UMich to Berkeley/NYU transfer

Transfer Students
1

Hey everyone,

I’m currently at a crossroads with my college education. I just finished my freshman year at the University of Michigan and I applied to the business school but I was rejected. Now, I’m looking to open up my options. I’m really interested in global environmental issues and business sustainability, so I think consulting or something like that would be good for me. I want to study business and/or public policy and possibly international relations. Basically, my options are to:

  1. Stay at UMich and apply to the public policy school, reapply to the business school (if I got accepted I would have to stay another year and I'm paying out of state. I can afford it, but not ideal), or just do an econ/IR double major even though I don't really think that's ideal for me.
  2. Apply to Berkeley and NYU (or other schools if anyone has suggestions) in the hopes of being accepted to their business/public policy schools.

To get an idea of my chances, I’ll list a few of my qualifications:

  1. 3.58 GPA (Got a 3.42 my first semester because calc hurt my GPA but I got a 3.7 second semester and 3 A’s/1 B)
  2. Member of the Rowing Team
  3. Currently interning for a non-profit in DC
  4. Part of a sustainable business club and took a one-credit course that involved auditing my dorm for sustainable energy use
  5. Used to live in Shanghai for four years

I know Berkeley is hard to transfer into because they prioritize CC students, but I would rather go there than NYU I think. I’d just like to know my chances of getting in. Any feedback is welcome, and I’m happy to answer any questions. Thanks!

2

You should know that NYU’s business school, Stern, had about a 2% acceptance rate for transfers last year I believe! They are incredibly selective, and on this year’s transfer forum I saw kids with 4.0s get flat out rejected. It’s not to say you have no chance, because applications are reviewed holistically, but I might suggest you prepare yourself to apply to the one at UMich again after getting better grades and boosting the GPA. However, if you want to study Public Policy or International Relations, those majors usually aren’t related to business schools, so you may consider applying to other colleges within those schools instead of just Business!
Good Luck!

3

I would stick with your current school. Berkeley not only gives priority to in-state students, but if you are trying to get into their business school, most people have to have a 4.0 to get in. There isn’t harm in applying, but the odds are definitely against you.