Transferring UCLA to MIT as a math student(?)

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi, sorry to double post from bumping on another very old thread, but I would really love to have someone answer this; it means a lot to me. </p>

<p>As of right now, I’m committed to attending UCLA, although I’ll probably be cutting all communication permanently with extremely toxic parents (so perhaps the risk of debt). I apparently received this scholarship for the 2014-2015 year:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.math.ucla.edu/ugrad/mums”>Undergraduate Program | UCLA Department of Mathematics, </p>

<p>and am looking to be a math major, although I’m having more and more thoughts about doing theoretical CS as well, or possibly looking for CS internships.
What the scholarship entails, according to other people who received it, is the ability to take any math course (even graduate analysis with Terrance Tao, who has written a rec letter for one of the recipients), and the ability to fill up schedule while ignoring many requirements. </p>

<p>Stuff I did in high school mainly happened to be math olympiad (USAJMO HM etc.) + research, (I don’t mean to sound insanely bitter, but some stuff with violent dad made me incapacitated to take USAMO and possibly score for winner…I was one of those guys who trained on it), which is obviously a definite (big?) disadvantage. Hence not only was I rejected from MIT, but I was also barred from gaining an upper hand again on the USAMO last month…</p>

<p>My high school SAT was 2290, GPA was terrible due to having missed 80 days of school junior year.
My question is:

  1. Do they look heavily on things from high school? For my current stats, what would they think? For me personally, what would be the best road? (Would say, scoring highly on Putnam be regarded well?)
  2. Is it worth it to transfer into MIT, due to costs? (although…I’ll probably be paying everything on my own…which leads to third question:)
  3. Should I double major in CS and math because of the need to pay off debts and etc. at UCLA? What will MIT think of this? (I really have no experience in CS, other than researching algorithms (which is still applied math), but haven’t programmed that much)
  4. My plan at the moment is to try to see if research in math will work out for me (both by using faculty and applying to summer research programs); if not, maybe try to focus more on CS. </p>

<p>Thanks so much.</p>

2

<p>Unless you have access to enough money to pay for MIT without any help from your parents, don’t cut yourself off from them. You will need them to fill the FAFSA and CSS Profile each year to determine your eligibility for financial aid. Remember that on your own, you can only borrow the federal loan maximums of $5,500 freshman year, $6,500 sophomore year, $7,500 junior year, and $7,500 senior year. Anything more than that will require a qualified co-signer. </p>

3

<p>Or you can work a part time job and make $8000 yearly and file as independent.</p>

4

<p>MarshallBound -</p>

<p>Being independent for federal tax purposes, and independent for financial aid purposes are two very different things. Unless the OP is married, a military veteran, 24 years old, paying more than 50% of the support of his/her own child, etc. the OP will need his/her parents help with the financial aid paperwork every single year.</p>

5

<p>I think colleges will reconsider if there is a really bad family situation. I’d call up MIT financial aid. You might have to do some legal-y things, like documenting an abusive familial situation or something, but if your situation truly was that bad, I’d say it would be worth the hassle.
Also, it might not even be worth it to start at UCLA–it’s waaaay harder to get in as a transfer. Maybe take a year off, save up a lot, and try again for freshman admission? It’s really not a great idea to go into your freshman year planning on transferring (unless you go the CC route, of course). If you still want to go to UCLA for your first year, at least go in with an open mind and a positive attitude. You could be pleasantly surprised.</p>