B-School Transfer Suggestions? Considering transferring from USC Marshall.

College Majors Business Major
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<p>I posted this in the transfer thread awhile ago, but figured since I'm a Business major, it may be worthwhile to post it here to see if people here had suggestions for me. Thanks!</p>

<p>A few weeks ago, I posted a board saying that I was considering transferring out of USC. After thinking it over and talking with a few people, I have decided that I will be sending out a few applications next year. However, with that said, it is still not definite that I will choose to leave, even if I am accepted to other schools. I am currently a USC student from NJ who will be a sophomore this fall.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:
Majors: Business Administration (BS) (Marshall) and Sociology (BA) (CLAS)
1st semester GPA: 3.35
2nd semester GPA: 3.65
Summer Classes (At a CC, will not count towards USC GPA): 4.0 (Microecon & Intro to Sociology)
Based on my classes for next semester, my guess for my GPA this fall will be somewhere in the 3.7-4.0 range.
SAT: 610CR, 730M, 750W (1340/2090)
SAT2: 760 Math 2, 560 Bio, 640 Chem, 530 French
ACT: 33 (32 E, 34 M, 31 R, 35 S, 30 E/W, 9 Essay)
GPA: 4.22 (W)/4.3 (HS did some wacky calculation) (if anyone wants an explanation, I can explain in another post, lol)
GPA (UW) (recalculated for a 4.0 scale): 9: 3.68, 10: 2.94, 11: 3.42, 12: 3.78 (most classes were AP/Honors for all 4 years)
ECs: Treasurer of Invisible Children Club, Art Editor of Literary Magazine, Member of Concert Committee (planning), Member of an organization that creates a yearly networking event for freshmen; PLANNING: join 1 or 2 business clubs this fall</p>

<p>Now someone said that I needed to think about what bothers me about USC. With that said, these were the main points that I like or dislike.
1) I believe that USC is a bit to big for me, but I do not want a really small school either. I think the main problem is that the graduate population is larger than the undergraduate population and I would prefer a school that places a larger emphasis on undergrads.
2) I love the school pride and athletics, however, athletics are not something that I feel like I NEED. Although I do enjoy going to football games, that was really the only sporting events that I went to. However, I think the aspect of the football games that appeals to me is the actual "college experience" which seems to be lacking as the campus dies on the weekends other than football games.
3) Setting: While I do want a city (either in a city or easy access to a city), I realize LA is NOT for me. It's not an easy city to take advantage of without a car as public transportation sucks. I want to have a city that I can easily see many things without need for a car and that offers a wide variety of activities (entertainment, dining, etc).
4) Location: I think a major thing that did make this transition difficult was the distance. Preferably, I think I will want to go back to the east coast, or at the furthest the midwest. I realized that the only schools in CA that I might not be willing to go back to the east coast for are Stanford and Berkeley, and I think it is more for SF than CA. I do know that I do not want to be in LA anymore.
5) Academics: At the moment, my main emphasis on education is my business degree. Sociology was something I added on because I had the space to do it. Preferably, I'd like a school that would allow me to pursue both, but if not possible, then business would be my main concern.</p>

<p>With this lengthy post said, I was wondering if people could help with suggestions on what I can do before applications come to improve my chances. Also, I would love suggestions on where I should look. At the moment, NYU (Stern), Georgetown, Brown, and Columbia seem very appealing to me. However, I realize that I am not one of the most competitive applicants to these schools, so I am looking for other schools that I would stand a chance. With that said though, I do not think I will willing to necessarily sacrifice going to a significantly "lower" school that USC as I could "tough it out" if needed. Thank you so much for reading this and giving any advice you can!</p>

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<p>Since you’re looking for a B-school, why not try the place USC is trying to model their business program after, McCombs at UT Austin?

