I’m a rising sophomore at Swarthmore and I’ve currently taken a mix of classes in the sciences and social sciences (economics). My GPA (including my P/F first semester) is around a 3.0-3.1.
This summer has been a huge dealbreaker for me as I’ve been thinking more and more about my future and where exactly I see myself. I’ve decided that I’d like to attend a more pre-professional program to pursue a major in business. My concern right now is that my GPA is not as high as I’d like it to be, since many colleges I’m looking at require at least a 3.5 GPA. In addition, I would have to apply as a Fall 2016 junior transfer, and I know that at many schools, it’s way harder to get in as a junior than as a sophomore transfer.
I’m looking at schools like BC Carroll School of Management, BU Questrom, Cornell Dyson, and CMU Tepper.
I’m wondering what my best options would be here… Should I stick it out at Swarthmore for another year and apply as a fall transfer to these schools, or should I consider taking a leave of absence and apply as a sophomore transfer? For BC and BU, I could also apply as a spring transfer, but then I wouldn’t have the chance to apply to Cornell or CMU.
Thoughts? Questions I can answer?
Are you unhappy with Swarthmore besides the business major thing? Swarthmore is rigorous so a 3.1 for freshman year isn’t that bad. If you wish to go into business post-grad, Economics is a great major for a LAC student.
I do wish to go into business post-grad and I am currently taking economics courses, but I’m not enjoying them as much as I thought I would. In addition, I’ve heard from several economics graduates that Swat doesn’t prepare their students very well for the corporate world - it’s more geared towards people who want to get their PhDs in economics. I’m also not very interested in taking any math beyond what I already have (calculus + linear algebra) so that’s why I dont think the economics major suits me very well.
I have definitely had my share of issues at Swarthmore for my first year, including social problems and academic issues (just not being able to transition very well into the rigor of the work). I would say my main complaint though is that I don’t know if the school could prepare me very well for entering the business world post grad. I haven’t been able to find many resources for students going this route because many students choose to go onto PhD programs rather than into MBA programs.
However, I will admit that I’m still quite ignorant of many factors, so I would love to be able to discuss and think it through with other people’s help.
If you are reasonably happy there, and Swarthmore is affordable for your family, you could return for the fall and work on your GPA. As soon as you hit campus, make an appointment at the Career Center, and talk with the counselors there about your long range goals. They will be able to put you in touch with alumni who have done what you’d like to do. In fact, if you feel like it, you could get in touch with the Career Center right now.
If you are certain you want to transfer and change to a business major, a third option to consider is to withdraw now, move home, attend your local CC for your sophomore year, then transfer again. I see a few possible advantages to this strategy over the two you listed. First, you are right to be concerned about your GPA. While a 3.0-3.1 is not a bad GPA by any means, it probably is not competitive enough to gain an offer of transfer admission to the specific schools/business programs you have listed. It likely will be easier to bump up that GPA in a CC setting than at Swarthmore. (YMMV.) Second, moving home and going to your CC for a year might help offset some future college costs, not only because you may end up having to go a little longer (remember you are talking about both changing schools and majors…you likely will need to play catch up), but also that generally speaking, less scholarship money is available for transfers into 4 year schools. And, lastly, your CC should offer more of the business prerequisites that possibly Swarthmore may not, such as the basic financial and managerial accounting courses, business statistics courses, a general business overview type class, a business related computer class, etc. Getting those out of the way will not only help keep you closer your original 4 year track, but having them (and doing well) may also increase your odds of acceptance at some of those schools you’ve listed.
The obvious downside is that transferring is stressful. The process itself is stressful, and your whole social world gets disrupted (saying goodbye to friends, trying to meet new friends). So, you’d be doing it twice. In addition, there is no guarantee that you will be able to get into one of your 4 schools even if you pull a 4.0. Since at that point, staying at Swarthmore wouldn’t even be an option anymore, you will need to be willing to reevaluate and broaden that list of schools and make sure you have adequate safeties, matches and reaches.
You would have to decide whether this option is suitable for you. I just wanted to throw this option out there as something to think about.
What part of “business” do you want to go in to, though?
Swarthmore may be better than other options open to you depending on what you want to do.
You realize that businesses don’t just hire from b-schools, right?
If you get financial aid stay there, if not then think about transferring. I read your history and you had reservation against Swarthmore, everybody suggested you to go to Tufts, why did you end up at Swarthmore?
@happymomof1 - I will definitely call the Career Center sometime. I am honestly not completely happy at Swarthmore, but much of that is also my social situation, so I don’t want that to play too much into my decision to transfer.
@justlookingnow - Thank you for this advice. I have been toying with this idea, but when I brought it up to my parents they were very against it…
@PurpleTitan - In what circumstances do you think Swarthmore would be better than a business school? I want to broaden my knowledge about this. Ideally I think I would like to be in business administration, management, or project management. Something along those lines. I know that I would probably not be able to land one of those jobs straight out of college, but I’m thinking that if I were to go to a strictly business school rather than a liberal arts college, it might be easier for me to get recruited. I’m not sure though. I’m open to thoughts. I just want to be able to learn more about this and discuss more options, and be open to more possibilities.
