Chance Me- TRANSFER STUDENT

I left my high school stuff on here just in case it matters. Let me know if I shouldn’t include it in my transfer application.
Looking to transfer for better recruiting and a more direct route into finance as well as more exploration opportunities.
Fit is not main consideration

Demographics

  • Tufts University
  • US Citizen
  • New York
  • Highly Competitive Public High School (Top 50-75% make t50s)
  • Male, Asian-American

Intended Major(s)

  • Business
  • Quantitative Econ

Current Major

  • Quantitative Econ
  • Computer Science

Current Stats

  • 3.9 First Semester GPA (magna cum laude range, highest honor)
  • Going for 4.0 Second Semester

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores (High School)

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.75
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.05
  • Class Rank: School doesn’t rank, probably within top 25%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1540 Superscore, 1520 One try

College Coursework

  • Financial Accounting- Pass
  • Intro to Econ- A
  • Intro to CS- A
  • Calc 2- A-
    Next Semester
  • Data Structures (CS)
  • Expository Writing
  • Microeconomic Theory
  • Bridge to Higher Math (Discrete Math but more stuff)
  • Gospel Choir

HS Coursework

  • AP Comp (3)
  • AP Environmental (4)
  • AP Calc BC (3)
  • APUSH (3)
  • AP Physics 1 (3)
  • AP Physics C Mech (3)
  • AP Lit (4)
  • AP Chinese (4)
  • AP Bio (5)
  • AP Gov (4)
  • AP Econ Macro and Micro (2,4)
  • AP Psych (3)
  • Multi-Variable Calc

HS Awards

  • National Honor Society
  • Chinese National Honor Society
  • National Merit Commended

Current College ECS

  • Asian Social Club Freshman Rep (Eboard Position)
  • Tufts Investment Banking Club (Freshman Accelerator)
  • Track and Field Club
  • Powerlifting Club
  • Jiu Jitsu Club
  • Co-Founded Nonprofit raising money for the homeless
    $20,000+ in two years with 7 chapters

HS Extracurriculars

  • Cross Country All-County and 3x All-Conference
    • Junior/Senior captain and 4-year varsity
  • Track All-County and All-Conference
    • Junior/Senior Captain 4-year varsity
  • Wrestling All-County and All-Conference
    • Senior Captian 4-year varsity
  • Co-founded Esports Club
  • 200+ Hours of Tutoring Elementary School Kids
  • 100+ Hours of Tutoring High School Kids
  • Chess Club
  • Mathletes
  • Environmental Club
  • Investing Club
  • FBLA
  • Customs Broker Internship

Essays/LORs/Other

  • Strong Essays
  • Fluent in two dialects of Chinese
  • Proficient in Excel
  • Proficient in Python
  • Proficient in C++
  • Proficient in computer hardware
  • Decent LOR

Cost Constraints / Budget

  • Will not be applying for financial aid

Schools

  • CMU Tepper, Cornell Dyson/ILR, NYU Stern, BC Carroll, Emory (Goizueta), Georgetown McDonough
    Super Reach
  • Harvard, Brown, UPenn Econ(Maybe Wharton?), MIT Sloan, Columbia
  • Obviously all reach schools and I’m not applying to all of them
  • Open to suggestions on other schools.

Tufts is a very good university.

I think that any school that is higher ranked than Tufts is going to be a high reach at this point. Schools like Harvard, MIT, U.Penn take very few transfer students. Also, it is hard to see a compelling reason for you to transfer.

My personal suggestion is that you look for internship or coop opportunities, and keep your GPA as high as possible while taking relevant and challenging courses.

Also, to me Medford is a nice town.

mostly for either substantially better recruiting or just a more direct route in finance.

For these schools, you will need to give an academic reason for wishing to transfer.

@Mwfan1921

Looks like you are a first year? So, yes, most schools will need your HS record.

You need to articulate academic reasons for transfer (wanting better finance recruiting won’t fly, nor is that necessarily true…why do you think that Tufts is worse than the schools on your list?) Do you have any academic reasons besides wanting to major in business? How will you cover this at the schools on your list that don’t have a business major?

If you are certain you want to transfer, you will have to add some non-reach schools to your list. Maybe Lehigh? U Richmond?

Which of the schools on your list did you apply to last year? What were the outcomes? Where else were you accepted last year?

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I’m not set on transferring and I’d be more than happy to stay at tufts for the next 4 years. I applied ED1 to Tufts because my original plan was to do research, however, that quickly changed after the summer. I think I would’ve gotten in without ED because my application was quoted on more than one instance during matriculation. I was also accepted into northeastern, umich (not ross), UCSD, UCSB, UCI, and all safetys. I pulled all other apps.

I think tufts is worse for recruiting simply because of numbers and it being a non-target. With little to no on-campus recruiting and a freshly made IB club (2 years old), recruiting in finance isn’t the greatest. Although I’d be more than happy to stay here, going to a business school is pretty ideal

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What would be an example of an academic reason?

Academic reasons include major, fewer core classes, more research opportunites…which might apply for you at least at some schools. I would work with Tufts’ career center to identify alumni working in finance and start networking with them!

ex: the school you are in doesn’t have the depth in your field.

You don’t actually have an academic reason, and there is nothing you can’t ‘explore’ from Tufts.

Apologies in the advance for what will probably come across as a cranky tone, but you have cherry picked a bunch of fancy NE names, regardless of where they are on IB recruiter lists, and skated by other less ‘fancy’ names that are higher on the IB recruiting circuit.

You have wanted to go to IB for 15 minutes. You think “fit” is not a main consideration -and maybe you think that for you- but 100% your target schools are very interested in whether you will fit in at their school.

You are clearly ambitious and achievement oriented, but imo you should slow down and be a little more strategic.

A few years back there was a post from a student at Caltech who had straight A’s (which is tough at Caltech), but who had decided on a major that Caltech did not have. She was hoping to transfer to MIT which did have her intended major.

I do not know whether she succeeded. However, to me this was one of the best examples that I have seen of someone who had a good reason to want to transfer and who had also shown the ability to handle the academic rigor even at a tough school such as MIT.

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Tufts doesn’t have an undergraduate business major. The student wants to major in business.

That certainly seems to fit the academic requirement of a reason.

Then why apply to Ivies that (with the exception of Penn) don’t have business majors or concentrations?

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That’s fair. I agree with that criticism of the student’s list, though s/he was looking for input on it and not saying this is a final list. In order to have a clear and compelling academic driver for transfer, the student should focus on schools that have undergraduate business schools/majors.

One thing you may want to closely consider in building your list is whether or not your college coursework will transfer. My daughter is at a far less selective business school than what is on your list, but even there they will not transfer in any business school classes. Your accounting, Econ, etc., would have to be re-taken.

Given that you aren’t desperate to transfer, but are looking for a better situation, having to basically start over might weigh into your decision.

(It could be a quirk of my daughter’s school, but worth checking.)

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I strongly recommend you reconsider this. Fit criteria will help you narrow your list and motivate your engagement on the campus where you land, which will be important to building your network.

I know you asked for chancing criteria, but I want to add to the chorus of people indicating that Tufts can set you up for success. The list of Tufts alums who have achieved major success in business is long and it includes giants in finance such as Jamie Dimon.

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