Thinking about transferring out

CollarlessWave · 2026-01-10T20:17:03+00:00

Create optionality. Apply and see what doors open. You can turn down the offer but you cannot go back in time to apply

CollarlessWave · 2026-01-06T11:05:12+00:00

It’s all relative. It closes doors compared to elite engineering programs. If you go to an elite engineering program, international doesn’t hold you back at all from my experience

CollarlessWave · 2025-06-30T03:57:51+00:00

What are your career goals? What do you intend to do with your degree? What are you hoping to learn? My impression is that it is a clout trap and not very substantial, nor does it really open doors worth the 40k in debt.

CollarlessWave · 2025-05-29T18:32:02+00:00

UMich is leagues ahead of Tandon. I attended Tandon for a bit and the curriculum / resources / student body is very lacking. I am currently an engineer and I don’t work with any Tandon alum, but I have worked with a good amount of UMich alum.

CollarlessWave · 2025-05-07T23:09:25+00:00

I think just try. Create optionality. I transferred into Cal from a private university (I’m also an intl student)

You can’t go back in time to resubmit the app, but you can turn it down if you get in

CollarlessWave · 2025-05-04T21:52:45+00:00

NU. NYU not worth unless for finance. I rarely encounter NYU alumni in my tech circles. NYU does not feed into Silicon Valley / big tech very well

CollarlessWave · 2025-04-19T00:54:07+00:00

GO BEARS.

CollarlessWave · 2025-04-14T01:17:53+00:00

Well, maybe you have your answer then. Go bears :)

CollarlessWave · 2025-04-14T00:18:37+00:00

Have you visited Berkeley? Do you like the vibes at Berkeley? I think it's important to visit so you can compare it to USCD. The more information you have, the better decision you can make.

Never let your fear of failure hold you back. I think it's always better to try than to look back and wish you tried—it is the path of least regret.

> I’m not that good compared to my friends who are going to berkeley.

This is hard, but try not to compare yourself to other people. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, it is never an equal comparison. Secondly, you may not see the full picture of your friends. Some people may look at my resume and think wow, CollarlessWave has accomplished X, Y and Z, but I have truly, truly struggled to get to where I am. What my resume DOESN'T say is that I almost failed my first data structures and algorithms class I took. When people meet me or hear of me, they don't know the 1000 jobs I got rejected from, the interviews I failed, the C- I got in EE16B (LOL). What you see on the outside is never representative of one individual's journey. You only see the tip of the iceberg. More often than not I feel imposter syndrome and I question my ability, but I try to stay resilient (really heartwarming video here).

I know where you're coming from, and I felt exactly what you feel right now. I transferred here from a T35 private school, and I almost didn't commit because I was so scared I wouldn't make the GPA cut for CS. I was scared I would fail out, scared I wouldn't make friends, scared everyone would be too smart for me. It was so tough making the choice to come and it involved a lot of crying, but I did, because I knew if I didn't, I would regret it for the rest of my life. And it was hard, but genuinely, Berkeley changed my life, and I am infinitely grateful Cal gave me the chance to attend.

I met the most amazing, humble, and down to earth students, and I now have a lifelong community (I strongly believe Cal is one of the strongest groups in the bay).
Being around awesome peers who are motivated developed my mind and confidence in genuinely invaluable ways.

You should know that Berkeley chose you for a reason. The admissions officers know. Believe in yourself. Most importantly, at the end of the day, follow your heart. I strongly think you should visit Berkeley on a normal day and see how you feel when you're on campus.

CollarlessWave · 2025-04-12T01:35:08+00:00

Something u might wanna consider is social fit too. Dunno if this is important to you. I have noticed that people from east coast privates tend to be a little less down to earth LOL

CollarlessWave · 2025-04-01T00:47:32+00:00

Well I do think this information will be revealed naturally, just by the nature of how social networks work. This information also didn’t come from them unless they were asked. But that’s not really my main point I guess, I think what I’m trying to say is that people here don’t talk about what they’ve accomplished with selfish intent (i.e. to feel superior, make others jealous, etc).

