Want to transfer to better school. Give some tips and advice please!

Transfer Students
1

Illinois resident here. Originally from South Africa and parents were pretty clueless about university process and everything so I’m going the same route as my sister and I think I’m starting to regret it.

High school grades were bad. Lots of AP classes but even still. GPA was 2.7. ACT was 27.

Went to community college for 1 year, got a 3.7 GPA and automatically applied to the school my sister went to - DePaul University. When I went to the “admission decision” part of my app process the guy glanced for 1 second at my transcript and said “you’re in.” The school accepts LITERALLY ANYBODY with a GPA that’s above a 2.5. SOME OF THE OTHER MAJORS ONLY REQUIRED A 2.0! Pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

I saw the ratings and saw that it was 121st on U.S. News. Considering how expensive it is I think it’s a bit of a rip-off. They only gave me $3,000 per year scholarship money for the crazy tuition of $37,000 (I live with parents). So that’s $34,000 that I have to take out in loans.

I WANT TO TRANSFER AFTER I FINISH THIS SOPHOMORE YEAR:

I’m a Finance major (but might switch major to economics or business if school is amazing).

G.P.A. at DePaul will probably be 3.4-3.8 (sorry for large range, but I’m not sure how difficulty compares with community college).

My parents agree to at MOST take out $40,000 per year in loans. This is including dorms and living. We are not low income family - FAFSA gives us no grants. But take academic scholarships into account and how easy it is to get them.

Please take course transfer into account. I don’t want my year at DePaul and year at community college to be a complete waste.

I want the location to be very urban. Something in the heart of a big city like Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles. I feel this kind of location will help with internships and career placement given my field.

Example of a school that I would love to attend is NYU, but I heard that they don’t really give scholarships to transfers - let alone the amount I need to fit my budget. But something similar to this kind of school is what I’m looking for.

I’ll appreciate any help and responses!

2

Wouldn’t University of Illinois - Chicago’s [finance department](Business | University of Illinois Chicago) be an obvious choice for an IL resident looking for an urban school?

There is also Northeastern Illinois University, but its graduation rate, 22% after six years, is absolutely woeful. You would probably pay around $6000 a year. If you work part time and full time in the summer, you could easily take out minimal loans.

3

“My parents agree to at MOST take out $40,000 per year in loans.” ARE YOU INSANE? DO NOT PUT YOUR PARENTS INTO THAT KIND OF DEBT FOR YOUR UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE!!!

You have better and more affordable options. Spend another year at your CC, then transfer to a better place than DePaul. With any luck at all it will be less expensive too. For ideas on your options, speak with the Transfer Advisor at your CC. Surely there is at least one public U in Illinois with an articulation agreement that guarantees transfer admission for your major.

4

@whenhen UIC is quite a bad school as well. Even worse than DePaul. Ranked at 149 as opposed to DePaul being 121. It is the only public school located in the heart of Chicago. I’ve already accepted the loan for DePaul, I’m not going to be spending another year there. Northeastern Illinois University is also much worse than my current school.

@happymomof1 I’ve noticed that unfortunately there is a very strong correlation between the price of the universities and the quality. Besides UIUC, all the public schools in Illinois are very bad. The public school located in the heart of Chicago is a school worse than the one I’m attending. My parents understand that education is an expensive investment, and are willing to support me all the way. If I have the means to attend a better school with a median higher starting salary, better internship opportunities, better networking that could last a lifetime, why should I settle for less? Unfortunately the public school system here isn’t as great as the UC system out west.

5

If you finish your AA at your community college with the kind of GPA you earned in the first year, you are almost certain to have more transfer options than DePaul. Here is one recent thread on that topic: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/1783917-community-college-to-the-ivy-league-two-year-testimonial-p1.html

I find it difficult to believe that all of the other public universities in Illinois are as bad as you describe. Please don’t take the list in the USNWR so much to heart. The difference between 149 and 121 is not as big as you seem to be thinking. What matters for your major, is whether or not graduates of the college/university that you attend do get jobs. The Career Centers at each campus can tell you where their graduates go and what their starting salaries are.

Generally speaking, public universities have lower 6-year graduation rates than private colleges and universities do. Reasons for that include the fact that many public universities are essentially obligated to admit any high school graduate from the state, so a lot of freshmen who aren’t ready for college flunk out before Thanksgiving. Another typical reason is that students who don’t have the money for a private college or university end up at the public university and must work while they study so they may take semesters or years off just to make money before going back to school, or they can only afford to study part time. Students who are committed to their program and who don’t have to take time off to earn that much money do indeed finish on time and go on to be successful in their lives.

