I am a student at a TOP 40 university. I have been recently accepted to Vanderbilt, Rice, and WashU. I am interested in investment banking. However, none of the schools I got accepted to is a target school. Should even transfer? If I stay at my current school for one more year, do I have a shot at Ivies, Uchicago, or Duke? I currently have a 3.79 GPA.
I just finished my freshmen year.
I also got rejected by Cornell and Brown.
Why did you apply to those schools if you didn’t want to go to them? Have you decided that you like your current school more than you did before when you first applied? If so then stay there. You don’t have to transfer if you don’t want to.
If you don’t transfer now and then apply to more selective schools next year you run the risk of not getting accepted anywhere and having to finish at your current school. If you don’t mind taking that chance then stay where you are.
Bump
IB recruiting has gotten less selective, if you’ve noticed. Going in to IB seems like a waste of a life anyway.
Research more.
What is your objective in transferring? It’s not clear to me what that is given that you applied to schools that are not targets.
"If I stay at my current school for one more year, do I have a shot at Ivies, Uchicago, or Duke? "
Given that you were accepted at Rice as a transfer in a year where they were overenrolled and accepted only a very small handful of students, then I would say you have a fighting chance with those colleges you mentioned. Though, like the others mentioned, it’s a damn shame a spot was given to you and you weren’t even intending to go. More a fault of the admissions who didn’t pick that up. Ah well, the admission game plays on~
Keep that GPA up and apply as a rising junior!
What about costs? Can you afford to transfer?
A few comments:
–It seems from your name that you wanted an Ivy school and that didn’t happen and you are still unhappy about it.
–No school will guarantee you a IB job. You would be wise to expand your options for jobs post-graduation.
–Nobody here has read your essays, seen your LORs etc. so you can’t really get any meaningful opinions on where you might get in as a transfer. The transfer rate into the Ivy and equivalent schools is very low.
–Can you afford to transfer?
–Transfer if you feel a school is a much better fit for you and your interests but keep in mind that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
I can definitely afford to transfer. I just want to know whether I should go to Vandy/Rice/WashU or stay at my current school for one more year and then apply again.
Vandy is much better than my current school for IB. So should I take the chance applying again next year?
None of us can predict the future so consider if you would be excited to attend one of those schools.
Do you like Vandy more than your current school? If so, it’s your best choice for IB.
However, once there you won’t be able to transfer again (it’ll make you look too unstable if you try to leave again).
And no college, even a semi target, is a guarantee of anything.
I really like Vandy, but it would be better if I can go to an ivy for undergrad.
The odds of that happening are about 1% at best. So, if you don’t go to Vandy the odds are staggering you’ll stay at your current school. Which do you prefer? Or you could stay at the college you’re at, apply and if it doesn’t pan out, stay where you are. Basically what’s worse: staying at your current school or forgetting about ivies at Vandy?
No, you should not transfer to Vandy and try for the Ivies next year. (They will see two colleges in two years and likely reject you anyway.) Either stay where you are or take the best option of the offers you have and stay there until you graduate.
Trying to relitigate admissions decisi9ons over and over again will hurt your job prospects because you won’t get a chance to build an academic reputation with the faculty and/or work your way up student organizations to leadership positions, etc. A big part of college is building a network and you have to stick around to meet your fellow students who will be moving up the career ladder with you.
Thank you guys. I will go to Vandy and try to break into IB from there.