Transfer from De Anza To Georgia Tech 🐝

In February 2023, the president of ACM Club at De Anza College invited me to speak at an out-of-state university transfer panel. There were many amazing panelists, but too little time for us to share everything. So I decided to put my thoughts and experiences here 🙂

Table Of Contents

• Table Of Contents
• Why I chose to transfer to a private university/out of the UC/CSU system?
• How I Prepared for Transfer Applications at De Anza: Academically and Non-Academically
  • Academically
  • Non-academically
• My experience at Georgia Tech
• Advice to people who also want to apply to non-UC/CSU schools
  • 1. Explore your interests
  • 2. Build meaningful relationships
  • 3. Consider taking the SAT/ACT if you haven’t already
  • 4. Don’t feel frustrated getting rejected
• Recommended Resources and Opportunities
  • CS
  • Math
  • NASA L’SPACE Program

Why I chose to transfer to a private university/out of the UC/CSU system?

There were several factors that contributed to my decision to transfer to a private university and move away from the UC/CSU system. These include my preference for smaller class sizes, concerns about transferring international credits, and a desire for greater cultural diversity.

Firstly, I have always had a preference for less crowded learning environments. Many UC schools tend to be overpopulated, whereas private institutions like Duke, Brown, and Northwestern offer lower student-to-faculty ratios. Unfortunately, I did not apply to these private schools due to my decision not to take the SAT/ACT, which I now regret a lot and would probably be the number one thing I would change if I could go back in time.

Secondly, before attending De Anza College, I completed my freshman year studying Chemical Engineering at National Taiwan University (NTU). There, I took courses such as Calculus, Differential Equations, Chemistry with Lab, Physics with Lab, among others. I intended to transfer these credits to De Anza College and ultimately to the four-year institution I would transfer to, so as to avoid retaking them. However, I learned that UC schools may not accept transfer students who have completed college-level coursework outside of the U.S. for reasons unknown to me. This prompted me to apply to universities beyond the UC system as a contingency plan in case I was not accepted by any UC schools.

Lastly, living in the Bay Area, I found myself surrounded by a predominantly Asian community. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, I felt that I wasn’t able to fully immerse myself in American culture or interact with people from diverse backgrounds. Moreover, I often found myself speaking Mandarin, which hindered my English improvement and integration into American society. As a result, I decided that I wanted to pursue my college education outside of California in order to broaden my cultural horizons.

How I Prepared for Transfer Applications at De Anza: Academically and Non-Academically

Academically

To prepare for transfer applications, I started by researching the transfer course requirements for each college I intended to apply to. This allowed me to identify the necessary classes and strategically select the easiest class or professor for each course to maximize my GPA. While some may argue that choosing professors who teach well is a better approach, I believe that maintaining a high GPA is crucial for admissions decisions, and self-studying the material can be more efficient and effective than attending lectures.

However, if you are not the type of person who can set aside time for self-study, this approach may not be suitable for you.

In addition to taking classes at De Anza College, I also enrolled in high-quality online courses to enhance my knowledge. (I have some recommendation in a later section.) Furthermore, I later became a teaching assistant for Abeer Alameer (she is a very nice professor by the way) for Beginning Programming Methodologies in C++ (CIS 22A) and Intermediate Programming Methodologies in C++ (CIS 22B) classes.

Non-academically

As far as I can tell, transfer admission competition is becoming increasingly fierce each year, and a high GPA alone is not enough to secure a spot at top colleges. Therefore, it’s essential to engage in a diverse range of extracurricular activities, such as joining clubs, gaining leadership and volunteer experience, obtaining internships, and earning awards from competitions … etc.

In my case, I served as the co-president of the competitive programming club, participated in the NASA L’SPACE Program (I became the principal investigator of my team and was close to getting $10k from NASA to fund my proposal), volunteered at various events (e.g., tree planting, video editing, and working on CS projects), and competed at ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Division 2 (at that time I hadn’t taken data structure course and didn’t even know how to use a hash map 🤣, nevertheless we got the 14th place out of 86 teams), competed at American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) and got 1st place at De Anza college and top 30 in the U.S., and worked as a flea-market assistant once per month (I had to woke up at 4:30 a.m. each time 😭).

