Agreed. Saying you are a late bloomer, and that’s why you should accept me is not very compelling.
What about grad classes/seminars? (if your college has grad programs)
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Understood, haha. How else would I explain my poor HS performance though?
Makes sense. The academic reasons do hold quite a bit of weight, but I’m willing to sacrifice academic rigor if it means that I go to a school with a better reputation. My current school, however, is not rigorous at all.
I’m not sure you really have to. They are making a decision based on your college performance. Your high school performance isn’t as relevant anymore.
Would you choose stronger statistics department at a less prestigious school versus a weaker statistics department at a more prestigious school?
I do not think that you even try to explain your poor HS performance. Students maturing at some point and starting to be much stronger students is something that universities have seen before. You apply to a few highly ranked schools and see what happens, with the likelihood that rejection is very, very likely at MIT, UCB, UCLA, and Ivy League schools. Then you either do very well where you are, or you also apply to schools such as U.Mass Amherst where acceptance is reasonably likely based largely on being in-state plus three very strong semesters at your current school. Then wherever you are you do very, very well.
The University of Wisconsin is another school that is very good for math and CS, and for which admissions is more likely compared to MIT or an Ivy League school. However, it would be more expensive compared to U.Mass, would require more travel (and an even warmer winter coat), and I do not see any significant advantage in going there over attending U.Mass.
If you get to the point of applying to a master’s degree program, or to any other graduate program, they will not ask and will not care how you did in high school. They will want to know how you did in any college or university that you have attended.
I got my master’s degree at Stanford in a subfield of applied mathematics. When applying they never asked for any high school information, not even where I had attended. Then when I got there I found students in the same program who had come from a very, very wide range of undergraduate universities. If I were to have looked up the ranking of the university where each student had gotten their bachelor’s degree and averaged it, the result would probably have been very close to but probably slightly lower compared to the ranking of U.Mass Amherst. You can get accepted to very good graduate programs with a degree from U.Mass.
However, I still think that your chances of transferring as an undergraduate student into MIT, or Stanford, or any Ivy League university is very low. Your chances of getting accepted as a master’s degree student at one of these schools is significantly better, but might be better still if you complete your bachelor’s degree at a “top 50” university such as U.Mass.
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Reputation in 95% of fields is overrated - just so you know.
Many Ivy kids work for state school kids, etc.
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Reputation in many fields is miscalculated or misquoted or used to mean something that it doesn’t. That is not the same thing as “overrated”.
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Two comments:
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Sounds like you already have a great internship so you don’t need a college with a bigger reputation to succeed.
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If you transfer as a junior your HS record is typically no longer considered.
That’s a matter of opinion - as is mine.
The reality is - a stats degree or someone interested in being a Data Scientist - the where isn’t going to be a huge deal.
For someone in a Wall Street type discipline, the answer changes.
It’s why, we have a Harvard Law working for a Fairleigh Dickinson - it’s just the reality of life all over.
My opinion would be overrated - you disagree and that’s fine too.
The OP has already concluded that the courses he needs at his current institution are insufficient for what he wants to learn. Therefore, admonishing him that reputation is “overrated” seems a bit tone deaf. He’s looking for more robust academic offerings. If you don’t think that robust academic offerings are important-- then perhaps this isn’t a thread where you can add value. And pointing out who your kids are working for and who is working for them- again, this might not be terribly relevant to the OP who is interested in a different discipline and intellectual challenge. Once a poster identifies academic rigor as a priority, directing that poster to “less rigorous” options out of one’s own bias seems unkind.
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I did not point out who my kids are working for or who works for them.
OP says their school isn’t robust enough.
Have they looked to see that the curriculum is any different anywhere else?
Here is what the OP says - " I’m willing to sacrifice academic rigor if it means that I go to a school with a better reputation. "
They are the traditional, I want to go to a a big name, even if academics weren’t as strong. They couldn’t get in out of HS and it bothers them.
I’m not saying they wouldn’t be as strong but OP is making the case that they aren’t at their school, and I’d have them revisit that.
We read lots of parents writing about the “easy” classes at their kids top 20 schools.
Rather than criticize another, please provide your perspective, which I appreciate, without disparaging another poster.
I’ll assume the back and forth between two posters will move to PM. Further posts will be deleted without comment.
If I get accepted to a less rigorous T25 and a more rigorous T50, I would choose the T25
That makes sense, thank you. I’m not sure that I’d actually want to get a master’s degree when I could head straight into the workforce out of undergrad.
I’m also not entirely convinced that many T25’s have easy academics for STEM majors. I think the quality of student at a T25 is higher than at my current school, and that is part of what leads to higher averages.
I have already looked and will likely apply.
I am very interested in a particular field that is known for being very selective based on school. This year, I failed all but 1 resume screen, I’m worried that I’ll fail the resume screen next year too unless I transfer to a top school.
Grad classes exist at my school but have a reputation for being very easy, especially in math
What about NC State? Great stats program. Or Duke.