How much will crappy high school grades affect me? (TRANSFER)

White Male, University of Louisville Finance Major. Sophomore Transferring fall semester 2017

Schools apply to: Columbia Brown Cornell Dartmouth Georgetown Duke UNC

GPA: High School: 2.6 College Freshman: 3.9 College Sophomore: 4.0 so far

ACT: 32

EC’s: Amateur mma, member of investment club, member of finance club, Summer finance internship,

Letters of rec. Accounting Professor Econ Professor and if needed Calculus Professor.

Im just not sure how much my crappy high school gpa will effect me

A lot, since you’re strictly applying to elite schools. With that GPA, you may be better off waiting to apply next year after you have a solid year of top college grades under your belt. Also, I can’t speak to all the schools on your list but I know many of them don’t have finance majors. If you want to transfer to these sorts of schools, you’d be better off as an economics & math major. I think the only ivy with a finance major may be penn in the Wharton school. That’s the first thing I would check at each of the schools on your list.

Look at each school’s website. One I read stated HS was weighted heavily if less than 30 hours in college. The closer you are to 60 hours, the less it will matter. But, realize that transfer into the school’s listed is a challenge even if you were 4.0 in HS and college.

@RenaissanceMom yes I most likely will end up majoring in Econ which I don’t mind if I’m able to get into one of these schools. You think there’s no hope to transfer in so I start as a junior? I don’t think it would be worth it to transfer for senior year

@Sportsman88 I will have ~45 by the time they see my transcript and ~60 by the time I would start at the new college do you think that would be close enough to 60 for them to overlook? I find it really hard to figure out with the research I’ve done but I don’t really want to spend all the money on applications if I have no chance of getting in.

I would treat it like applications for a first time freshman except that staying put is your safety. Apply to a couple matches and a couple reaches. I haven’t looked at transfer admission rates for the schools you list but generally they are lower than freshman admissions and most to all of those are less than 10% acceptance rates.

Are you a NC resident? That would increase your chances at UNC.

Your sophomore year will help establish your GPA in finance, econ, accounting etc. which I think would help. I think your college grades will be weighted over HS but it’s just long odds regardless.

What is your reason for transferring? For Columbia, are you looking at College of General Studies? That might me a slight bump in chances.

@Sportsman88 I’m attempting to get better job placement. I will maybe apply to some not so prestigious schools as well. Thank you so much for your help!