If your parents want to put themselves into debt to the tune of $120k for the next three years of your college education, I can’t stop them. But please run a loan repayment calculator with your parents, and talk about the sacrifices your family will be making in order to pay off this debt. Will your parents be paying down this debt instead of saving money for their retirement? Do they plan to take on second jobs to cover this? Find out what kind of loans these are. Federal PLUS loans can be forgiven if the student or parent should die. However, that benefit is not built into all private loans. You and your parents may want to consider taking out term life insurance policies on each other to cover the loans in case of that kind of disaster. Right now you are planning a major that usually leads to well-paying jobs. But not all students find those jobs. It can take a very long time to dig your family out of this kind of debt.

6

OP, neither UIC or “all the public schools” in Illinois can accurately be described as “bad.” I’d encourage you to further your research on college quality in your area by talking to alumni or employers.

A UIC finance degree would be a lot cheaper than a DePaul finance degree and I’m not sure the best students at UIC are getting worse jobs than the students at DePaul.

Northern Illinois University is rated in the top 20 in accounting.

Good luck finding a good school that you like and can afford.

7

@happymomof1 You misunderstood the whole purpose of this thread. I understand that UIC is not much worse than DePaul, however I am looking for a university that is BETTER than DePaul, let alone UIC. I’ve already accepted my admission into DePaul and have accepted the loan. It is all federal PLUS loans, none of it is private. I’ll be paying off the loans by myself, just like my sister has done. I am not attending community college for another year. I’m asking for a university given my circumstances.

You can look at rankings yourself if you don’t believe me. The public schools in Illinois (besides UIUC) are pretty awful in comparison to DePaul.

Reasoning behind why public schools are ranked lower than private (such as lower graduation rates) are ignored by employers and they look at the ranking of the school more than anything especially given my Finance major. If I was doing a major like computer science, then I would be in agreement with you and would not care about the rankings as much.

8

@CheddarcheeseMN When I say bad, I mean bad relative to DePaul. UIC IS almost identical to DePaul (slightly worse though), which is why I realize that given DePaul’s quality, it’s quite frankly a rip-off. This is why I’m trying to find a better university that costs about as much as DePaul but offers a better education.

Really? I always thought Northern Illinois University is a very bad school. Can you please direct me a link to this rating?

9

If I understand correctly, your parents are taking out PLUS loans for you. You have committed to your parents that you will be the one to pay off those loans. You expect to graduate from DePaul (if you can’t successfully transfer into a better college or university) with something in the range of $120k in debt.

Ask yourself if a DePaul degree is worth $120k in debt. This will be about $1,200 (after taxes) each month for ten long years, or something like $1,600 of your pre-tax income each month. Even if you do land a high-salary job, servicing that debt will absolutely cramp your lifestyle. There will be many things that you will not be able to afford - a home of your own, an apartment in a better neighborhood, saving to start your own business, a better car, an MBA. One more year at the CC will save you 1/3 of that debt. Think about it.

10

Academically, UIC and DePaul are very similar. Culturally, though, they are very different. Both are respectable schools.

NIU is probably the best of the directional schools. It is not a research school, if that is an issue. It is decent. However, it is in a rural area. Do not confuse this school with Northeastern IL, which is not a good school.
If you are looking to save money, you might be able to commute to local schools.
One thing to remember, long term your school becomes less important and experience trumps everything. You need to ask yourself do s the debt worth it. I know people who are drowning in debt. Your ability to borrow money is limited because you are undergrad. You want to avoid private loans. Standard repayment schedule for $40k in debt assumes a 15 year period. That is how much I borrowed for my grad program.

11

@happymomof1 It’s not worth the debt. Which is why I’m asking if there are better universities for that given price.

@Nova10 How are they culturally different? Can you please explain, I’m just pretty ignorant on the matter.

NIU from what I’ve seen on ratings is SIGNIFICANTLY worse than even UIC.

I already got Parent Plus Loans for 37,000 for my first year at DePaul so that’s not a big issue. But if I see a much better option I’ll maybe consider contacting financial aid and seeing if I can refuse my loan and possibly go to a different school. It all depends.

