I'm attending a community college and aiming to transfer to MIT in the future. Does anyone have experience with this? What should I expect in terms of requirements or competition?
MIT does accept transfer students, including those from community colleges. However, you should know that their transfer admission rate is quite low, historically around 1-2%, and even less than that for community college transfers. Despite this, don't be discouraged - it's not impossible.
When applying as a transfer student, MIT looks at your college GPA, course selection, recommendations, and extracurricular involvement, among other things. Generally, you should aim for a GPA of at least 3.5 in rigorous courses in your field of interest, and to be involved in some extracurricular activities that demonstrate passion, leadership, or unique skills.
You'll need instructor evaluations from each of the classes you've taken so far, a secondary school transcript, and SAT or ACT scores. Also, MIT is looking for evidence that you've exhausted the resources available at your current institution, which could mean taking advanced or honors versions of courses, or participating in research or capstone projects.
Just remember, the admission process at MIT is selective and challenging, so while you aim for the best, keep options open for other transfer schools as well. This way, you have a couple of back-up plans to fall on. It's all about balancing your aspirations with realistic expectations. Hope this helps, and best of luck!
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