How can I transfer to NYU?

Transfer Students
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Hi,

I am currently a senior in high school. My GPA is low because I wasn’t academically inclined during my freshman and sophomore years, and I tried making up for it as much as possible during my junior and senior years.

Still, I don’t think I can get into any of the schools I want to go to.

I am currently thinking of either UConn (not Storrs) or SCSU (Southern Connecticut State University), which I believe I could really get into.

Now, how could I maximize my odds if I want to transfer from either of these schools to NYU, Cornell, UPenn, etc.?

I know GPA, SAT, and extracurriculars are important, but how important? Is something weighted more heavily than other things? What else is important to consider?

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It is very difficult to give useful advice without knowing quite a bit more about you.

What was your unweighted GPA (on an A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1 scale) for each individual year of high school? What is your SAT score?

What is your budget? What is your budget without taking on any debt at all?

What is your major? If you are not sure, then what majors are you thinking about and what academic subjects do you find interesting?

Why do you want to attend NYU? Are you ready to put in four straight years of very hard academic work without a break? What are your study skills like?

Transferring into top schools in the US is often quite difficult to do. Getting your bachelor’s from a good university and getting your master’s at a higher ranked university is relatively more common. However, there are a lot of details that will matter quite a bit. There are people who succeed in transferring into at least somewhat higher ranked universities. I for example know someone who was able to transfer into Northeastern and someone else who was able to transfer into McGill.

Your GPA is quite important as an indicator of how you are likely to do in university. An uptrend and doing well from now on is going to help you at some point in the future.

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Hi, I don’t have my exact GPAs, but here is some info;

Freshman year: Avg C student
Sophomore year: Avg C student (full covid effect)
Junior year: High B’s with a few A’s.
Senior year: I am taking 3 AP classes and mostly honors. So far, my grades have been very good. Mostly A’s with a few B’s.
Cumulative (weighted): 2.9655 (not updated my senior year)

My SAT score is rough (below the score that is necessary), and I have been studying rigorously to improve it as much as possible.

The budget is really not an issue for me. My family–thankfully–does well.

I want to study finance in my undergrad years and hopefully get a job as an investment banker. Then after 2 years, I would like to go to a top 5 business school and get my MBA.

I’d like to transfer to NYU, UPenn or something similar because I’d like to study finance. I’m sure you know NYU, UPenn, etc. is top 10 for finance programs. Attending one of these schools could also open up doors for me in my life that UConn, for example, wouldn’t. And the obvious, especially for Wall Street jobs, the connections and networks I can build at a school like UPenn or NYU would be more beneficial and stronger than those at another school.

Some background information:
I am a first gen immigrant, my father had cancer my 8th grade to freshman year, and he has been continuously sick. I am interning with a small accounting firm (looking to fill 120 hours). I’ve also been working at my father’s restaurant for 4 years. I’ve failed 3 times at starting a marketing agency. I failed 2 times with e-commerce based business. And for a bit of success, I’ve sold products after trial and error on Ebay. I’ve made clothes from scratch and leather wallets and bags from scratch. I’ve volunteered at my local mosque. I’m a huge advocate of mental health and am currently working on a project to raise awareness for it, (struggled with it myself), and I am the president of my schools Investment Club.

I’m sure there are things I’m missing, but these are the things that came to mind.

P.S., I apologize for grammar errors, I tried typing this fairly quickly. Thank you for the help!

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Reading your second post, a few things come to mind immediately.

One is that you have shown a significant amount of resourcefulness, creativity, and a refusal to give up. This is very good. In looking at the most successful people who I have known (some of whom are quite successful) this resourcefulness and determination might be the most important thing that caused them to be successful. I think that there is a very good chance that you will succeed one way or another.

The second thing is that COVID was tough for a lot of students, and a lot of people in general. I do not know how universities will look at this, but there must be quite a few very smart students who had some tough times during COVID. One of the strongest students who I have ever known did manage to hold it together during COVID, but has talked about just how tough it was.

Cancer is tough. I hope that your father is going well, or as well as possible. One thing that I can say (having personally being fighting cancer for more than 7 years) is that cancer patients know that they will not live forever, and it is encouraging to a cancer patient to see their loved ones doing well.

Another thing that occurs to me is that top universities in Canada for admissions mostly consider your most recent 2 years. For transfers this can be the last year of high school plus the first year of university or college. Also, at least in Quebec it is normal to have 11 years of school (elementary and high school), then two years of junior college (CEGEP), and then go to university. This means that McGill has their incoming students coming in at various different ages (some from high school in the US or the rest of Canada, some from CEGEP in Quebec, a few from France since they give a tuition break to French citizens). Putting these together transferring to Toronto or McGill might at least be something to think about. It is probably easier to get into one of these two schools as a transfer student compared to NYU or U.Penn. Toronto and McGill are academically very demanding, but it looks like you are okay with this.

Also, to me a finance job on Wall Street seems like something that would be quite stressful. I have a degree in mathematics from MIT, which might have had some appeal to Wall Street companies, but Wall Street never seemed like the place where I would have wanted to work.

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I want to start by saying thank you!

COVID was challenging but gave me time to pursue my real interests. I wasn’t academically inclined or interested until my junior year of high school. As a side note, 3-4 classes didn’t have a teacher, and it was all video lessons through an external website.

I prioritized my business and entrepreneurial efforts over school because 1, I enjoyed it a lot more than school, and 2, my father being sick took a mental toll on me. I distracted myself and my mind by doing what I enjoyed.

My father was able to get rid of his cancer, but the risk of it is always there, and a sick body never fully recovers.

Canada wouldn’t be suitable for me. It’s too far from where I am, and the farthest I’d like to be from home is 5 hours.

I’d like to transfer to any of these schools,
UConn (if I don’t get in)
BC
Brown
Carnegie Mellon
Columbia (I have connections that could maybe really help)
Cornell
NYU
Northwestern
UMich
UNC
UPenn
UVA
Yale

Some of these schools are near impossible, but I’d like to take my chances.

As for working on Wall St., I’ve talked to a friend who graduated from Yale and is studying law at NYU. I told him my long-term goals (when I’m in my 30s to 40s), and he said the best route for me would be to become a banker on Wall St and work my way up. Aside from his advice, I’ve done plentiful research and know a lot about the job and industry. It interests me, and I have a genuine enjoyment. I realized I wanted to be a banker in my junior year and have been working for it, connecting with alum from UConn and some other schools that work on Wall St. right now.

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Investment banking is one out of literally thousands of career paths you could do with a business degree. It’s not something to get hung-up on. Save yourself the self-induced suffering and anxiety and just get your education. What happens after college is a function of your major and related grades and accomplishments, not your pedigree. You have a bright future ahead of you!

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Except for UConn…this is a very top heavy list of places to gain admission as a transfer student. “Connections” at Columbia? Like what? This school is looking for strong students, not students who know someone who knows someone.

If you go to a UConn branch campus, you will find that students do move to the main campus in Storrs to complete their degrees. This isn’t uncommon.

To maximize your transfer prospects…you will need to have a perfect GPA in college…perfect. And some great letters of reference.

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Yeah! I am glad to hear this. I too am at the point where they are no longer able to detect any cancer, at least right now (Yeah again!).

Very true. Some cancers can be quite slow. Mostly this is good, but can mean that it can take a very long time to know whether it is gone or not. In the mean time, we live our lives (and hope to see our kids do well).

This can vary quite a bit.

Regardless I am glad to hear that your father is recovering. I think that your determination will serve you well in life. Best wishes.

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