Hi. I didn’t get the chance to apply to USC and UMich and I’m not 100% sure that I would’ve been admitted for this fall, but have recently gained interest in both schools as a prospective transfer student. I’m attending IU Bloomington next year and would like to know if anyone else has transferred from IU to USC or UMich. I’m also wondering what I should do next year to leverage me above other transfer applicants. Besides getting a solid GPA, what else should I do to increase my chances. I’m working on a business/app/tech startup right now that I’m hoping will increase my chances in getting admitted to Marshall or Ross for entrepreneurship/computer science (I know Ross is super tough and Marshall too). I’ll edit this post if needed, but please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.
What was your SAT score? Some schools still require that you submit that for a transfer application. Additionally, you would probably have a better chance of getting into both of those schools if you transfer after your sophomore year at IU. Furthermore, applying as an external transfer to Marshall and Ross will be extremely competitive, especially since you will be completing against many USC/UMICH students who are internally applying to their respective B school.
To increase your chances, get as close to a 4.0 as possible, obtain excellent letters of recommendations, join some extracurricular activities, and write an excellent essay explaining why you want to transfer to each school.
P.S. have you already been accepted to the business school at IU?
Be prepared to enjoy Indiana more than u think u will. I spent a semester there and it was great.
If your prefer those places to IU, why don’t you take a gap year and apply as a freshman? If you need financial aid, that would be the best move, as most places give better aid to freshmen than to transfers. This gap year would also give you more time to concentrate on your start-up if you aren’t taking any classes.
Check with IU about deferring your enrollment, so that you would have a guaranteed space there if you don’t get in elsewhere.
Kelley School of Business at IU is just as highly regarded for undergraduates as is Ross-Michigan, and higher than Marshall-USC. Personally, I like the IU campus more than UM’s.
As @moooop says “be prepared to enjoy Indiana.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-04-04/the-complete-ranking-best-undergraduate-business-schools-2014
“Kelley School of Business at IU is just as highly regarded for undergraduates as is Ross-Michigan, and higher than Marshall-USC. Personally, I like the IU campus more than UM’s.”
Hardly true. Personally, I like Ann Arbor better than Bloomington.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/business-overall
My son was accepted to IU and U of Mich and we went to both of their admitted students days. Both are great schools. The biggest difference in our opinion is the size of the business undergrad classes. IU said their incoming freshman class would be 1200-plus…U of Mich BBA Ross around 500 (of which ~130 are pre-admit).
I saw this on the Michigan site that might be helpful. Note: “About one percent of last year’s entering class were admitted as transfer students.” This would translate to 5 people.
https://michiganross.umich.edu/programs/bba/application-requirements/transfer
Good luck!
Oh I forgot to add that IU in our opinion is much better if you would like to study abroad. U of Mich admitted to us that they are behind in this area and are going to work on improving it.
Transferring to Ross from IU is almost impossible. Worth a try, of course, Ross admits very few transfers.
@rjkofnovi - at both USNews and BusinessWeek, Ross and Kelley are each in the top 15. At USNews, Michigan is #4 while IU is #8, yet UM is #12 at BusinessWeek as IU stays at #8.
Two rankings, four spots apart, with roles reversed. Not enough difference to talk about. They are peers.
Erin’s Dad, do you honestly think a ranking that has Wharton at #7 should be trusted? 
@Alexandre
Apparently what drags Wharton down is the “employer survey” where it ranks… #30.
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-04-04/the-complete-ranking-best-undergraduate-business-schools-2014
Who knows if this is worth much. We do know that all rankings are biased in some way. My attitude is “the top 20 is the top 20” and I would never choose a school based purely on rankings – especially close rankings. Anyhow, #7 is nothing to be ashamed of.
I’m not much for rankings at all but if someone pulls one out you can find another that is contrary. Surveys are like opinions, everyone has one.
@NROTCgrad I agree with you with that Kelley and Ross having similar standing. However, this would NOT be the case for students interested in a career in Investment Banking or something similar. My knowledge is limited, but Investment Banks have certain target schools, and Ross is considered (as I understand it) just a notch below Wharton. Kelley is a great school, but may be considered a semi-target or much less of a target than Ross.
Although the rankings may show Kelley and Ross very closely ranked in finance, the rankings do not take into consideration universities which do not even offer finance as a major, yet are big target schools for investment banks.
For example, Dartmouth Econ >>> IU Kelley Business
In summary, yes Kelley and Ross are peer business schools, but they definitely do not offer the same career prospects for something like investment banking.
Disclaimer: If anyone here as more experience than me in this subject, please do correct me.
@yikesyikesyikes
You correct that reputation and career prospects do vary according to specialties. OP indicated an interest in entrepreneurship. USNews ranks IU-Kelley at #4 and Ross below #10, but another survey shows Ross at #1 and Kelley below #25. Go figure.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/business-entrepreneurship
@NROTCgrad I cannot argue which school is better for entrepreneurship, as I know very little about that- so good point.
@yikesyikesyikes, for IB, pretty much everyone who gets in to Kelley’s IB workshop gets in to IB. However, getting in to the IB workshop is competitive (less than 10% of Kelley students get in). On the other hand, the caliber of the Kelley student body, on average, isn’t at Ross’s level, so it’s a tough call as to whether it’s easier to get in to Kelley’s “special” workshops (IB, MC, and some others, though those may not place as well as the IB and MC workshops) or to get in to Ross.