Transferring from UK uni to US uni — advice needed!

Transfer Students
1

Hello all! I would like to know your honest opinions on my chance at transferring from my current UK university to an American counterpart. I am majoring BSc Economics and finished my first year in June 2020. As I hold a dual citizenship from South Korea and the US, I’m currently doing my military service in Korea. Regarding the job prospects in UK post-Brexit and COVID situations, I believe it is better to relocate myself back to the states (and I really can’t get used to British foods and its weather). Since I went to a high school in the states, I’m quite familiar with American system. So here’s my EC and test scores.

University gpa: First class honour (I’m kind of worried about this because due to COVID my first year grade is only based on two modules graded. UK uni tends to have heavy focus on final exams, but all of them have been cancelled because of the pandemic, which is the reason why most of my modules don’t have grades.) - apparently equivalent to 3.7 -4.0 American GPA

High school Gpa: 3.94/4.0 (unweighted) class rank: 5/180 - did IB diploma.

SAT: 1480 from 2018 tho… (EBRW: 730, Math: 750) thinking of retaking while in military and try to get 1550+ if possible

SAT math level 2 : 770/800

University EC: Finance society executive(leadership position), sustainability magazine marketer, did a spring week at one of the renowned Asset management firms though being fully online due to COVID

High school EC: track varsity captain, tennis varsity, student council Vice President, National Honor Society

Additional EC: currently serving as a military interpreter and participated in Korea-US combined exercise

This pretty much sums up all I have for the application. My plan is to start as a sophomore in September 2022.

My dream schools : Northwestern, Vanderbilt

Match(I think) : University of Michigan, UVA

Do you think it’s a feasible idea? What are my chances at admissions?

My plan B is to finish my undergraduate in UK and get a master’s degree in the states. Does Plan B sounds better and more realistic?

I would like to work in Consulting or IB in the future.

Let me know how you think!

2

You need more options if you want to transfer.
A first will be recognized as excellent.
Plan B is good since it’s risk-free :slight_smile:
Do you need financial aid?

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3

What do you mean by more options? Do you mean the number of universities that I apply to?
Financial aid will be nice to have :slight_smile:

4

Yes. Umich, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and UVa are extremely selective, so that you’re basically rolling the dice.

You could try getting into Cornell ILR or Dyson (also a reach); Northeastern; Fordham; Penn State Smeal; Colgate; Trinity CT.

It’s much easier to get into Vanderbilt as a transfer if you don’t need financial aid.
UMich will not provide any financial aid so if you cannot pay outright you’d have to cross it out.

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5

Thanks for the information! But then I’m an American citizen, so I thought I could get some need based financial aid. Doesn’t Vanderbilt have a need blind policy? I didn’t know that Umich won’t provide any financial aid though. Thank you for telling me!

And I know I should diversify my application but those are the schools that I consider worth transferring from my current institution. So basically, what I am saying is that I would pursue plan B rather than transferring to Fordham or Pennstate.

Do you think at least I stand as a competitive candidate?

6

You don’t need to tell us anything about your reasons for transferring but I am highly sceptical that anybody who made it through HS in America can’t cope with the food in the UK (maybe in 1950, but not these days), and even more sceptical that the weather in the UK is a major reason for transferring when you are looking at Michigan or Illinois!

As a US citizen you are eligible for Federal loans. Vandy is indeed need-blind for transfers & will meet your financial need- as they define it, and on their terms (ie, how much debt they expect you to take, how much you & your family are meant to contribute, and how much work-study they expect from you). NU will give you financial aid if they feel like it, but don’t promise to “meet need” for transfers. As above, MI (and most state unis) won’t give you anything- UVa does, though at different rates for in & OOS students.

Be aware that you may have to do more than 3 more years of coursework in the US to finish undergrad, as most likely not all of your credits will transfer. Depending on the school you could be looking at 3.5, or even 4 more years- and you won’t know until you have been offered admission, as schools will not evaluate your transcript until you have an offer. Consider both the time and the cost involved.

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7

Transfers get lousy aid - even institutions that promise to meet need for freshmen don’t necessarily do so for transfers. There’s no or little merit aid and FA funds are apportioned after freshman FA.

UMich has a generous financial aid policy for freshmen but I don’t think it does for OOS transfers. I tried the NPC and for a transfer with 2 siblings and 93K income (=below the freshman threshold for FA), the expected contribution would be about 40K, which would expect a 9.5K student contribution (loan+work) and the rest from parents’ income. Doesn’t seem very good, as few families can devote so much of their income to one child’s studies. I don’t know what your situation is but try the NPC.
Sorry, Vanderbilt changed their FA policy for transfers recently, and they’re now need blind (not need aware). Good news for you!

