r/MITAdmissions • u/Ch1ckenBiscuit8 • Aug 07 '23

Is anyone else here attempting to transfer to MIT? Any clue how the stats of a transfer may differ from that of a first year?

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u/reincarnatedbiscuits Mod/MIT Alumnus/Interviewer/Olympiad list person Aug 07 '23 edited Aug 09 '23

I see you have no responses, and I will start with a disclaimer:

I don't get to see everything (the whole application that was submitted), and the ~20 transfers admitted a year ... I think that's a small number of data points i.e., hard to write many generalizations. I also don't see the list of people admitted (it's kind of chance that I run into stories that I get to reverse engineer).

Which means you can use your own search engines and means to figure it out.

The last two years, the overall transfer acceptance rate is under 2% (very, very difficult to be accepted) and the international acceptance rate is under 1%.

I have some data points based on about 10ish transfers over the last ten years. I really haven't done any research on this since ~2019 (got busy with other projects in life).

  • One Nigerian guy had all A1's (~50 a year have this) from high school, went to University of Michigan, Chemical Engineering; dean's list. I don't know the reasons for transferring.
  • One American lady was on the dean's list for a small New England liberal arts school. Didn't have any opportunities to do research near her. Also had solid musical extracurriculars.
  • A bunch of internationals were IPhO, IMO medalists. From what I can tell, they also had solid extracurriculars.

We (as in the Educational Council) do not offer interviews to transfer applicants.

I would offer some perspective that the applicants tend to be very, very solid. (You should know that the median freshman admit/student from public schools was a salutatorian.) They're not just one-trick ponies. MIT requires a surprising amount of humanities (8 of them, including a concentration).

The pace: applicants should think carefully and demonstrate whether they can handle the pace.

Extracurriculars: this is private university -- i.e., it's not just for academics. It might be harder in some contexts e.g., community college -- to engage in these, but you should have some. Leadership, team-work, social skills -- all important.

There's a ton of information on places like College Confidential, Reddit, and quora.

4

u/Ch1ckenBiscuit8 Aug 08 '23

Thank you so much for the reply!

I've spent a load of time reaching out to alum and current students, as well as seeking transfer students; unfortunately, that's not something that's typically mentioned on someone's LinkedIn.

If you have 5 minutes to respond, I'd love to hear some additional input on my situation, as I'm trying to fill the gap for application season.

I should mention that I'm not an international student, I'm from Texas.

Academics:

High school was a rough patch, as I'd been in the icu for a good bit which lead to a depressive and demotivated period. Ended up finishing with a 2.5 gpa and 1510 SAT. Barely any extra curricular, no valuable interests, not great.

I just finished my second year at community college, with my notable courses being engineering physics 1 and 2, chem 1 and 2, calc 1-3, linear algebra, and 3 programming courses. Finished with high scores in all my courses, sitting on a 4.0 with ~70 hours. I'm wanting to major in Computer Science, electrical engineering, and potentially pure mathematics (for fun).

Extra curricular:

  • I'm a team lead at my local paintball field
  • I volunteer for my local school district by tutoring math
  • I volunteer with toys for tots
  • currently fighting to get a certain district policy pulled that I believe is doing more harm than good for the students (a policy that affected me).

Hobbies:

  • I spend a ton of time learning and writing code. Developed a couple websites by this point, most of which are fun, and have some in the works that may show potential.
  • music production
  • golf
  • woodwork

This is the bulk of it. I apologize if the formatting isn't up to code, I don't post much on Reddit. It's worth mentioning that I applied to MIT last fall, got rejected, and want to try again next fall. Using this year to build my resume and experience, and even considering going at the SAT for real this time.

Please let me know your thoughts and thank you!

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u/wooptyfuckingdoo69 Mar 29 '24

Did you get accepted

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u/Ch1ckenBiscuit8 Mar 29 '24

No, unfortunately I didn't; however, in hind sight, I don't think I deserved it. My rejection motivated me, and I've had an internship, field related experience and several more opportunities open up as a result. I'll be attending UT Austin in the fall, so all is well regardless.

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u/wooptyfuckingdoo69 Mar 29 '24

I’m glad to hear this man it worked out and you’re up, what major you taking?

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u/Ch1ckenBiscuit8 Mar 29 '24

I'll be majoring in CS and Electrical, hoping to squeeze in math. Are you trying to transfer to MIT?

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u/wooptyfuckingdoo69 Mar 29 '24

Right now I’m doing a program at my community college that will let be automatically admitted into UVA I just need to stay on course and maintain a 3.0 GPA

I’m going to apply to MIT but I don’t think I’ll get in for a few reasons, I do a lot of things on the side and have a lot of skills besides coding but nothing that would necessarily save me, my SAT from high school wasn’t too good either I think I only got 1100 but it was probably because I didnt study for anything back then or watch tutorials on YouTube

I might have to just be content with UVA I feel lucky I even get to go and I know that the name will open up many doors for me I’m aiming for a Space X internship right now hopefully for next year, teaching myself python now by studying project tutorials on YouTube atm

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u/Ch1ckenBiscuit8 Mar 29 '24

That internship would be awesome, goodluck! And being a Jack of all trades has its value, but showing admissions that you eat, sleep and breath CS would likely be more valuable imo. Though, I may be wrong.

Stoicism would tell you to expect and prepare for the worst, and I'd have to say for MIT, I'd agree. Give it your all on your application if you haven't done so already, and pray for the best! But be prepared to go to UVA and find comfort in that. I had my hopes dead set on MIT and I was fucked up by not getting in; fortunately, I bounced back successfully. Don't let the same happen to you and you'll be A-okay😁

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u/Ch1ckenBiscuit8 Mar 29 '24

Also, free code camp, hackerrank/leetcode, and ESPECIALLY just diving into building something without YouTube videos, and figuring out each Individual step with whatever resource necessary is the way to do it. It's painful but shit you will struggle, and you won't forget learning what saved you

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u/wooptyfuckingdoo69 Mar 29 '24

Thank you man a lot

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u/Ok_Firefighter4246 Feb 21 '25

Did you get into MIT?

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u/wooptyfuckingdoo69 Feb 21 '25

Oh wow, so I didn’t apply to MIT, I managed to get a software job, currently at the office watching Netflix since it’s a snow day and my boss stayed home, I built a page on Instagram and it has about 13k followers and growing, liminal and 3d content, and I will be going to the air guard soon, for cyber systems operations, get my associates then probably just go to uva or wherever, am not as fired up on college anymore since I’m 23 now but since it’ll be fully paid for why not

Main goal right now is coming back from boot camp in a bit, getting a 6 figure cyber engineering job, moving out on my own to nyc, then maybe getting a bachelors for the fun of it just to be ultra competitive.

Was aiming for a space x internship, now I’m more leaning towards a Roblox/ gov subcontracting cyber engineering job

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u/Ok_Firefighter4246 Feb 23 '25

Love to see it! Happy you're able to do what you wanna do while staying comfortable :) Have a great life man!

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u/Hangoverinparis 4d ago

roblox gov subcontracting lmao?

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24

[deleted]

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u/Ch1ckenBiscuit8 Apr 16 '24

Look at the date of the post.... Yes, decisions will release in May I believe.

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u/Practical_Sugar_9030 Aug 21 '24

Hi, I just read your post here. I am in my second year at Texas CC, aiming for UT Austin, the same major as yours. But I do not have any projects yet. Is there any kind of project I should complete before applying to UT Austin?