  1. It has more undergrads than grad students.
  2. It has tons of school pride and a good football team, and the stadium contains the largest screen in America.
  3. Austin is a city with many things, including buses, which college students like.
  4. It’s a bit closer to home.
  5. Brown and Columbia don’t even offer undergrad business, and McCombs is the current model for business at USC.</p>
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<p>McCombs has actually been a school that several people have mentioned to me before. It seems to be a school that actually offers many of the things I’m looking for. But there are just a few things that concerned me. I heard that it’s extremely competitive to get into from OOS because of their guaranteed admissions for people in Texas in the top 10% (though I don’t know how this affects transfers, as I believe that’s for freshmen) and also that I’m just afraid that the campus will die a lot on the weekends because of a lot of commuters or people going home (something that puts me off about USC). However, as it has been brought up by several people, I think I will look into it, so thanks for the suggestion openedskittles.</p>

<p>And in regards to Brown and Columbia, I realize that they don’t have undergrad business. Assuming I apply to these colleges, I have done a bit of research into the majors offered. For Brown, I would apply for Commerce, Organizations and Entrepreneurship as it would most parallel my business curriculum as well as include some sociology aspects (as I’m not sure how easily I will be able to double major if I went, though if I can, I would). And for Columbia, I would most likely apply for the Economics & Operations Research (or possibly Econ & Poli Sci) major.</p>

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<p>I have a hard time believing that a school with an enrollment of 50,000 students can die on the weekends. Aside from that, Austin is a very happening place, with or without the university.</p>

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<p>Texas is a huge state, too. Some (or even most) people attending UT-Austin who live in-state would have to drive hours and hours to get home on the weekends.</p>

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<p>Don’t get ahead of yourself now. Transferring to Brown, Columbia NYU Stern or Georgetown (especially with your low GPA) would be incredible difficult.</p>

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<p>While I know my GPA isn’t a 4.0, would a 3.5 (most likely ~3.6 when applying) really be that bad? I realize that the schools I listed are very competitive, but I thought that a 3.5 was really the “cut-off” and then you were pretty much good (well in terms of GPA), not to mention that I’m coming from a pretty good school (USC) versus a community college or a random college. If I’m horribly mistaken about this, could someone give me some suggestions on schools that are more reasonable for me then?</p>

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<p>I can speak for the midwest - University of Indiana (Bloomington), Carlson School of Management (University of Minnesota), Notre Dame (Mendoza School of Business) and Purdue (Krannert) are all well respected schools around here. Definitely different from the East coast, but maybe some places worth checking out.</p>

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<p>Thanks Thetaxdad. Those would definitely be closer to home, so I may look into them. Do you think I would at least stand a chance at any of them (sorry, I didn’t really look into any of them when I applied as a freshmen, so I’m not sure how competitive it is to get into their business schools, though I’m guessing Notre Dame is definitely going to be as difficult as the other schools I listed that I’m interested in).</p>

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<p>Notre Dame(Medoza) does not accept transfer students. For most of the above mentioned schools the competitive transfer gpa is around 3.8. I’d suggest trying to get your cumulative gpa up as much as possible and seeing if you can take anymore of the standard biz UG prereqs such as calc 1(and sometimes 2), micro/macro econ, financial/managerial accounting, and stats.</p>

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<p>Thanks for telling me about ND, Kulakai, guess I can cross that off my list of schools to look at. Do you know if colleges will recalculate my GPA when I apply or do they just look at what my school sends? I’m just curious, because the highest I can get by the time applications in is a 3.67 (ie, I get a 4.0 this fall). However, if they recalculate GPA’s to include my summer work (USC does not as it was done at a CC), then I’d be at a 3.71.</p>

<p>As for the courses needed, I will have/have already completed all of those classes by the time I transfer. However, I passed out of Calc because of AP scores (5 on the BC exam) and they will not allow me to take the class. I emailed NYU and they do not accept AP credit for Calc. Can I just explain in my application that USC won’t let me take it, but if I go to a school that needs me to take it, I’ll do a summer course?</p>

<p>So just trying to get a general idea if it’s even worth my time to send in applications, if I were to have ~3.6 by the time I apply (for fall '10), would I stand a somewhat chance at any school mentioned here or that I was thinking about? And does coming from USC at least help (like will they realize that a 3.6 at USC is not the same as one from a CC)? Because I know that doing the applications for transferring is time consuming and if my chances are dismal, maybe it’d be best just for my to exert that energy on something else.</p>

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<p>I just thought I’d clear this up:</p>

<p>The top 10% rule at UT Austin only applies to the liberal arts college and the college of natural sciences, because those are the two that top 10% residents are guaranteed admission to and it only applies to freshmen.</p>

<p>The top 10% rule does not apply to McCombs, which actually does have a decent number of out-of-state students. You will have to compete with internal transfer applicants, but nobody gets an advantage based on where they’re from.</p>

