. In the end, if you are successful transferring, it is probably going to be because you are one of the top math students in your cohort, not because anyone is going to take pity on poor you and your newfound humanities interests stuck in the geeky atmosphere of CMU. Newsflash: your best skills are geeky skills. You will have a much stronger transfer application if you implicitly promise to stay geeky. Objectively, what are the odds that you achieve something interesting in Middle Eastern relations vs. mathematics or computer science?