12

You have been encouraged to broaden your notion of school quality and move away from the overall ratings from US News. If you had a choice between a top 20 and a top 200 school, that would be a meaningful difference but since there are over 2,500 four year institutions in the US I would agree that the difference between 120 and 140 as ratings for the university as a whole are not very meaningful for someone who is going to declare a major in a particular department. Within any university, some departments are better than others. NIU is not for you since you are interested in an urban school, but the idea that NIU is SIGNIFICANTLY worse than UIC is silly. Worse for what? I am guessing more students go there to major in education while more students go to UIC to study health fields, but I can’t imagine anyone suggesting that the undergrad program at one is significantly worse than the other. A few links suggest that NIU is a good place to go for business and another recent link showed that it is considered a top underrated school in the US.

http://www.accounting-degree.org/best-accounting-schools/

http://www.accounting-degree.org/best-graduate-schools-for-accounting/

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-underrated-colleges-in-america-2015-1/#37-northern-illinois-university-14

I’m just posting these as evidence that the overall US News ratings don’t provide much useful information on how various departments are viewed, not because I am promoting any particular Illinois school. I’m actually more familiar with UIC than NIU.

I suggest making a list of schools in Chicago, New York, and LA and sending out some applications to see what happens.

13

That is a huge amount of money for one year.

14

You’re a finance major so you should be able to figure out what the average starting salary for your major, what your expenses will be, and how much interest will be accrued on the loans. Subtract taxes, rent, food, car payments, miscellaneous purchases(Idk if you like beds and toothpaste, but I do) and then see how much money is left at the end of the month. Now subtract your loan payments. Do you see why maybe going to UIC and working for 15-20 hours a week makes a tad more sense than taking out massive amounts of loans?

The issue is, the better schools are unlikely to give you financial aid outside of loans. This is due to the fact that they base most of their FA on demonstrated need, NOT willingness of parents to pay.

15

@CheddarcheeseMN Although not significantly worse, it is worse than even UIC.

The quality of the education might be great, but it’s underrated for a reason and employers will look at it the same way. If choosing between UIC or NIU, I would pick UIC without question. But that really isn’t the issue.

@whenhen Hard to predict the job market. Also not sure where I’ll be employed so costs will greatly vary. I agree 100% that logically it makes more sense to attend UIC than DePaul for the price, but are there any better quality schools that will cost me the same as DePaul but offer a better education? Also I don’t mean financial-need aid (since I’m really never eligible), I mean scholarships. DePaul for instance gives me $3,000 per year for my GPA.

16

“It’s not worth the debt. Which is why I’m asking if there are better universities for that given price.”

Yes. There probably are a whole bunch of other colleges and universities out there that are better, and that also may be cheaper. That is why I think you should stay at the CC for another year, keep building a good transcript, and apply to transfer for Fall 2016. You will have a lot more options with two years of college-level grades on your record. I do not understand why you are so anxious to be at DePaul (which you don’t like and which you know is too expensive) this fall.

17

@happymomof1
“Yes. There probably are a whole bunch of other colleges and universities out there that are better, and that also may be cheaper.”

All I need to know is what universities those are ^^^^^^^. This is THE ONLY THING I’m asking in this thread given my limit to take out on loans (whether you agree or not on this amount in loans).

18

What research have you done about Finance majors anywhere except for DePaul?

Start with finding your major.
Then look at what the place costs.
Here is one search engine to try. Click on “other options” to control your search for maximum tuition and fees. https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/

Your 3.7 CC GPA makes you competitive for any college or university in the country that accepts transfer applications. The only weakness in that transfer application is that you only have one year of credits. Stay at the CC for another year, keep that kind of GPA (or push it higher) and you will have options other than just DePaul.

19

@happymomof1
Great website! Thanks so much for the guide. But based on my criteria, there were only 35 universities that were listed. Most of them were at the same level as DePaul (if not worse). Unfortunately the search didn’t take scholarships into account. I wonder why it didn’t list certain universities that I know of (UIC for example).

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?s=all&p=52.0801&pn=1&l=93&ct=1+2+3&tx=40000&ts=IL&lc=1&tc=24&hs=1&pg=1

Also, how would you recommend I go about comparing two specific universities like DePaul and UIC for instance?

20

Why don’t you ask the undergrad directors for job placement information for the two schools? Also ask for a list of recent internships held by undergrad finance majors.

The Carlson School of Management at the U of MN would probably not be more expensive than DePaul and is a more highly regarded school.