<p>The university has one of the largest dorm facilities in the world and thousands of students live on-campus. Most students who don’t live on campus live in nearby apartments or private dorms. Plus, people generally prefer Austin to home, so you don’t have to worry about them clearing out on the weekends.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the wonderful input, openedskittles. Well it’s good to know that the top 10% rule doesn’t apply for McCombs. And thank you so much for talking about housing! I forgot to address this previously (regarding USC’s). Part of the reason USC dies out on weekends is that only freshmen live ON campus and housing is only guaranteed for 2 years. Thus many people end up moving away from campus. The only eating facilities open are the 2 dining halls, so people don’t even come on campus for the fast food places. Also, it seems as if most groups meet during the week. So really, most of the weekend activities just revolve around staying in the dorms with your friends if you aren’t going into LA. Well when it isn’t a football game day ;)</p>

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<p>I guess this would also be worth noting: You aren’t guaranteed on-campus housing at all because there are so many students. They do it on a first-come, first-served basis. There are two very large private dorms just across the street from campus that get most of the ones who want to stay in dorms after the campus dorms fill.</p>

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<p>When applying for transfer, schools look at your cumulative gpa which will include all transcripts(summer courses). NYU requires calc 1 for transfer so I’m not sure how that would work other than giving them a call and explaining the situation. Maybe they will allow you to apply with an addendum of some sort stating you’ll take it there in the summer or first semester.</p>

<p>If you want a school with more on campus life, NYU will be much worse than USC. You need to look at schools in smaller college towns like UI -bloomington, or UNC.</p>

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<p>I was reading through your post & as an incoming McCombs transfer sophomore, I thought I’d lay out some tips that might be helpful. </p>

<p>Since you are transferring and not fresh off high school, McCombs doesn’t look much at your SAT, ACT, or high school rank or grades or not at all. The reason I say this is because I had horrible SAT scores (was never a good standardize test taker …still aren’t) and my rank wasn’t so impressive. </p>

<p>I attended a local community college for my first year and took these courses with those grades (total 32 credit hours). </p>

<p>Financial Accounting - A
Managerial Accounting - A
Sociology - A
BCIS or MIS - A
Speech - A
Macro - A
Micro - A
English I - A
Calc I - A
Calc II - B</p>

<p>For McCombs, if you look on their website for External transfers, you will see that there are 5 indicator courses that they highly advise students take before transferring (not applying) which are: </p>

<p>Calculus I
Calculus II
BCIS 1305 OR MIS
Macro
Micro</p>

<p>Notice: I had all five of the indicator courses completed with an overall GPA of 3.87, 1 good recommendation from an accounting teacher, mild essays (not so superb), and quite a few extracurricular activities (although not many leadership positions). </p>

<p>Looking at my academic and non-academic profile, I would call myself average. But what McCombs is looking for in external transfer students is a high GPA (as close to 4.0 as possible) and most of the 5 indicator courses completed. </p>

<p>When you have time, see if you can visit and explore McCombs Schools of Business website. They have statistics for average GPA of accepted students, salary statistics, and many other things that you might find interesting (I did). </p>

<p>I’ve been to Austin couple of times, have relatives who live there and also friends who attend the University. If you are mainly concerned about dead&boring weekends besides the business school ranking and opportunities (off course), then don’t worry at all. University of Texas at Austin is popular for its hot girls & guys. They call it the Party University …not to mention 6th street (lol u’ll explore more if you attend) but its also known for its academic excellence at the same time. </p>

<p>McCombs comes top 10 in almost every single field inside the Business school. Accounting school came #1 undergrad and Grad school this year. Finance is #3 or #4 I believe. Marketing is also #3 or 4…I am not sure about your plans but I am planning on going into either Finance or Accounting since the Undergrad majors in both of them and all other fields are so highly ranked. I believe 89% of the students land a job with the big 4 who go into accounting (check me on that… it was days ago)…but for real…its a MIX of academic excellence and Great Experience considering the city Austin itself. The university is located inside Downtown and although its a big university, there are free bus passes for UT students.</p>

<p>What I did experience trouble was with housing…b/c I didn’t get a contract for on campus housing …its not guaranteed. I’ll be living in an off campus dorm but they the 3 off campus dorms are not far at all. One is right by the University (I don’t even know why they call that one off campus) and the other two are just 1-3 blocks away. There is also a lot of apartments, etc b/c most transfers have trouble with housing who apply late or just don’t get a contract. For housing, you’re looking around 8000/year. I mentioned this because that is something critical that you might want to know beforehand but not a big deal because dorm is a dorm and the off campus are so close. Anyways, you can check that stuff out later and the cost of attending, etc. </p>