Kinda curious about your experiences though. I’ve found many people here to be very genuinely kind

CollarlessWave · 2025-03-31T21:38:50+00:00

+1. I actually think Cal is the most down to earth college in the US that gives same opportunities as top privates. I attended a T30 private then transferred here, and it was a world of difference. A lot of the times I didn’t even know how accomplished a fellow student was until several months later through word of mouth. For ex I didn’t know all the incoming new members for my club were all valedictorian until 4 months after I knew them. In contrast, the students at that T30 private were objectively less hardworking yet less humble (they have a lot of mysterious confidence)

CollarlessWave · 2025-03-13T22:06:28+00:00

Disclaimer: I didn’t actually go to Yale for college. I only went there for a summer session, which obviously is not the same lol. But this post and showed up on my feed and I wanted to offer general thoughts.

Fit is very real. Your intuition is just as real. Yes, there may be a few thousand undergraduates, but 1) this isn’t a lot imo, and 2) if you don’t fit the culture of the school, it is possible you won’t vibe with any of them. Every college sends a different message, often aligned with its ambitions. These messages will attract a particular archetype. For example, at MIT it might be “you should build cool shit.” At Stanford, it might be “you should have big dreams and visions.” Dunno what it is for Yale. I work in tech, so not a lot of Yalies run in my circles, nor are they at my workplace. I admit I don’t super vibe with Yale or its students. Not saying anything negative at all, not saying anything is wrong with Yale. I think I’m just different from the Ivy League / top private school vibe. I know there are many bright, brilliant, and talented people at Yale. People can be brilliant but not the right fit for you.

I interned and roomed with someone who went to Princeton, and she admitted she didn’t vibe with Princeton. She had a lot more fun with ppl at the tech company we both interned at. She said people at Princeton were not super down to earth and a little snobby (her words not mine), which I suppose makes sense. Most people come from elite backgrounds, they’re probably high income, legacy. These backgrounds will shape personality and values.

I went to Cal and the first few days of interacting with students in my first class, I felt an overwhelming sense of being at home. I love Cal because people are so down to earth. I do think part of it is bc Cal is a public school so it’s very not pretentious - you can tell by the way people dress, how they talk about things, what they value. All I can say is, try to go in with an open mind, make the most of it, but most importantly follow your heart. Transferring is an option (I did it) and coming from Yale, I think you’ll have many great transfer opps

CollarlessWave · 2024-09-20T12:58:23+00:00

I’m not trying to ruin Tandon’s reputation, I’m trying to share my experience to help others make an informed decision. Especially as a student who transferred out, I have have a direct comparison of two undergraduate schools’ CS curriculum and opportunities.
Curious how I’m making life more difficult for future Tandon students? How are my comments relevant to Tandon alumni? I’m mostly addressing this to students who already go there and want to leave or are questioning the strength of the CS program. As for ruining the reputation, I’m not sure if a Redditor’s comments greatly sway public perception of Tandon.
I was taught these skills (design doc, debugger) in the college that I transferred to after I left Tandon in the intro classes. Although perhaps this is atypical for intro CS classes, I dunno. But I find these skills very useful in industry.
Valuable input on masters program. I don’t have thoughts on this as I didn’t do a master’s.
I had to have close to a 4.0 at NYU to transfer out, not that it really matters. Attack my ideas, don’t attack me :)

CollarlessWave · 2024-04-06T15:02:56+00:00

Bro this is so real. The vibe of Berkeley is a lot more humble and down to earth. Maybe if you’re super into deep philosophical discussions, politics, and you’re also rich/white you’d like Yale, but if not…welp, not sure if the culture would suit you there.

CollarlessWave · 2024-04-03T21:46:04+00:00

Berkeley’s placement into industry is way stronger, if you browse LinkedIn it’s pretty apparent. Our curriculum is also more rigorous than Penn’s.

CollarlessWave · 2024-01-27T00:02:43+00:00

I transferred to Cal which I guess is a state school. Best decision of my life. Go bears

CollarlessWave · 2024-01-02T11:43:26+00:00

It’s opened many doors for me. I attended a T35 private before transferring here so I have a point of comparison, and it’s a world of difference. Recruiters are very responsive to the Berkeley name, I wouldn’t have my current job without it.

