<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Over the past year, I have been thinking about transferring from my school. I don't really have anyone who could advise me about this, so I am very hopeful to find some advice here. </p>
<p>Currently, I am a sophomore at a pretty well ranked school. There are many things I like about it. However, I constantly feel unhappy there. My first concern is that I feel like I completely don't fit in with the rest of the students. I am very focused on my academics and future career. Although I am sure there are many students here just like me, the vast majority is very into partying/drinking, etc. I have nothing against it, it is just not for me. Yet, because of this, it is hard for me to find friends. I am a member of multiple clubs, but I just can't find people to associate with.
Another more important problem is that I don't think my school could provide me the career opportunities I am looking for. To my dismay, only this year did I realize that I want to go into finance. Unfortunately, my school is heavily focused on science.
In your opinion, should I try to transfer or stay? Or am I doing something wrong?
I am afraid that by trying to transfer, I will lose any respect I have at this school. On the other hand, I don't think I will be happy if I stay.</p>
<p>You should consider UPenn, its ranked top 10, its Ivy, and very heavily recruited by Finance firms for the Wharton school. The kids here party, but there are also many who don’t find getting drunk and partying particularly fun. There aren’t any schools that I can think of that are great specifically for Finance and don’t have a loud party scene.</p>
<p>The only school I can think of that fits that model is Notre Dame, since their business school is highly ranked and their Catholic tradition prevents too much mischief on campus. You could also look into Boston College’s business school.</p>
<p>As for the respect comment, no one will have less respect for you if you decide to transfer. Besides, if someone doesn’t like your decision, you won’t be around them much longer anyway.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice AJtracker. I have looked at UPenn before, but I read that it is extremely difficult to transfer into Wharton. Currently, I have a 3.84 GPA at my school. I can try to pull it up to a 3.9 before the transferring. However, I would be transferring only for junior year. Do you think I have a chance?
In regards to partying/ drinking: when I think about it, the main reason for me to transfer is to get to study what I want and to actually have some future career prospects after I graduate. I think the main reason I am not happy is because I just don’t see any reason to study economics at my current school.</p>
<p>I would absolutely transfer! While the process is daunting and admittedly rather intimidating, it can also be a wonderful experience! I wish you the best of luck!</p>
<p>What are your grades, test scores, and courses like? Make sure your courses transfer.</p>
<p>Thanks for the encouragement lexieam.</p>
<p>Eagles94,
My grades are mostly A’s (a couple A-), which drove down my GPA to a 3.84.
My SAT was 2180. For the subjects tests I took math and biology which were both around 730. I do have time to retake the SAT if that would be helpful, but since I will be a sophomore next year, I don’t know if that would be.
In regards to the courses I have taken, I think that might be a bit of an issue.
I have done a lot of pre-med requirements, because I came in as pre-med, originally.
Last quarter I did take microeconomics and got an A in that.
For calc, I took the BC test at the end of my junior year, but only got a 4. However, I took multivariable calculus at the beginning of my senior year and got an A in that. Hopefully, that would be acceptable.
My current school accepted the 4 I got on AP Macro. I don’t think that is accepted at UPenn (I looked into the transfer requirements, as per AJtracker’s recommendation)
Next quarter I am set to take microeconomic theory (I suspect that is similar to intermediate econ) and linear algebra. However, I can still easily change my schedule as my classes do not start for a few months.
If anyone has any other recommendations as to what schools I could look into for transferring, I would be very thankful.
Also, forgot to mention that I am fluent in a couple of foreign languages, so I could hopefully test out of the foreign language requirement, if that would be possible.</p>
<p>Your college GPA seems good enough to transfer in. You have a 3.84, you can’t really get it much higher. Applying won’t hurt so apply the next chance you get. Don’t worry about getting it to a 3.9. The admission officers will probably care more about your extracurriculars and essay than the difference between those two great gpas.</p>
<p>I think you have a good chance if you have good extracurriculars and a great essay.</p>