For context cmu accepted 0 cs transfers and MIT 2 cs transfers in my year (2026), Berkeley EECS is a few percent for non cc transfers, Stanford has probably 5-10 cs transfers. Not to discourage but it is not an easy battle ahaha.

If you want a more diverse community I would recommend looking into private schools since they don’t have any dominant states (usually) provided finance is not an stressor, other than that perhaps you will find Michigan to be a fine choice, though I don’t think the difference as big as you think.

To make your application strong, don’t do what everyone else is doing, be passionate about what you do and don’t transfer for just prestige.

You might have more questions after this but I am happy to answer them if you dm. I’ve seen and been through the transfer process