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Thank you for all your words. The main reason for considering transfer is job prospects though I mentioned foods and weather in UK on a side note.

If I think about time and costs involved, it sounds like absolutely irrational decision to transfer out as I only have two more years to finish my bachelor.

Do you think it’s better to finish my bachelor in England and do master’s in the states?

9

Yes, if you’re okay with (or even like) your current university, definitely complete your 2 years aiming for a First – if need be, consider a work placement, sandwich year in the City, or study abroad in a city with a strong Stock Exchange and IB firms. Apply for a Master’s degree at one of the top universities for Finance (Wharton, Stern, Ross, etc.) Better use of your time and money, better Roi in my opinion.

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10

Thank you for your kind advice. I like my current university. It has strong Econ program. Also considering my age after my military service, starting a whole new bachelor is kind of overwhelming… My concern was about whether British degree is well regarded in the states

11

A First will be well-recognized by top Masters programs.
British universities are either well-recognized or respected. American universities know that British universities are overall strong and that most Americans attend well-recognized programs.
However if you wanted to go straight from your uni to a US job, it’d be harder, you’d need to hustle to get a work placement in the UK and build your resume first.

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12

agree w/ @MYOS1634 - if you can snag a good internship the summer between 2nd & 3rd year at one of the consulting or IB firms in the City you will have lots of opportunities, either to stay in the UK at that firm (typically jobs are offered at the end of the summer for the Sept after graduation) or to apply to peer firms in the US

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Thanks @collegemom3717 and @MYOS1634. I will hustle to get a first and do my best to land on a good internship in the City then. But here’s one more question. Does it make sense to do a master’s in the states straight from my undergraduate without any internship? I would like to build a plan just in case I don’t have any internship offers… it seems like firms in the City are getting more reluctant to give offers to foreign nationals since the pandemic, which is again the main reason I considered transferring. I think master’s degree from an American institution will put in a better position than a bachelor from British one in terms of recruitment.

14

A bit it depends on what kind of Masters you want & what you want to do with it. Are you thinking MSc in Econ? what is your end goal?

Once you finish your year of military service, will you have time for a summer internship this year (before your 2nd year of uni)? if so, find something- anything! - somehow related to the direction you want to go and do it. This summer is such a mess internship-wise anyway, as so many have been cancelled, that it is likely to take some work and creativity to come up with something- but depending on what your timing is, and your connections are (including your profs at uni), you should be able to pull something out of the hat. Every bit of CV building that you can do will help.

The UK summer placements in the City are very competitive (make sure that you prep a bit for the qualifying online tests) but if you get one, the UK offices will typically help with introductions to their US counterparts. The short-vac placements (esp Easter) aren’t quite as competitive and may also be able to help you with intros to US counterparts.

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15

Thanks a lot. I’m looking into either MSc in Econ or Finance. And I will have time for summer internship next year after my military service. But most likely in Korea or maybe the states… not in UK because of visa problem. I’m thinking of applying to small firms in the states for summer internship just in case.

16

What do you want to do with your MSc? there are some very different directions, and knowing which one(s) you are looking towards could get you some more targeted suggestions.

17

I haven’t figured out yet what I really want to do with masters. But, I find it quite interesting to use some statistical and quantitative models to predict market movements

18

If you’re very Quant, look at MIT (if your results/internships/experience allow you to).

19

Look for an internship in Korea (or the US but that is tough to do from either SKorea or the UK).

Then yes, get in to an American masters program to find a job. Now’s the time to research them. There are a ton of them. Econ, finance, quantitative social science, data science/analytics, MEM (a quantitative econ degree may qualify you for some of them), maybe even CS or applied math, etc., etc. I would look at all of the masters programs at all the IB/MC target schools (that aren’t in their “school of professional/continuing studies” or equivalent). Basically any program that offers on-campus recruiting at a target school.

BTW, why did you head to the UK anyway if you have no ties/citizenship there?

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20

Thanks for your reply first of all. It was cheaper and shorter option for me. I was actually accepted to UMich but they didn’t offer me generous FA package I wished. So, back then I thought finishing bachelor and master off in four years is more efficient way of spending my time than just having only a bachelors in states which would take me the same four years. And I wanted to live in Europe once in my life as well haha. I could use my time to travel across the continent although it was only possible pre-COVID.