My experience at Georgia Tech

Since this article is not dedicated towards my experience at Georgia Tech, I just desribe in a very genreal way that would hopefully still shed some light on how is it like studying CS at Georgia Tech.

The School of Computer Science within the College of Computing offers a variety of high-quality, well-designed courses. For example, CS 2110 (Computing Organization and Programming), CS 2200 (Computer Systems and Networks), and CS 3251 (Computer Networking 1) are taught by exceptional professors who helped me build a solid CS foundation. The professors generally assign reasonable projects and exams; as long as you invest time and effort, you can expect good grades.

As for research opportunities, there is a Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Computing (UROC) job fair at the beginning of each semester where professors present their research and recruit students. (This is how I got into anti-cheating research.) Alternatively, reaching out to professors with research interests that align with yours via email works pretty well too.

In terms of career resources, Georgia Tech hosts one of the best career fairs. You are able to talk to quite a lot of companies for potential internship or full-time opportunities. Moreover, Georgia Tech allows international students to do internship/co-op during regular semester and not just during summer. Georgia Tech will enroll you in a 12-credit internship course for you to maintain a full-time students during your internship, which is very nice!

Overall, attending Georgia Tech for Computer Science is a solid choice. Reflecting on my experience, I no longer dwell on not receiving transfer admissions from UCB EECS, UCLA, or Johns Hopkins.

Advice to people who also want to apply to non-UC/CSU schools

If you’re considering applying to non-UC/CSU schools, it’s essential to make the most of your time at a two-year college and set yourself up for success. Here are some advice I have:

1. Explore your interests

As a student, you have the unique opportunity to experiment with various subjects and activities without significant commitment. Take advantage of this time to try as many different things as possible. By doing so, you’ll gain a better understanding of what you like and dislike, helping you make informed decisions about your future academic and career paths.

For me, I realized that I’m much more interested in Computer Science than Chemical Engineering throughout my freshman year at NTU. And I made the decision to dropped out and transition into CS early on. I felt lucky that it didn’t take me 4 years or a B.S. degree in ChemE to figure this out.

2. Build meaningful relationships

Forge strong friendships with your peers at your two-year college. The shared experience of studying and working together to gain admission to top schools will create lasting memories. I made some of my best friend during my time at De Anza College, and we’re still in touch today.

3. Consider taking the SAT/ACT if you haven’t already

Most top private schools require SAT or ACT scores as part of their application process. If you have the time and resources, it’s a good idea to take these tests to keep your options open and maximize your chances of getting into your dream school.

Also, keep an open mind and be willing to explore all your options. Don’t limit yourself to just UC/CSU schools or because all your friends are applying to these schools. Research and apply to a variety of institutions to increase your chances of finding the right fit for you.

4. Don’t feel frustrated getting rejected

I was rejected by all the schools I wanted to go to (except for Georgia Tech), which made me doubt if I’m good enough and wonder what’s the point of my hard work if I ended up not getting any of what I wanted. I also started to think if I would be in a better position had I not dropped out from NTU. Now looking back, these thoughts were really just a waste of time.

It’s not the end of the world if you don’t get into your dream school. Remember that the transfer process can be unpredictable and that rejection is not a reflection of your worth as a person or student. Stay positive, stay hopeful, cultivate good habits, sleep well, and eat good food. These are the things that truly matter in the long run so that you’ll become successful no matter where you go.

Recommended Resources and Opportunities

CS

For CS students, checkout CS50 from Harvard. It is by far the best intro CS course I’ve ever seen online and is completely offered for free. The course covers quite a wide range of topics, and the instructor David J. Malan is an absolutely amazing lecturer. I highly recommend this course for those who wants to enhance their CS fundamentals.

Math

For Math related courses, I recommend checking out

• 3Blue1Brown has some amazing visualization into a variety of Math concepts. This will help you understand the material a lot better
• Steve Brunton is an amazing lecturer. He has recorded plenty high quality lecture videos explaining some of the most hard-to-grasp topics in Engineering and Mathematics.

NASA L’SPACE Program

NASA Lucy Student Pipeline Accelerator and Competency Enabler (L’SPACE) Program is a virtual program offered by NASA and ASU aim at training the future STEM workforce. You will learn a lot about how NASA runs missions, learn from NASA scientists about their work, and work on a challenging team project with other college students. It is open to any college students attending US colleges, including international students. I highly encourage you to check it out.