For finance would it be better to stay at University of Rochester while maintaining a high GPA (probably around a 3.7) with possibility of an honors degree or to transfer to Cornell and most likely be an Econ major (or get into the business school if possible)?
^and most likely would not have near same grades at Cornell (I assume)
I won’t even try to predict transfer chances to Cornell and how you might do once you get there, but I will can you that there is a huge difference between being a finance major and an econ. major. Economics is a liberal arts course of study and is very theoretical at the upper levels. In contrast, if you are in a b-school you will take a business core curriculum with intro classes in disciplines like accounting, finance, IT, management etc. and you will major in a business area. You should check the coursework for both majors at both schools online and see which is more interesting to you before you consider moving Cornell as an econ major.
@yayatoure15 I made a similar transfer decision between Penn State Smeal and NYU Stern in terms of overall school/undergrad b-school rankings and had a similar gpa before transferring. This is all hypothetical of course, but assuming you do transfer successfully, be prepared for the change. Schools like Cornell have strong recruiting efforts and most students that plan to pursue business are prepared after their freshman & sophomore years in terms of gpa, extra curriculars, internships, and interview preparation.
If you do decide to transfer make sure you are ready to not only do well in your classes, but you will be behind in terms of recruiting preparation which you will have to prepare for simultaneously. In addition to all of this, you will be on a new campus, trying to make new friends, and still discovering what your interests are. I say this because I definitely wasn’t expecting such a drastic change, and I know many of my transfer classmates reflected similarly.
That said, I was glad I made the decision to transfer.
In terms of finance recruiting, the minimum gpa for most traditional applicants is 3.5. Cornell will definitely help you more in terms of accessibility to top companies. Cornell is structured pretty differently than most liberal arts or business schools. From what I understand they offer the ability to major in specific areas of focus such as operations, finance, accounting, etc but the classes are all offered within different schools. Economics I believe is in their Life Sciences division while finance is within their hospitality management school. So if you did transfer you could still take classes in whatever you are interested in. If you are actually interested in economics, make sure to research Cornell’s economics track as some schools separate business economics from theoretical economics.