On: Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?

[dangoldin]

You can take a look at Cornell. The grade criteria is not as struct as MIT/Caltech but the CS program is considered one of the best in the US.

[Frocer → dangoldin]

I second that, although I am a Cornell grad so I am biased :)

Cornell also accepts a huge amount of transfers. It's somewhere around 20-30% when I was there.

But be aware of the stats on sites like US News. The engineering school is much more competitive to get in.

[dangoldin → Frocer]

Haha yep. I'm a Cornell grad too so I'm a bit biased. I wasn't strictly a CS major though.

When I was at Cornell they had the Computer Science cross listed between Arts and Sciences and Engineering so you can get the degree in either school. I was doing Math as my primary major so I was in the Arts and Sciences school but I picked up the Minor/Concentration in CS through the Arts and Sciences school.

[Alex3917 → Frocer]

You can always apply to another easier-to-get-into program within Cornell and then transfer into the engineering school. You just need a 3.0 your freshman year. You can even take all engineering courses before you transfer if you want to, not that I'd recommend it if you're trying to get a good GPA. (Also a Cornell grad.)

[maximilian → Alex3917]

I'd recommend against that. A friend of mine did that, and its a huge pain in the ass. Just apply to the engineering school directly. They hold you to a pretty tough requirement to switch colleges, which puts a lot of stress on your first couple semesters.

[Alex3917 → maximilian]

I would recommend it only if you commit to taking the hard classes over the summer before your frosh year. Otherwise I agree with your analysis.