Currently a sophomore at top 50 school looking to transfer to top 25 school for fall 2023. What are my realistic chances to get into some of the schools on my list?
Major: Business
School List: Cornell, UCLA, USC, UNC, UVA, UPenn, Northwestern, Berkeley, UMich, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Columbia
GPA: 3.85, All A’s except one B- in 5 credit class fall freshman year
EC’s: Finance internship at bank for upcoming summer, Data Analyst Assistant for asset management firm, Student athlete tutor, CVS store associate, Camp counselor, Site Leader for Veteran’s Day Event, Member of Undergrad Finance Association, Volunteer at Chinese Culture Center, Violin at HS top orchestra, HS football and rowing
Awards: Honors in College of Business, Dean’s List
Essay’s and LOC: Have good LOC from two professors and essays are strong
Why do you want to transfer? More specifically, generally these schools want to see academic reasons for transfer…what are those?
I can’t chance you, but this is a reachy list, so if you are certain you want to transfer, you will need to expand the list. If you are transferring to ‘upgrade’ in the rankings, and would be ok staying where you are, then your list is good to go.
UCLA, UCB, UNC, UVA, U Mich all prioritize community college students for transfer.
Northwestern doesn’t have a business major, so are you applying to Weinberg?
For UCLA, 2021 GPA transfer data shows a GPA admit range of 3.91-4.00 for Business Economics with a 9% admit rate. 2022 data not yet available.
For UCB, the 2021 GPA admit range for Business Admin was 3.86-4.00 with a 4% admit rate.
Will you have all required transfer courses completed by Spring since the UC’s are very specific in their transfer requirements?
As noted by @Mwfan1921, UCLA and UCB gives priority to California Community college applicants followed by UC to UC/CSU to UC transfers then Private CA Universities and finally OOS University applicants. Which category do you belong?
Both would be tough admits but possible. Best of luck.
Mostly want to transfer for like you said an upgrade in the rankings and further my career path at a better university. I’m not applying for financial aid as I wouldn’t be qualified for it. I know a lot of these are really hard and mostly reaches I’m just hoping to get accepted into one of them. Any recommendations for schools that fit what I’m looking for but may be slightly more likely/target for me to get accepted into to?
Curious as to how you are covering that in your transfer essays? Again, you will need some academic reasons to make a compelling case.
I am not sure what to suggest, as I don’t know where you are currently attending(aside from a T25-50 business school?), and the only ‘fit’ parameter you have given is a higher ranking. You might add IU Kelley, as that is a Top 20 business school (although depending on how classes transfer, you might not be able to graduate in 4 semesters).
Attending Ohio State don’t really have that much criteria except it being decently better ranked then OSU such as the schools I’ve listed. I wouldn’t really think it’s worth it to transfer to another schools at the same level basically/a little bit above where I’m currently attending.
Overall the OOS transfer admit rate for both UCLA and UCB was 7% for Fall 2022 and yes I would consider them Reach schools. You state you will be full pay but is $67K/year affordable for UCLA and UCB?
@collegetransfer5 have you checked each website for transfer requirements & hours? I’ve got a student at Mays Business School/Texas A&M. Mays doesn’t accept transfers with more than 60 hours, that includes dual credit and accepted AP. There’s a list of very specific courses that must be taken also. I’d check each website carefully, for things like minimum & max hours.
Without a 4.0, and unless you’re a business owner or entrepreneur, you may have a tough time getting transfers to the schools you listed. I’d think long and hard before giving up being in your current Honors program also.
What do you want to do that makes transferring for a marginal jump in rankings so important? Being successful has way more to do with your hustle than your pedigree.
That’s a bad reason to transfer. Rankings are probably the single most useless metric for employers to judge knowledge and skill. Most employers hire locally and regionally, which means if you move out to CA, you get a job with an entry level salary that will buy you a 1 bedroom apartment and a bus ride to work if you’re lucky. That’s assuming you don’t have a mountain of debt from going out of state in the first place (financial suicide). And that’s assuming that your parents are willing to co-sign that debt. It’s doubtful they would. OOS schools don’t offer financial aid.