@DrGoogle - I do not get much financial aid, so that wouldn’t be a big factor in my decision. I did have reservation against Swarthmore when I first got in, to be honest! I wanted to go to Tufts because on paper, I liked it so much better. However, when I visited campus, I have to say that I didn’t feel like it was right for me. Gut feelings, you know? And bygones will be bygones. I thought Swarthmore was the right place for me when I visited, but now I’m not so sure anymore.
I also think that landing summer internships would be easier with a business administration major because when I look at all of the internships I’d like to try to apply for, they are almost always looking for people majoring in a business field… I don’t know if I stand a chance.
What internships are you looking at?
People “in the know” understand that the education at Swarthmore is rigorous and that Swarthmore attracts smart kids. Some also prefer kids with a broader liberal arts education. Also, LAC alumni networks tend to be tight-knit.
I second the advice of @happymomof1 .The career center visit is a ‘must-do’. I would think that Swarthmore has a very good alumni network and that would help with getting some internship interviews etc. Recruiters coming to Swarthmore already know there is no business major there, and so they are looking for solid skills that come from a Swarthmore liberal arts student. In the Fall, you could sign up for any career fairs. Perhaps exploring this aspect of the college and working on your GPA will steer you in a good direction. My personal opinion is that Prestigious LAC degree >> Mediocre Business School degree. With your current GPA, I don’t think a transfer to a highly ranked business school is probable.
If you want to learn more about business aspects of things, look at some business courses in EdX or Coursera as a complement to your education at Swarthmore. They are non credit, but are free. Can’t hurt to check it out.
I think you might not be competitive for those business programs, so you might have to lower your sights. So if the choice is between a lesser business school (from which you might not even be able to graduate in four years total, depending on what the requirements are) and your current situation, which would be better? Do Swarthmore students with a 3.1 average not get internships? It is true that Swarthmore econ majors often do go into PhD programs, but there must be a lot who don’t and are using the econ degree as a way to get into business.
mathprof63 and PurpleTitan are offer very good advice. As a mom of a graduate and also a current student at Swarthmore there are plenty of students who enter the business world after graduation. In fact, there are a number of kids who also want to work for a few years to get experience and also save money before going to grad school. Go on Linkedin, and search finance and Swarthmore College and you will see the many former Swat students working in that field. There is also an extensive alumni network that has been very helpful in assisting with connections to get a foot in the door and will help with internships as well.
The reality is that you won’t be very competitive with a 3.1 to transfer to BU/BC must less Cornell. (Dunno about CMU.)
What is your state of residence? If NY, I’d go home attend a JC for a year, earn a bunch of A’s, and then try to transfer to Cornell, but that would be a stretch.
@bluebayou, I’m not sure how many if any junior transfers Cornell takes, so yes, an extreme stretch.
The UC’s and USC take plenty from CA CC’s, however.
^^cornell is the most transfer-friendly of the Ivies. It even has some linkages to local jucos.
Cornell was indeed the most transfer-friendly of the Ivies, last I looked, but the acceptance rate to its colleges that are curricularly most similar to the other Ivies were still sub-10% IIRC. Its colleges that had the higher transfer admit rates, and the articulation agreements with certain community colleges, were mostly the “contract colleges” there. But , IIRC,even within those colleges with the higher overall transfer admit rates there, the articulation agreements weren’t for admission into any major, they were for particular majors only.
In this case, “the good news” is that Dyson is within CALS, which is one of those contract colleges that have the higher overall transfer admit rates… But that does not mean that Dyson is one of the programs within CALS that shares in inflated transfer admit rates. My guess is that it isn’t. They probably do expand the program size, but the program probably gets lots of applicants nowadays, since its become something of a big deal.
But If I were OP, and decided after careful reflection that I really was unhappy where I was, and I now affirmatively wanted a major that my school didn;t offer, I would apply for transfer anyway, to the places I wanted to attend. Maybe somebody in admissions there has a brain, and realizes that a 3.1 from Swarthmore is different than a 3.1 from Hofstra. it’s not completely impossible. Though quite far from a certainty.
I just figure once you decide you don’t want to be someplace, the sooner you are gone, and are starting forging your new path, the better. If that’s the situation, it may be worth a try.
Funny OP mentioned Tufts, there was a poster on the Cornell sub-forum some time ago who transferred to Dyson from Tufts, because he decided he wanted that curriculum to better approach certain desired career objectives.
My understanding is that these days, really only sophomore transfers stand a chance for AEM.
Is Cornell really easier to transfer into than other Ivies or do the numbers include those transferring through the Guaranteed Transfer program of which the OP is not a participant?
The GTs do distort the #s. But if they could be extracted from the numbers, it would still be easier to transfer there than to the other ivies. Though not easy,
Virtually all the Guaranteed Transfers are issued by the university’s contract colleges. Cornell CAS issues zero, or at most vanishingly few, Guaranteed Transfers. Yet CAS had a transfer admit rate of 7-10% when I last looked, IIRC. Versus a 0% transfer admit rate at Princeton.
It’s true though that the reported transfer admit numbers for the contract colleges are distorted by the GTs. I haven’t seen anybody posting #s which tried to correct for this.
Clearly their “real” admit rate is a lot lower than nominal. My guess is they are still higher than CAS’s admit rate, though. But that’s just a guess. And says nothing for the state of affairs regarding particular majors/programs within the colleges, like the CALS biology major, or Dyson.