<p>I know I am all over the place lol…ignore that … & Nothing else is coming to mind right now but if you have any questions, just ask :)</p>

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<p>Good points, Nxt. I forgot about that.
As for top 10 in ALMOST every field, that’s not quite accurate. US News put McCombs in top 10 in every single field.</p>

<p>The Castillian is the name of the one right across the street west of campus and Dobie is the name of the the one right across the street to the south. University Towers is another large one, but it is a few blocks away.</p>

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<p>As far as transferring into the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, you can’t do it directly. You have to get into the school, apply during the first semester and be evaluated after that semester’s grades are in. In other words, if you go to Indiana University, there is no guarantee that you will get into the business school. [Transfer</a> Students: Admissions: Undergraduate Program: Kelley School of Business: Indiana University Bloomington](<a href=“http://www.kelley.iu.edu/ugrad/admissions/transfer.cfm]Transfer”>http://www.kelley.iu.edu/ugrad/admissions/transfer.cfm)</p>

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<p>Thanks for the info about housing at UT, openskittles. It’s good to know that housing isn’t guaranteed, but that there are options that are VERY convenient. Also, Nxt, thank you so much for your information. I actually took your advice and started exploring the McCombs website. However, now it’s scared me even more. It appears that McCombs has NEVER accepted more than 10% of OOS applicants for transfers. And only in 1 year has my GPA even been close the the average. So unfortunately, it looks like I’ll have to cross off UT from my list unless someone has some very encouraging info (ie all external admitted transfers were from USC, lol)/</p>

<p>Yeah, I don’t know what it is about NYU, but I fell in love with it the first time (and every time since then) that I’ve visited, despite it not having a campus. And it also doesn’t hurt that it’s so close to home, only a train ride away. But then again, I may be confusing my love of NYC with a love for NYU. But you mentioned UI and UNC. Is Bloomington near any biggish city? I’m not familiar with Indiana, so not sure what really is out there. But after what bthomp1 said, I probably will cross it off my list as I’d be paranoid of not getting into their business school. I often think that anything that ISN’T a city is farm land (probably due to my close proximity to NYC). Also, I’ve heard UNC isn’t really near anything other than Duke and NC State, is there a lot of truth to that? But thanks for the input Kalakai.</p>

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<p>akalboy, I just finished glancing over the statistics and here they are:</p>

<p>Non-Residents 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008</p>

<h1>Applications 160 150 175 155 116</h1>

<h1>Admitted 10 7 17 14 8</h1>

<h1>Enrolled 6 7 17 14 3</h1>

<p>Avg. GPA 3.53 3.94 3.73 3.79 3.90</p>

<p>Like you said, they admit around 10 percent of the applicants but as you can see, application pool is different in size for every year. Now from my vague interpretation, I seem to understand that the larger the pool there is, the more diversity of GPA’S and therefore average GPA is generally be a bit lower. Now I can’t predict the pool size for next year but I do know that you have a chance if you end with an overall of 3.7 or 3.69 (i would say 3.7 to be on the safe side) if the pool size is as big as the one …in lets say, year 2006. You will need to make 3.9 at least both coming semesters or average out GPA to 3.9 for next year. The reason I don’t want you to cross off your list is because its a really good public school for undergrads in business with a combination of lots of fun things to do inside and around the city and the Uni. Try to keep the GPA as close to a 4.0 as possible your next year…both semesters (b/c they admit fall only) and sometimes its not the GPA…its the progress the student has made or the improvement you will have made, hopefully. A leap from lets say 3.4 or 3.5 to a 3.9 will show progress, but it could be a possibly negative thing if its the other way around. Even if you take UT off the list, just remember that you will need a good Undergrad GPA to end up in the Top 20-25 percent of your graduating class, which I assume you’re also aiming for like every other student. So to sum it up, I think you still have a chance and you will eventually need that same GPA for landing a nicer job upon graduating, if not UT. Your other specs also look good and if you can, try to stay involved in various clubs (business ones especially) IF and Only staying involved doesn’t hurt GPA (I say that because your intending to transfer eventually somewhere). Other than that, when the time comes close to applying, Pm me and I’ll send you the resume format I used and inform you of anything new going on at UT if you stay in touch. Good luck, Later.</p>