Transfer from Georgetown to Duke

Transfer Students
1

I’m currently a freshmen enrolled in the college at Georgetown University. For the first semester, I thought the school suited me very well, but eventually my interest in the school had begun to plateau and now recently decline. I originally applied ED to Duke, was deferred early, and ultimately rejected during regular decision. Georgetown and Duke were my top two schools last year, although Duke had a slight edge. I will provide the main reason for me considering transferring, and would appreciate any advice.

I am highly interested in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. However, I want to approach the hard sciences from a business perspective. I do not see myself working in a lab post-graduation, nor do I want to have a linear knowledge of only business. An integration of economics/finance/business and biotechnology is vital to who I am and hope to be. Now, this is the most important thing to me. Duke has one of the best biology programs in the nation (and world). The major in biology with a concentration in genomics could not better suit my interests. Duke also has an economics major with a finance concentration. Double majoring in both of these could not be better suited toward my academic and vocational interests and goals. At Georgetown, I was planning on internally transferring to the business school and majoring in finance with a double minor in Chinese and biology. In this manner, I figured I would gain a decent understanding of biology and a good grasp of finance. Now, I greatly enjoy economics, and could stay in the college and double major in biology and Econ, but feel that this could place me at a disadvantage to the business students if I decide to first enter IB before hopefully receiving an MBA and entering biotech/pharma. Moreover, Georgetown’s biology program is not particularly good. Of course, it is fine, but I believe I could be challenged at a higher level. In addition, Duke provides immense research opportunities for its students. Georgetown seems to focus more on teaching via professors instead of via self-discovery. I have other reasons for wanting to transfer, but I wanted to state this reason first and obtain advice.

The greatest hindrance to my applications last year was my freshmen-junior year grades. Again, I am considering transferring largely because I want to obtain an exceptional knowledge of both biology and Econ/finance. Duke’s academics seem much better for what I am interested in. (If I was interested in government, I’d be at the right school.) I just wanted to know if it would be worth transferring based on the reasons I gave (I excluded others for the sake of brevity) and my current academic standing.

2

If your long-term goal is to work in the pharma/biotech industry then your undergrad degree doesn’t really matter much. You will be judged more on your graduate degrees and qualifications. In this light, both Duke and Georgetown are excellent schools.

You’ll learn most of what you need to know on the job anyway, so the difference in undergrad education between Duke and Georgetown are small. Transfer admissions are tough. But your grades are good. They will focus on your 12th grade and freshman grades for making the decision. Keep in mind that financial aid is much more limited for transfers as compared to new freshman.

For successful transfer, you need a really compelling reason. The explanation you gave above doesn’t seem strong enough to me. Reason is that both Gtown and Duke have the programs that you’re interested in (Biology, Economics, Chinese). Duke does not have an undergrad finance degree, but instead only a concentration. Georgetown McDonough does have an undergrad finance degree.

The other advantage that Georgetown has is an undergrad business degree. Duke’s business program is only for graduate students. You might be able to cross register for a few Fuqua classes, but you wouldn’t be able to get an undergrad business degree at Duke.

3

Here are the most problematic parts of your post:

A double major in Bio and Econ is perfect at Duke, but a disadvantage at Georgetown if you decide to go into IB after you graduate? No. A Bio-Econ double major is a disadvantage when looking for IB jobs after graduation? No.

In no way is it so inferior to Duke’s that it will limit your ability to take a role in management of a pharmaceutical or biomedical firm.

Not quite sure what you mean, but I would not compare first semester freshman year with an entire college course.

In our house, once you get to three excuses we take it that you just don’t want to do it. These sound like excuses to justify your not wanting to be at Georgetown, b/c you really want to be with the people who rejected you last year.

4

“Georgetown’s biology program is not particularly good” – if Duke as much as gets a whiff of this attitude it will laugh at your application.

It’s an absurd statement that makes me – and probably others – question everything else you wrote.

5

Sorry for not stating the positive facts of my case. What I am referring to is the disparity in research between the two institutions and a curriculum geared specifically towards genomics at Duke. I should have phrased myself differently, but I am referring to this: 1) Georgetown has concentrations only in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology; and Ecology, Evolution and Behavioral Biology. (This is more broad.) Duke has genomics, genetics, and pharmacology concentrations, among others, offering greater specificity to my interests in biotech. 2) Some professors at Georgetown are researching genetic-based issues, yet Duke (as far as I know) has an entire center dedicated to research on genomics, amplifying the number of research opportunities. (Duke Center for Genomic and Computational Biology) If you have any further advice, I’d greatly appreciate it!

6

Honestly, this level of specialization (which you say Georgetown lacks) usually isn’t reached until graduate school. As an undergrad, the bulk of your time will be taking the same kinds of classes at Duke as you would Georgetown. You can find faculty at Georgetown to do your more specialized research, and take advantage of Georgetown’s superb connections in private and government labs to do specialized internships. That’s also a smart way to build up your resume, something you will need to get into a top graduate program, or a good job in biochem/biotech/big pharma.

7

Biology as a field is quite broad. It’s not surprising the two institutions have slightly different concentrations and research priorities.

As an undergrad however it doesn’t matter much. You’ll still take the same classes. Research opportunities between the two schools are indeed different. But I don’t think it makes a huge difference.

Even though I’m a Duke alum, I think you’d be better off staying at Georgetown. I honestly don’t see a strong reason why you need to transfer.

8

The part about doing more in-depth bio/pharma work would be more convincing if you had any interest in actually continuing on to post-graduate work in science, but you are explicit that you do not want to do that.

Have you looked at the course load for a double major in Bio / Pharma concentration and Econ / Finance concentration? Have you looked at Duke’s distribution requirements? If you transfer, you will have 6 semesters at Duke (24 courses) to do the 20 courses required for the two majors, plus distribution requirements (21 courses total).

Even though you probably already have some of the courses done (would guess calc, intro bio, possibly intro chem or physics, a couple of the distribution requirements), as a transfer and a double major, you will have to push to get both majors done, and are unlikely to have the time to take many (if any) of the concentration courses, so you will end up with a Bio-Econ/Bus double major from either place. Fwiw, as an undergrad, esp as a double major who is not headed to a research career, you are unlikely to ever be involved with the Duke Center for Genomic and Computational Biology.

Moreover, your plan is to do a science-business double major, then work in business / IB, then get an MBA, then go to work in biotech/pharma. By that point, the half-life of any ‘cutting edge’ research you might have been exposed to at Duke will be well gone- simply keeping up with the research by reading the key journals will be more useful than any difference between the programs.

Whether this is a ‘the grass is greener’ or ‘I still pine for the one who told me no’, it reads like somebody who is trying to rationalize an emotional desire. As everybody who has posted has said, based on your description of what you want to do, there is no objective need to transfer.

Fwiw, imo you can accomplish your stated goals better by doing a full-on bio degree, with whatever sub-speciality interests you, then getting a job in business. The MBA rounds out the experience and makes it portable across sectors.

9

Pffff. Half (at least) of your bio profs at Georgetown have pals at the NIH in Bethesda. Sure the commute is farther than it might be at Duke, but you certainly should be able to get acess to cutting edge research there.

10

I’d have to agree with other posters. This seems to me like a case of buyer’s remorse more than a legitimate reason for transferring.