Hey guys,
I’m looking to transfer colleges after this current year, and I was wondering if you could chance me.
Current School - Tufts
High School GPA - School didn’t calculate, but probably around 3.3
top prep school in high school.
ACT - 34
SAT - 2170
Strong international background, some leadership roles
College GPA - 3.2 (first semester) (that’s the killer I think)
College Major - Quantitative Economics
Very high level of classes taken, however
College EC’s - Very involved in Finance group
Schools looking to transfer to - Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, Brown, UVA, Northwestern, Cornell, Yale, Georgetown
My reasons to transfer are very personal and they aren’t something that I can share in my transfer essays. There have been specific circumstances that have caused me a great deal of emotional distress at my current college, and I really, really need to get away and get a fresh start. I’m worried that my College GPA will hurt my chances though. What do you guys think?
I really don’t want to crush any of your hopes because I really don’t know the your full application, but it doesn’t look GREAT for some of your higher level schools.
Columbia: Acceptance rate of about 7%, average GPA of 3.9, and many of it’s accepted transfers come from other finance “target schools”.
Penn: Business school acceptance rate of about 2%. You would need a 4.0, 2400/36, and internships under your belt. Maybe you have a shot at becoming an Econ major in the arts/sciences college, but it’s still not easy. Penn places a lot of importance on high school stats for sophomore fall transfers.
Dartmouth: Similar to Columbia. Also not amazing finance placement so I personally wouldn’t recommend it.
Brown: Similar to Dartmouth. Not sure why you want to go here as a finance major.
UVA: This is by far your best shot. McIntyre is pretty competitive for transfer because it mainly accepts community college students from Virginia, so you may want to consider an Econ major there. Attainable for sure for you.
Northwestern: 12.5% acceptance rate. Your extra-curriculars are crucial here… Very competitive though.
Cornell: AEM is nearly impossible to get into. You’d need a >3.95 and near perfect test scores, as well an amazing reason to apply. Look into ILR here… Although it’s smaller and not strictly finance, it places very well onto Wall Street and is vastly less competitive.
Yale: Sorry but this one really isn’t going to happen. 2% acceptance rate. You’d need a 4.0.
Georgetown: High reach but not absurd. Helps that you have international background. Typically the average GPA of an incoming transfer is about a 3.8 ish. https://uadmissions.georgetown.edu/transfer/student-profile
Other schools you should consider: Emory, Villanova, USC, Indiana U, UW-Madison, SMU, Vanderbilt all have top 30 business programs and are EXTREMELY well-known in the finance world.
Once again though don’t give up on those schools… By far the most important part of your application is the essay. Write well, convince them that you need to be in something specific to their program.