I am currently a freshman in college looking to transfer to a better undergrad school. The current college I go to isn’t well known out of state, is lacking a strong alumni network in my area of interest (finance), and doesn’t have very good on campus recruiting. I was wondering what colleges would be a good place to try and apply as a transfer student? Here are my current credentials:
College undergraduate GPA: 3.92/4.00
High school GPA: 3.51/4.00
ACT: 24
President of the university’s investment group
Chief Financial Officer of the university’s entrepreneur club
I know that both my ACT and high school GPA are fairly weak. To counteract this I have become very involved both in my academics and activities. As someone who wants to go into the financial industry out of college what would be some colleges to look into transferring to? Also I am new to College Confidential, so if you need more information please let me know. Thanks for the help.
You’ll get more helpful feedback if you start with a list of colleges that you’re interested in and have done at least a little bit of research on (you can’t expect other to do all the work for you). Also, what school are you going to now? And what about finances?
So where shall we start, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida or Maine?
What is your budget? Transfers don’t always get the same FA considerations as do freshmen admits.
Sounds like you are doing well and are engaged at your current college.
Are you looking to transfer to schools that didn’t accept you out of HS?
Off the top of my head, though, I’d look at –
Colgate (it has a large percentage of people who head into business in the NYC area and it provides 100% of calculated need)
Vassar (it has a strong network in NYC, stellar credentials and if you’re male you have a great chance of being admitted. Vassar also likes to admit transfers who have done okay in HS and improved in college, both of which you’ve done. Vassar also meets 100% of need and has access to NYC via the commuter rail line, Metro North, for seeking internships.)
If you’re in the Midwest, look at Carleton. People from Carleton go to Minneapolis, sometimes, for finance. Also the name extends beyond the region to East Coast financial center cities, like NYC, if you’d lke to move east.
You may not have the grades for Dartmouth even with your recent excellent performance. On the other hand, you might. Dartmouth sends many people into NYC after graduation to get into finance. It would be (IMHO) like entering the young boys/girls club that becomes the old boys/girls club later in NYC. Dartmouth might just like you. It’s worth a try. They also have great FA based on need.
UPenn is another obvious one, but may be a reach. They may just love your application though. It’s worth a try.
Columbia U is much harder to transfer into, but there are several grads who major in econ and then go to work on Wall Street.
I’ll let others suggest a few other places.
The other thing you can do is to work to get stellar grades at your current institution. Work for a few years in the industry of your choice, and then ace your GMAT and attend a top B-school.
@Dustyfeathers Thanks for the feedback, very much appreciated.
Also for the others some extra information about my situation would be the following, finances are not an issue, I live in the midwest, and in high school I didn’t have a very good guidance counselor helping guide my college choices (Also in high school I wasn’t aware of how big an advantage going to a better school had, dumb I know). When I was a Senior in highschool my GPA when I was actually applying to colleges was a 3.30 (limited my options), I was only able to reach a 3.51 by the end of the year.
The current colleges that I was looking to transfer into where:
University of Wisconsin - Madison
University of Minnesota
University of Michigan
Any other suggestions or advices is appreciated.
What are your instate options?
I live in Wisconsin. My instate options would be UW-Madison or Marquette. I know Wisconsin had some sort of deal with Minnesota where their schools are at in-state pricing (don’t remember the name of the program), I haven’t looking into the schools other than University of Minnesota.
Perhaps also look at Lawrence, Carleton and St Olaf
Do you have a budget limit? Indiana University Bloomington may be a good choice for business.
Look at the transfer requirements to the schools you are considering. Typically if your transferring 30+ hours your high school record will not matter. The negative is you would have to wait until you have accumulated the 30 hours for this to go into effect.
^ There is no Typically about it. Generally the more competitive the school the more likely HS info WILL be included. For instance UWisc requires it. https://apir.wisc.edu/publisherssurvey/CDS_2015-2016.pdf (Look at section D)
Sometimes with ~30 units a school might not require you to submit your ACT scores. I see UWisc doesn’t require standardized testing for transfer according to section D
Thanks for the help everyone, I really appreciate it!
Wisconsin and Minnesota both seem like really good options for you. Since money isn’t an issue, perhaps also Indiana. Michigan might be difficult but I’d still apply and see what happens. Oh, and also Penn State!