Transferring from smaller privates to flagship publics?

Transfer Students
1

<p>How does transferring work from private to public universities? I am coming a medium sized liberal arts school. I am going to start sophomore year with a 3.65 GPA. I am on a double major track for Math and CS. The reason I want to transfer is because my school is a liberal arts school and the CS department is not funded enough. I fear employers will laugh when I am applying for programming/engineering related jobs from this school even though it has a great reputation for business and law.</p>

<p>I was thinking about either transferring to UW-Madison or UW-Seattle. Both have great CS programs. I would qualify for in-state for Madison (from WI). This makes it seem like an obvious choice, it is also close to home. However, if I am not mistaken Madison is slightly harder to get in to. I did poorly in high school (3.1 GPA 23 ACT composite w/ 27 math). Will my first year GPA hold me over if I wanted to transfer there? I was also looking at UW-Seattle because it is my dream city to live in. I think the biggest bonus there would be it is in the heart of one of the most tech-driven cities. However, it would probably cost me an extra $15000-$20000 than Madison.</p>

<p>So my question is, coming from a small liberal arts school, it has a small MATH/CS department, but my grades are pretty good, would many of my credits transfer? I would drop the math double major and focus on only CS if I did transfer. Would it be possible to transfer after first semester and still graduate within 4 years from when I started? Also for a side question, do you think I have a chance to be admitted to either of these schools?</p>

2

<p>Transfers from private to public work the same way as pretty much any other transfers. Your first year GPA likely won’t hold you over for Madison, as high school GPA is weighted pretty heavily for sophomore transfers, and your first year GPA is only just above the average for incoming freshmen (I’m not sure if there’s a lower or higher threshold for transfer students); however, you’ll be applying for a junior transfer, so if you do well this year, you should be in decent shape. You’ll need to ask about credits transferring at the specific schools you’re interested in, as it varies from sending school to sending school and receiving school to receiving school if the courses will transfer. This will affect whether you are able to graduate in 4 years, though provided there isn’t too long of a course sequence to follow, and you take summer courses, it should be doable. I think that if you do well this year, you could give both a shot and have a reasonable chance of acceptance.</p>