TRANSFER: Princeton vs. Cornell vs. UPenn vs. Stanford

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hello thanks for checking out my post. I am undergraduate mechanical engineering student looking to transfer. For my freshman year I attended the University of New Hampshire and after placing in the top ten percent of my class and seeking a challenge I transferred to UConn. At UConn I showed further improvement specially by becoming the founding president of the UConn Entrepreneurship and Innovation Society, co founding and leading an eCommerce business, being accepted into and participating in a graduate level independent study, and still retaining deans list in the honors program with a 3.75. In the process I also learned to code HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP. Now I am again looking for more of a challenge plus I feel those around me don’t share my passion for learning. Therefore I was looking at some of the top rated universities to challenge myself further. I will say my high school credentials and SAT score of 1850 (640 MATH) are not that impressive but I was not that interested in the curriculum at that time so I did not perform as well. Since then I have showed constant improvement. I was wondering if anyone had any opinions with these credentials the likelihood of my acceptance into these four universities.

EDIT: Here’s what I was using to compare them http://colleges.findthebest.com/compare/2619-2748-3758-4754/Princeton-University-vs-Cornell-University-CU-vs-University-of-Pennsylvania-vs-Stanford-University-SU

Thanks for your time,
Tape

2

Princeton does not accept transfers and Stanford is incredibly competitive for a transfer. If I am correct, close to 2000 people applied to Stanford as a transfer student…less than 35 were accepted–those are some pretty darn stiff numbers. Out of the schools listed, Penn and Cornell are your best chances.

3

Thanks didn’t know that about Princeton.

4

Also I’m white and the first one in my immediate family to attend college if that changes anything.

5

3.75 as an engineering student is impressive, especially if you took graduate classes (or even if one).
What’s your budget? Transfers aren’t funded as well as freshmen, if at all.
Look into Columbia’s Fu Engineering program as well as School of General Studies (they don’t guarantee to meet need but they’re a Columbia college for transfers) or into Cornell’s CALS (where AEM, their tippy-top business program, is located). Depending on budget, check out NYU Poly (or Stern?). Both for Columbia and NYU you’ll have to figure out housing though, a tough predicament in NYC.

I don’t think you have a shot at Stanford.

6

Thanks for your input!