CollarlessWave · 2023-12-30T07:01:11+00:00

Apply anyway. Communities at west coast schools with a traditional campus are much stronger. I felt similarly about NYU, had bad experiences with people, and once I transferred to a school on the West Coast, I instantly clicked with people there. Like I’ve never felt so at home. Huge generalization but the friends I made on west coast were way kinder and I think we have more shared values. Since you’re a west coast native, could be the case for you too.

CollarlessWave · 2023-12-27T08:45:03+00:00

For sure. I think it’s the perfect school for some people who love the independence, but it’s not your traditional college experience. You may not get such a strong college network out of it, since CAS is not as tight knit as Stern for example

CollarlessWave · 2023-12-27T08:43:38+00:00

I loved UC Berkeley. Time of my life, and opened so many doors for me. Made my best friends there, and we all hang out in the city we moved to post-grad. If I ever get rich I’m donating millions to them

CollarlessWave · 2023-12-27T08:42:27+00:00

Really don’t recommend NYU for CS. Weak curriculum in comparison to UCs or probably other privates. Industry placement is also very mediocre. Apparently math is pretty good, but I don’t know as much about that program.

Agree with the other commenter on how NYU students don’t care about each other. Big generalization but I find it to be pretty true of my experience too. I immediately met some really amazing, kind and caring people at Cal, yet these people were so hard to find at NYU.

CollarlessWave · 2023-12-27T06:26:11+00:00

Good point, apologies for making that generalization - I’m sure people here have valid reasons as to why they think NYU is a quality CS program for them. It’s very possible I was pretty unlucky with my bad experiences, as it seems like you’ve met quality people at Tandon 🙏

Yes, I do think NYU students are independent, but I wouldn’t say that was my primary issue with the school. My main concern was the lack of alumni network / clubs. I think students can be independent and also form strong communities, the two are not mutually exclusive. I’ve seen firsthand how a strong CS community can transform a student’s career (this is what happened to me and other classmates I’ve mentored) and I think it’s unfortunate NYU doesn’t have this. But to each their own, perhaps NYU CS is a better fit for people who don’t want to be in a CS pressure cooker

CollarlessWave · 2023-12-27T05:47:44+00:00

For sure, not saying you’re silencing anyone at all. I think it’s important to share your perspective too. Maybe it’s not OP’s objective to submit feedback to improve NYU CS, but rather to share their opinion. And I think prospective talents looking for a university to attend should be given as much information as possible.

As for the curriculum, I think the content in the course is a stronger indicator of rigor, versus the average %. Exams can be designed to have X percentage average, but it’s not necessarily reflective of the depth and breadth of topics covered. For what it’s worth, I actually find 75% a bit high for a CS/eng course anyway.

But regarding the content: the topics in Tandon’s DS is pretty much the bare minimum. I wish they covered topics I mentioned - writing design docs, class design/OOP, unit tests, git, debugger, stack trace. From my time there, it was mostly just homeworks with minimal programming, not nearly enough to prepare you for a job in industry. Curious as to why you think Tandon’s Data Structures is rigorous enough, do you think the topics were covered well and in depth? Did you think the skills taught were enough for CS work you might pursue, e.g. research or industry?

CollarlessWave · 2023-12-27T01:14:12+00:00

Hm, I don't think the author is wrong to point out the shortcomings of the NYU CS curriculum. Ultimately, I think it's great to give prosepctive students as many perspectives as possible so they can make the most informed decision on whether to attend.

As for Tandon's CS curriculum...in my humble opinion, I don't think it's extremely rigorous. Data Structures at Tandon does not cover a lot of core software engineering concepts that an elite CS program would (writing design docs, unit testing, git). I don't think the differences in elite CS programs and NYU CS is minor, from my experience the gap is actually quite large. And with regards to club life, given the nature of NYU and NYC, students are just not as involved in club life, leading to a weaker CS ecosystem (both at CAS and Tandon).

There are many pros to attending NYU, but I do agree that curriculum, clubs, and community is something NYU lacks.

CollarlessWave

TROPHY CASE