Thinking of transferring for better recruitment

Career Opportunities & Internships Investment Banking
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<p>I am currently thinking of transferring to a better semi-target/target school since I currently go to Villanova and while it gets some decent recruiting, there are more opportunities elsewhere. There are some MM IB firms that recruit but only a few and the only BB that recruits here is GS and it is for only two SA spots.</p>

<p>Right now I'm a freshman in the business school with a 3.5 but my gpa will certainly increase to at least 3.6/7 by the end of my first year. My sat isn't too good since I never studied for it unfortunately. I have a 1340/1600 and 1920/2400. If I apply as a sophomore transfer then the sat may hurt me but if I apply as a junior then I don't think the sat matters too much. My HS gpa is a 4.0.</p>

<p>I have taken business stat, microecon, advanced Italian, a freshman management course, and a liberal arts requirement (not english) class so far. This semester I am taking business calc, macro, advanced Italian 2, management 2, and the lib arts requirement 2. Sophomore year we take a 6 credit finance/accounting course.</p>

<p>I got into the school's investment fund which is kind of competitive. I plan on being in some sort of leadership role next year.</p>

<p>I have already contacted alumni and while I have not been able to score something beyond PWM so far for this year, I think next year I can get into a decent MM IB or maybe a BB since my family knows a lot of people in very executive roles in some BBs. But I do not want to rely on them since sometimes they get too busy and forget about forwarding your resume.</p>

<p>So basically, should I apply this year to transfer or wait until next year? I think I may be more competitive next year but I think a lot of schools prefer sophomore transfers although that may not be true. If you think I should transfer, what schools should I consider that are better than Villanova? I guess schools like GTown, Cornell, Uva, UMich, Wharton, Duke, UT Austin, UIUC, etc would be schools worth applying to.</p>

<p>Also, I do not receive any financial aid from Villanova so if I could go somewhere that might give me aid or that is cheaper, that would be a great benefit.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading and sorry for the long text!</p>

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<p>I honestly think you have a good chance to transfer to some of those schools, and I would recommend transferring if you are already paying full at Villanova (for the better brand name). I would recommend
1.) retaking your SAT’s (you seem like a smart kid, with a little practice you could def break 1400/2000 considering your writing seems to be pretty low and the math can be practiced). Think about all the effort you put into your classwork, half that effort might mean a much better score on the SAT.
2.) Just look up target schools to apply to, Gtown/Cornell I think have reasonably high transfer acceptance rates. You could also look at NYU Stern, MIT, USC</p>

<p>Some of the schools listed are better for ib than others.</p>

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

<p>Any other suggestions?</p>

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<p>I think you should just use all the time you spend worrying about the weakness of your school and all the time invested in the application and research of transferring into self-study and informational interviews.</p>

<p>The fact that you are involved with the school’s investment group and already have a few contacts in the industry is a good indicator of future success.</p>