Type of high school (or current college for transfers): T100 school in Massachusetts
Other special factors: None
Cost Constraints / Budget
No cost constraints
Intended Major(s): Statistics/CS or Math/CS, depends on the school
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.49
Weighted HS GPA: 3.60
College GPA: 3.98
Class Rank: 53%
ACT/SAT Scores: 1580 (800 M/780 EBRW)
List your HS coursework
English: Gen-Ed track
Math: Honors Track (Alg II/Geometry/Pre-Calc/AP Calc AB), Calc 2 and Multi at a CC
Science: Bio/Chem/Honors Physics/AP Chem
History and social studies: Gen-ed track
Language other than English: 4 years of Spanish
Visual or performing arts: 2 years of art
Other academic courses:
College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
General education course work: 1 yr of writing
Major preparation course work: Analysis 1, Analysis 2, LinAlg, ANOVA, Probability Theory, Mathematical Statistics, 1st and 2nd year of CS major Awards: Predicted score of 20 on the Putnam, 1st place in integration bee
Extracurriculars (Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
Internship at FAANG+ company (next summer), internship at FAANG+ company (last summer), internship at a startup (during school year)
2 published chemistry papers as 2nd author, the actual work is mostly data science and math
Several personal projects, mostly run-of-the-mill AI/ML stuff
Teaching self to play the piano
Had a bunch of generic ECâs in HS, the only good one was president of math club
Essays/LORs/Other
LOR from lab PI and 1st semester CS prof, she actually suggested that I try transfer to a more reputable school so this LOR will probably be very good
LOR from Probability Theory professor, I was the only freshman in the class of mostly juniors and seniors and I blew out the curve on every test, so this LOR will probably be very good too
Essays will talk about how I was always in the gen-ed track in middle and high school and never thought of myself as an âacademicâ type of person. I had no motivation to work hard in HS because I thought that I was too dumb to be in honors classes. Then I took the SAT and realized that I am much more academically inclined than I thought I was. That motivated me to study math harder. I want to transfer because my college does not offer many advanced statistics courses, and I find the courses too easy.
Schools
MIT, Harvard, UCB, UCLA, etc. Basically every T25 with a reputable STEM program and advanced stats courses. Already applied to UCLA and UCB.
The majority of accepted transfers to the UCs are from California Community Colleges, making this a very tough admit for you. Of course, MIT and Harvard are obviously also long shots, too.
This is obviously a problem for a stats major so you are right to be looking into potential transfer options. Do you have anything other T25 schools on your list? You could certainly get lucky, but itâs going to be tough. I hope you have a back up plan.
For your fairly straightforward goal of expanding your access to greater breadth and depth in statistics courses in the context of generally strong STEM offerings, it seems that a variety of schools would be suitable for this. As examples, look into the curricula at, say, UIUC and the University of Rochester.
I think that your chances of getting accepted to any of these schools as an undergraduate transfer student are very low. The universities of California will be expensive as an out of state student. MIT and Stanford and Ivy League schools will be expensive unless you qualify for very good need based financial aid.
If you are not already at U.Mass Amherst, then I would suggest that you apply to it. It is very good for math and computer science. If you are already at U.Mass, then I suggest that you work hard, keep ahead in your class work, continue to participate in very good internships, and do well where you are.
If you keep this up for a full four years and graduate from U.Mass Amherst, then Stanford and other top schools will still be there if you are thinking about getting a masterâs degree at some point in the future.
Donât know your budget, but a more âtransfer friendlyâ U with very strong statistics is Rutgers. Iâve hired young grads with only a Bachelorâs for roles the hiring managers insisted required a Masters or PhD. The undergrad statistics major is as rigorous as you want it to be/can handle.
Agree with the suggestion above to look seriously at U Mass.
I would not recommend this strategy. Focus on your accomplishments in college, your goals and/or desired fit in a college and why the transfer schools is necessary to meet your goals/desired fit in college.
I echo what the others posters have siad, and if you are sure you want to transfer, you will need to add at least one affordable highly likely/safety transfer school.
Note the UCs take very few OOS transfers from 4 year colleges, they prioritize transfers from California CCs and CSUs. @gumbymom can share more details.
It seems that âNo cost constraintsâ would indicate that any college suggestions would be financially feasible. In any case, I concur with the recommendation of Rutgers for statistics.
@kino93403: As another idea, perhaps look into Carnegie Mellon.
Advanced stats classes exist, but they are not rigorous and the scope of the courses is quite limited compared to their equivalents at schools like MIT.
Yes, I (my parents ) am able to pay the full cost of attendance.
For the UCâs as stated, they give priority to in-state CCC transfers.
For 2024, OOS transfer admit rate for UC Berkeley was 6.5% (617 applicants/40 admits) and UCLA was 9% (509 applicants/46 admits). You are definitely competitive but your HS coursework and SAT scores are not considered for Transfer admissions at the UCâs. What is most important is your UC Transferable GPA and completion of the GE and major prep requirements for transfer along with meeting the minimum 60 semester/90 quarter unit requirement.
Data science undergraduate majors are commonly more like applied statistics combined with some subject of application, rather than the in-depth theoretical statistics study that you appear to be interested in.
What upper and graduate level statistics courses are offered at your current school?
If applying 2nd year, your hs record will be in play, so no. Third year, your list enrolls few transfers. Maybe Cornell can be good. Maybe but your list is not realistic.
Top 25 kids work for Data scientists from schools like Kennesaw State âŠask me how I know. You will get rigorous training at most any school. And you can always ask for more.
With stats and math, Iâm sure you can do great from where you are.
If CS, have you thought of a school like RPI instead - which has great career outcomes and is transfer friendly.
Cornell has a higher transfer rate because they offer a transfer option to a decent number of applicants that applied as high school seniors that were originally rejected. Non âtransfer optionâ transfer applicants have a very low acceptance rate. But possibly more feasible than MIT or Harvard.
Mainly, if you really want to leave and I donât know why but your academic reasons probably donât hold weight - read the reviews from the kids already at âtop collegesâ - they have easy classes too - and then others, my kids went to a flagship and go to a regional and they have plenty of rigor. So rank doesnât necessarily correlate to rigor.
In the end, apply where you want but you need more transfer friendly schools - and RPI is the type of school that an MIT turndown might end up, which is why I thought of it for you vs. others.
UMD also excels in all areas you mentioned but then if youâre at a big public, itâs just an even swap.
) am able to pay the full cost of attendance.