I am currently a Junior with three semesters left (after this Fall semester) until I graduate with my Finance BBA in Financial Planning. I am looking to transfer into better colleges each semester. For the Spring semester 2019, I may have an opportunity to get into a college with more prestige than my current college. I graduated May 2018 with an Associates degree at a community college with a 3.3/4.0 GPA, and I am currently in the first semester of my 4-year college with an expected GPA of a 3.5/4.0.
My question is this: is it worth transferring into a more prestigious college at this point, or is it a little too late? My plan is to hopefully get into a more prestgious college for Fall 2019, which will be my second to last semester until graduation. I also want to apply to a few lower level IVY schools, which I know that they only allow about one years’ worth of credits, so I would have to stay in school for another 3(ish) years before I graduate.
Is it worth doing this, or should I just stick with my current college and spend more time on finding a job than getting into a better school? I also have plans to eventually get into investment banking which is why I wanted to get into an IVY school in the first place, so I believe that getting into an IVY school would help my chances of breaking into investment banking.
Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for the feedback.
You mention prestige three times in your post. Employers look more at the applicant rather than the prestige of the school. A 3.3 or a 3.5 GPA is not going to get you admitted to any truly prestigious business school like Cornell Dyson or NYU Stern. Stay where you are and graduate on time.
Look at the colleges you are thinking about. Many colleges do accept transfers with more than sophomore status.
Prestige isn’t a good reason to transfer in my book. Get good grades and you’ll do fine. Also, many employers (like me) will ask for your college transcript. So I would see where you went and what your grades were at both colleges.
Investment banking is only one occupation out of literally hundreds you can do with a finance degree. Chances are, you could get into a big school, lose most of your credits, take 3 more years of school, get your dream job, and find out that you HATE it. That’s what usually happens when students get too caught up in the glamour of one occupation. You’re doing great where you are. Keep an open mind. There are plenty of great career paths waiting for you.
Colleges are less likely to want senior-level transfers than junior-level transfers.
While college prestige does matter for some types of elitist jobs, it is unlikely that a 3.3-3.5 college GPA will gain transfer admission to the colleges prestigious enough for the elitist jobs.
I think what everyone is missing (or simply not stating on purpose) is that OP is already a junior, and thus ineligible for undergraduate transfer, simply put.
Also, Investment Banking recruits the brightest students from everywhere and not just Ivy league Schools. The business school/honors colleges of state flagships are some examples.
The general consensus is that I would be better off not spending time trying to get into better colleges, whether for my Junior status or my GPA. I am also minoring in Economics and Accounting at my college which should hopefully help.
I am studying towards CPA, CFA, and CFP certifications as well as planning on attending the New York Institute of Finance to obtain a CIBA certification all within a few years of graduating with my BBA. I am hopeful that even if I don’t attend a well-known college, I can and will get any job that I choose and want.