I Picked the Wrong School... Transfer Info Please?

Transfer Students
1

<p>So, long story short, I'm a business major and I go to a STEM school. I won't say the name because I don't want to dump all over it; I still have some school pride, (I know you can just look at my prior threads and figure it out, but still), but just know when you hear the name, you think "STEM," and anything else is a distant second.</p>

<p>Don't get me wrong, the people are real nice, the professors are great, and the campus is really cool. If you're STEM, go here. I'm unfortunately not; I'm finance, and after just a month of classes I'm already sick of feeling like I'm playing second fiddle to all the STEM students. </p>

<p>The other day for example, we had a dinner-social for all the new freshman B-school students - a sort of meet-and-greet. The vice dean gave a speech, and the gist of it was "we're an engineering school, but someone's got to handle the engineers' finances. Someone has to run HR and payroll, and keep investors happy. That someone is you all!" Everyone seemed to like it, but I just sat there thinking "So the message is "Lucky you! You get to be the support-team for the STEM students; the ones that actually matter!"</p>

<p>It just drives me up the wall because my whole family talks about how proud they are that I go here, and what a great school it is, and how prestigious it is, and I just think "No, you're thinking of the STEM programs; the college of business is (according to the vice dean at least) just an add-on." I really didn't want to go here in the first place; a combination of rejection letters and really crappy aide packages led me here. From the beginning I knew I'd be out of place; I feel like going here for Business makes about as much sense as going to Julliard for ChemE.</p>

<p>I'm considering applying as a transfer student either at the end of this year or the next to some colleges where the business school is more front and center. My hope is that my first year or two here will have saved me enough money on tuition (I'm instate) so as to make going out-of-state possible. A few that I've looked into are the University of Virginia, Boston College, and Wake Forrest. Does anyone have any experience applying to these schools or comparable ones? Also, if anyone can think of other colleges with comparable finance and/or econ programs that I may be overlooking, that would be a huge help as well. Specifically, I want to make sure I get a good quantitative background. The lack of a good base in applied math and excessive emphasis on the liberal arts (which I have no interest in and will never use when I'm in the job force) is what turned me off of some other schools.</p>

<p>Finally, I know someone is going to look at my posting history, do some deductive reasoning and figure out what school I go to, and then realize that they/their mom/dad/sibling/cousin goes/went their and get upset that I'm bashing their alma mater. Please realize that I don't mean it that way at all; I've just realized that this school isn't a good fit fore me, and that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a perfect match for anyone else out there, I'm just not that guy.</p>

<p>Thanks for the input.</p>

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<p>Have you thought about Babson? It’s an amazing business school with a great reputation, and while the sticker price is high, a lot of my friends got substantial grants and scholarships. Business is absolutely the focus there. Bentley is also almost entirely dedicated to business, but I’m not sure how generous they are with financial aid.</p>

<p>What are your stats? </p>

3

<p>No, actually, I’ll check into them. Thanks.</p>

<p>My high school background looks like this:</p>

<p>Class Rank: 30-something; 89%ile
UW: 3.7X
W: 4.00
SAT: 2070 (M: 740, CR: 700, W: 630)
AP: I took 8 classes and 7 tests (APUSH: 5, USGOV: 5, MICRO: 5, STAT: 3, LIT: 4, CALCAB: 4, ENVIRO: 5)
Extracurriculars: Lots of stuff; SGA President, Beta Club VP, Gavel Club Treasurer, and a few other memberships</p>

<p>Right now I’m taking a math class, an international affairs class, a lab science, and a one credit hour “how-to-succeed-in-college” course. I’ll hopefully be taking business classes next semester.</p>

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<p>Key question: What goals do you have insofar as post-grad industries/careers?</p>

5

<p>I want to work in finance and/or consulting for a few years and then get an MBA. I may want to start my own investing or consulting firm someday, but that’s way down the road.</p>

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<p>What about your instate big school? It sounds like you need to be at a Big School that has equitable majors. </p>

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<p>The other school instate isn’t that great, IMHO. True, there’s less disparity between their majors, and they have a few decent programs, but relative to where I am now they’re kind of diploma mill-ish feeling and not as great in job placement, which is a big priority for me.</p>

<p>At my school, we have pretty good job placement numbers with fortune 500 companies, but it feels like it’s just because we’re literally right down the block from some of them, and because there isn’t really a comparable school nearby.</p>

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<p>So you want to really transfer… First and foremost, you have to buckle down and get the best grades you can for this semester, you will need good grades to show for your transcript in order to transfer to a "good"college. If you have low grades, transferring will be difficult. Start working on your apps, call admission offices of the colleges you want to transfer and speak to an Admission officer, sign up for info on those schools, in other words, show interest and try to get an Admission Officer to notice you, visit if you can (make sure you sign in if you take tours, etc.) Second, keep in mind, that the schools you mentioned are expensive, (because you’re out of State or they’re private colleges) so try to get your parents to get their taxes done early, so you can file FAFSA in January. Those schools may require CSS Profiles in addition. </p>

<p>Lastly, yes, the school you go to is foremost a Tech school, but graduating there with any degree is an accomplishment, besides what really will count for you is the graduate school you get into, where you get your MBA from. I realize that you sound unhappy there, but realize a small part of how you feel is what you make of what you have. Visit those schools you mentioned, because BC and Wake Forest are really different from where you are now. UVA is huge and costly for out of staters. Good luck. </p>

