<p>I am an international student at Drexel University and I intend to transfer to Cornell next fall. My intended major at Cornell, if I am accepted, is Information Engineering (Information Systems). The problem is that it is impossible to get financial aid from Cornell as a transfer student.</p>
<p>Here is my family contribution for Drexel if I continue learning at this school:</p>
<p>1st year: 30,000
2nd year: 13,500
3rd year: 13,500<br>
4th year: 13,500
5th year: 30,000
The total contribution is about 100,000 for Drexel...</p>
<p>But if I transfer to Cornell, my family has to pay: 150,000 for both Drexel and Cornell.</p>
<p>I actually want to get a job from investment banks, Wall Street,...and then get a MBA degree at a top business school like Wharton or HBS. Each school has its pros and cons. Drexel is cheaper and has great co-op program, but Cornell has superb network and I can easily get to top business school later.</p>
<p>Any suggestions?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If I transfer, how is my GPA calculated?</p></li>
<li><p>What is the starting salary of Cornell Engineering (that of Drexel Engineering-Information Systems is $58,686)?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The transfer acceptance rate for schools like Cornell is literally in the 1-2% of applicants range. I’d worry about paying for it when the time comes.</p>
<p>Its like worrying about moving to Dallas just in case the Cowboys sign you at a touch football game with your buddies</p>
<p>No solid evidence, just that I heard from a few of my friends that looked at some of the schools of that caliber that they would’ve been better off applying in before undergrad rather than trying to transfer. Haven’t looked into it myself. I know for sure on Stanford’s site they say specifically how competitive transferring is. I know they’re not Ivy, but close to that level. I don’t know what you mean by “guarantee transfer”</p>
<p>@domrom1 Your point still stands. The OP should apply, get accepted, then worry about the problem. There’s no use worrying about something that might not be a problem at all.</p>
<p>@babyboom As far as which school to choose, that really depends on you. Every person values education, employment opportunities, and money differently so what’s right for someone else might not be right for you.</p>
<p>As far as your specific questions, if you transfer to Cornell, your Drexel GPA, for all intents and purposes, goes away. You start Cornell with no GPA and your performance at Cornell determines your GPA at graduation. If potential employers ask for your GPA, you can either given them the Cornell GPA or list both the Cornell and Drexel GPA’s separately. They are not combined. Sometimes you’ll be asked for GPA’s from all post-secondary schools attended, in which case you’d list both separately.</p>
<p>I can’t seem to find major-specific salaries for Cornell, but I bet that the starting salary for students in that major graduating and working in that major is about the same at Cornell and Drexel. The difference is that Cornell will give you more opportunities outside of your major at places like Goldman Sachs and other investment banks, while Drexel will have far fewer opportunities in that area.</p>
<p>One more thing here you may want to consider is that if you plan to get your MBA from a top school then you should consider going to the cheaper undergrad school. Drexel has a solid repuation and will allow you to get into top MBA programs and on top of that your family can put that 50K to HBS. Transfering to most schools is easier as a sophmore but that is not a hard and fast rule.</p>
<p>I strongly disagree with this statement. Top MBA programs do not admit based on GPA and GMAT score, alone. The more heavily weighted aspect of your application is your work experience. And not all work experience is the same - to get to the top schools, you need the “right” work experience and the “right” recommendations. Companies such as Bain, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, etc. have specialized programs and experience to get people into programs like HBS and place people there every single year. Smaller companies do not have those programs. Cornell puts you in a much, much better position to find employment with one of those companies.</p>
<p>Can you go to Drexel, work for a small company, then get into Harvard Business? Sure. But it’s much harder and much less likely than if you go to Cornell, work for Goldman Sachs, then apply.</p>
<p>Cornell’s transfer rate depends on the specific school. I know that engineering is about 5%. The average is 20%, but that’s distorted by the guaranteed transfers that were offered to people who applied as freshman. </p>
<p>Most schools in the top 10 or so will have <5% transfer acceptance rates. Most in the top 20 have rates <10%.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech has a much higher acceptance rate than that for transfer students, and does not consider SAT score or HS GPA. All that is considered is the school attended, GPA, and classes completed. And GT is #4 for engineering.</p>
<p>“Cornell’s transfer rate depends on the specific school.” "The average is 20%, but that’s distorted by the guaranteed transfers that were offered to people who applied as freshman. "</p>
<p>Both correct statements. The huge bulk of guaranteed transfers are issued to students in its state-subsidized “contract colleges”, especially the ag school, which matricualtes nearly half of all of Cornell’s transfer students. 75% of all transfer students to Cornell enter one of its contract colleges.</p>
<p>“I know that engineering is about 5%.”
Given small #s, the percentage fluctuates a bit. It was under 7% in 2009, and under 12% in 2010.</p>