Unique Transfer Situation

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hey Guys,</p>

<p>Last week I decided to take some time off from school in the middle of the semester. I attended business school ranked somewhere between 20-25. I was doing pretty well had a GPA above a 3.85 however, I lost my passion for investment banking which was the main reason why I stayed at the school until the junior year.</p>

<p>Situation: I'd definitely plan going back to school. Ideally, I would like to go back to school spring semester however, most of the schools I want to attend have their application deadlines closed. Also, I'm still looking to major in business perhaps marketing or management... just not finance/investment banking.</p>

<p>Any advice, suggestions, or sharing your experiences would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>What do you mean you left in the middle of the semester? Did you successfully drop all of your classes or will you be failing all of the classes for the semester? Also, did you work out a “leave” from the college?</p>

<p>Are you eligible to reenroll at your old college? Could you get a business degree from there instead of finance?</p>

3

<p>I was in the honors program and they don’t give out grades lower than a B- in my honors courses. I would have gotten at least a B in all my classes. I withdrew from all my classes. Yes, I am eligible to re-enroll at my big ten school. However, one of the main reasons why I am transferring is to find a school in the east coast while looking to major in marketing or management.</p>

4

<p>Well, as you said, spring admissions are closed for the schools you are interested in. Is the list remaining (still open for applications) a good enough one to just leap into the transfer process? If so, go for it.</p>

<p>But, if not, then it seems your question is what to do with 12 - 18 months of free time until you get into your transfer school.</p>

<p>I think the smartest thing would be to get a real-world job, and if possible, related to your future major. If you worked for 1 or 2 years in a real-world job, your transfer application will likely be stronger. You’ve already dropped out so the gap is already there. No need to hide that fact, might as well leverage it.</p>

<p>Internships if you don’t need the money. Travel abroad for a semester or year. Or just hunker down and work any old job. Might be hard to believe, but it will toughen you up and mature you in ways that you probably can’t see just yet. </p>

<p>I also have the sense that you haven’t gotten to the root of why you “lost your passion” and how you handled it. You took a risk-adverse “safe” path by hanging-out in that major and basically dropped out late in the game. (In contrast, you could have transferred earlier, taken a gap year earlier, or even pumped yourself up and powered through to the end of the degree in spite of the “lack of passion”.)</p>

<p>Well - now you are where you avoided being about a year ago when the passion “died out”. At this point you are forced to make “risky” choices… gap year, travel, real world job. So embrace it, because the route of “4 years, degree, done” is gone now. </p>

<p>I also suggest instead of using euphemisms such as you decided to “take time off” – to communicate straight with yourself and others and say things like “I dropped out of XYZ College” or “I dropped all of my classes last semester.” It will help you face where you have been and where you can go next. It will also make the questions you ask of others be more powerful.</p>