9

<p>Although I understand your frustration, going to a place which is top ten in most every area of engineering but not your major, I would wait until you have had more coursework related to your major before committing - some business/finance/econ classes (ideally something beyond the big intro classes). While saving a lot of money, staying an extra year could also give you a chance to see if you form connections with any of the faculty in your major. Going to your university, you do have the advantages (not just of the good name recognition of your University and good price) but also of some pretty impressive math options (which can’t hurt for econ/finance/business) and maybe a minor in something that will help you stick out from the pack. If after you have had some real courses in your major you still hate it - well as you implied, at least you have saved money for two years.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the input guys. I recognize that I do go to a pretty good school with pretty good brand recognition, it’s just demoralizing how far the B-school is behind the other programs. Everywhere you go on campus you feel this overpowering, almost culture of STEM. Even though we’re a public school, over half the people I’ve met in the STEM fields are out of state or overseas, because they know how strong we are in engineering and the sciences, as opposed to the business school, where over half the students I’ve met are in at least one of the same classes as I am, and the faculty won’t hesitate to tell you that’s because they have a separate grouping of courses set aside for non-STEM majors (which students in STEM refer to collectively as “the easy classes”). When someone drops out of the engineering school here, they go to the business school.</p>

<p>One thing I was curious about was deferred admission. How exactly does this work? Could one get accepted to a school at the end of their first year, but wait a semester or two before starting? I don’t know, but maybe that would be a good cost saving measure while still having the reassurance of knowing I have an out. Also, does anyone know where I could find stats on the schools I mentioned before? I’ve always been surprised at how hard it is to get a hold of solid data on GPA, SAT, etc. info for getting a good idea of what you’re up against, especially for transfer students.</p>

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<p>You might want to consider UNC-CH and Georgetown as well. If you are OOS, UNC is easier to get in as a transfer than straight out of HS. Don’t know about the difficulty of getting in to Kenan-Flagler, though (or McDonough),</p>

<p>However, if you stay where you are (and if you don’t get in to the business school at your target colleges, that is what I’d advise, even if you can pay), you might want to consider the IE Economic & Financial Systems track. I know a guy from your school who majored in IE and then spent another year picking up the Master of Science in Quantitative and Computational Finance. He’s done quite well in the financial (fixed income) world.</p>

<p>For a taste of their promotional literature:
<a href=“http://www.isye.gatech.edu/students/career/”>http://www.isye.gatech.edu/students/career/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Though that sounds similar to the promotional literature of your current college:
<a href=“Career Development”>http://scheller.gatech.edu/degree-programs/undergraduate/career-services/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^ I had looked into UNC in high school, but kind of overlooked it just because of the OOS costs and admissions favoring instate students. I had considered Georgetown, too. Thanks for putting those into consideration for me.</p>

<p>And I actually did consider switching to IE, but it’s just not what I want to do. Looking at the course catalogs over the summer, it just didn’t appeal to me.</p>

<p>Also, does anyone know about the economics program at Notre Dame? I know you can’t transfer to Mendoza, but I figure their econ program might be something to look into; they’re kind of my dream school.</p>

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<p>OK, but if UNC’s OOS costs are too much, I don’t understand how all the schools you’re considering will work financially. BTW, if you are considering ND, you might as well consider UMich and Ross.</p>

<p>Even though they’re very different schools, ND, UMich, UVa, and Georgetown grads seem to have similar opportunities and outcomes.</p>

14

<p>^ Yeah, price is unfortunately a big limiting factor. I had gotten into a top twenty with a great B-school, but according to their financial aid office my family is “upper income” (which is total BS), and the financial aid guy we sat down with literally said “Well a lot of our students’s parents cash out their 401Ks to bridge the gap.” That (reluctantly) made my decision pretty easy. “Your parents can work 'till they die.” Isn’t really a feasible payment plan.</p>

<p>Also, what’s the Greek life and drinking culture like at the schools that have been mentioned? It feels like everyone is in a frat/sorority here, and all they do is drink; I had a drunk guy offer me a beer that he pulled out of his pants last night, and I was just walking down the street. I’m not really into all that, but would it be any different elsewhere?</p>

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<p>Then you’re limited to financially realistic options. You could spend 2 years where you are and then transfer to save on costs, though you likely wouldn’t be able to go through any undergrad b-school programs at that point (probably only econ).</p>

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<p>Yes. There are plenty of great schools without frats, not just
Rice, Princeton, Boston College, Georgetown, Notre Dame …
(and all of these have good Econ programs, some have undergrad
finance etc.)</p>

<p>That (staying away from colleges with frats, and more generally avoiding
party schools) was a big factor for me when choosing colleges
(and interestingly something my son thought about too when
deciding to avoid some schools). I ruled out UVa because of
partying I saw there, my son ruled out UT for similar reasons.</p>

<p>I don’t think he had any interest in any schools on either of these lists:
<a href=“Playboy's Top Party Schools 2013 Ranking Released | HuffPost College”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost;
and
<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/04/this-years-top-20-party-schools-and-other-honors/”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/04/this-years-top-20-party-schools-and-other-honors/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>At least at your college, even though it has frats, apparently less than half of the students participate .</p>

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<p>^ Glad to here it. I had known ND and a few others didn’t allow frats on campus (in fact, Villanova is the only Catholic school I know of that does), but I wasn’t sure if that impacted the party/drinking scene at all.</p>

<p>One thing that I think warrants consideration though is exactly how conservative a school has to be before the drinking and partying start to taper off. Giving my school’s reputation as being kind of geeky, I expected there to much less of a party scene than there is, but then lo and behold, here’s a drunk guy offering me a beer from his pants. I picture some of these schools being a lot more classy, but does taking away the Greek life and maybe adding a religious affiliation make that much of a difference?</p>