I can’t recommend any schools, because it would be massive mistake to transfer. A Summa Cum Laude graduate in an honors program at Ohio State is something you can put on a resume. It’s actually a real tangible accomplishment that sets you apart from other applicants for the same job. And the cost of living in your area is much lower…meaning you can probably buy a 1500 SQ Ft house on your salary and drive a decent car.
What about if your main goal is to get into a top graduate masters/phd program straight after undergrad. Is the rankings still a useless metric when judging for that? That’s most likely the route I’m going to take.
That is extremely unlikely no matter what your undergrad school, especially in business. The number of people who go straight through to top programs is very small, and they are notable not as much for the name of their UG institution as by their accomplishments in their field of interest.
tl;dr: even if you were able to transfer into Harvard, your odds of going straight into a Harvard MA/MS/MBA/PhD program would be tiny.
While it is true that some big firms target certain schools for recruitment, grad school is a different story. Unless you are in a undergrad-to-grad direct admit program, your undergraduate institution will have little bearing on your chances for admission to a highly selective grad program.
I attended a large (currently “top 70”) public university for undergrad. People in my friend group who went on to grad school were accepted at Yale, Cornell, UMich, UVA, Penn, Harvard, NYU and more.
When I enrolled in grad school at one of the schools I just listed, my classmates came from a very wide range of undergraduate programs. There were no “feeder” schools – I think there were maybe a couple of students in my degree program who attended “the College.”
As others have noted, transferring for prestige does not make a lot of sense, is hard to justify on an application, and could delay your graduation date due to challenges transferring credits or meeting core or distribution requirements. It will also have no discernable bearing on your chances for grad school admission.
Would I be in solid position to get accepted into top 15-10 ish masters finance programs from Ohio State if by the end of senior year I have 3.9+ GPA, Graduate in Honors Finance, Multiple Finance/Business Internships, Etc. Not really knowledgable in how realistic that is or really the whole process as a whole. What should I focus on to get the best chances?
Talk to your career center about that…but you should clarify your career goals first, ask yourself what is appealing about getting a Master’s in Finance, and how would it help you achieve your career goals?
I do want to make it clear that you absolutely can try to transfer to the schools on your list because even though reachy, it could work out, you are a strong applicant. My earlier points were to make sure you focus on academic reasons for transfer, not prestige or rankings.
It’s no different. Graduate schools look at grades and GMAT scores. Graduating from an honors program would make you more much more competitive than having a just the bachelors degree. Like I said before, it’s a tangible accomplishment that sets you apart from other applicants. Going for a marginal bump in rankings does not add any more accomplishments to your profile. In fact, it takes away your BIGGEST competitive advantage.
As far as chances to “top” programs. Your guess is as good as mine either way, but you’d be in a better position to get in with an honors program on your transcript. But, to put it in perspective, I can promise there’s no shortage of career paths for you with an MBA at OSU.
If the goal is to get into go into the Wall Street financial consultant jobs, that’s one occupation out of literally thousands of well paid careers you can do with an MBA. Which means, chances are, you’re going to start working and be MISERABLE. The key to finding career satisfaction is letting the specialty come to you. That means using this time to really explore your interests. Even that’s a gamble sometimes when you first start out, but the career world is surprisingly flexible and forgiving especially early on in your career.
I would not recommend OP, or anyone, pursue an MBA directly out of undergrad (not sure that’s what you are saying, but wanted to clarify). That is a low value decision.
Thanks for your input. My reasoning to get a masters in finance/PHD is my goal to become a professor eventually as that’s a route I’m strongly considering pursuing. So my academic reasoning to transfer is basically how being in a stronger business program can further this goal and establish better connections/opportunities.