Based on academics and recruiting alone, should I try to transfer out of NYU Stern, and into, for example an Ivy league college?
I'm a freshman right now, and I do like it here, the classes seem good, recruiting seems good. I'm interested in majoring in finance/economics and minoring in computer science.
Given your post-college/recruiting experience, do you think it would make sense to try and transfer our of Stern, and if so, to what schools?
| +243 | CVP 2025 Summer Analyst Class Is A JOKE | 107 | 12s | |
| +98 | The "Not So Obvious" things that get you a return offer? | 10 | 12h | |
| +94 | PJT Best EB in the next 5 years? | 46 | 12h | |
| +57 | Ex-JP Morgan analyst awarded $35M decade after NYC building’s glass door suddenly shattered on her | 15 | 20h | |
| +34 | Georgetown Placement for 2024 and 2025 | 20 | 16h | |
| +31 | Pros and Cons of the BB coverage groups | 16 | 4d | |
| +29 | Best IB group on the Street | 14 | 8h | |
| +28 | Barc vs WF for IB (Generalist) | 7 | 10h | |
| +28 | How to deal with egotistical team? | 6 | 10h | |
| +26 | BIG FOUR ARE PARADISE | 4 | 9h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Stay there, crush it, and you'll be fine. NYU has plenty of alumni to take care of the standouts.
I'd only transfer out of Stern if you hated having college in the city. You need great stats to get into an ivy as a transfer, and if you did end up having a great gpa, involvement, etc being at the top of the Stern pile is probably better than being 75th percentile at brown or cornell (for finance recruiting). I'd only apply to Harvard/Wharton/Yale and maybe a school like a UVA Mcintire as a safety if you wanted a campus.
Only transfer out for Columbia. Literally will be the same lifestyle, can maintain friends etc. except have a better name.
Columbia has a slightly better name, but for finance Stern murders almost every school sans Wharton. Which is why I only mentioned HYW unless Op wanted a legit campus, frats, etc which Columbia doesn't have(the social scenes at a lot of the other ivies are terrible - no frats at brown, cornell/princeton's academic rigor, etc dartmouth/penn are the notable exceptions. I've heard on 2 different occasions from IB analysts that Stern kids put out better work than even harvard kids and that it's because they have programs/clubs to teach students things outside of the classroom over the weekend along with the semester internship.
I actually really like NYU and Stern socially. I'm not into sororities, typical rah-rah campus stuff, like the city, found a sense of community, etc . . . .
I don't know if the Stern clubs are unique, but even though I haven't taken any finance classes yet, I've learned a good amount through them and have had the chance to talk to a lot of different people.
I'm only asking because some of my classmates want to transfer for academic reasons, and I wanted to find out if that was a good reason or not.
Do you think you'd have a solid shot at transferring to a top-tier school? Is reputation your only real reason for transferring? Are your friends Stern kids who want to transfer just because of finance opportunities?
If I were in your position, I'd really only do it (make the switch) if I got into an amazing school (HYPS + MIT + Williams/Amherst, maybe Dartmouth/Brown/Columbia/Wharton), especially since you actually seem to like Stern.
They may just want to go to a better school or might want to major in something that isn't finance and get recruited anyway. Even at NYU though I've seen lots of profiles via linkedin where kids from cas got into BB's for all sorts of positions. I wouldn't recommend not majoring in finance and still banking on getting into finance though, it's getting more and more competitive and all of the posts about art majors from Princeton getting offers is definitely not true anymore considering econ/finance are by far the most popular majors at top schools. It's still possible, but a lot harder than people make it out to be considering at the ivies a bank may interview 50 people and the entire school will be applying just like at NYU. Your classmates may not be serious about positioning themselves for finance and might want to go to Harvard for the brand name. It's up to you whether or not you want to transfer, but generally speaking a great academic record at NYU (not easy with the upper level stern courses given the strict curve) will give you the same opportunities as a great academic record with the ivy league schools with exception to HYPW. MIT/Stanford aren't looking for bankers, and won't help prepare you for the SA that you'll need to crush in order to get a FT offer.
Honestly, unless you can get into like Princeton or Wharton I would say not worth it. Columbia is marginally better, but maybe not even for finance. You have the benefit of being in NYC which I think is really huge for recruiting and networking. NYU has a pretty strong presence at most BBs, so I don't think the school name will hold you back. Transferring kind of sucks- you have to start completely fresh in an environment where 98% of the kids know each other. It is tough to adapt to a new school, and unless you are at somewhere with drastically worse academics or really aren't happy with your life/experience there, I think it is not at all worth it.
Sheesh. You're already in a school that has a very positive well-known name.
You're a freshman and you seem dedicated to your studies and career which is great. However, the one biggest advice I could give you is to just loosen up and stop worrying about what you're worrying about right now (because you are in a much better situation than a lot of people) and try to have some fun in college. Time flies fast and I hope you want to make some memories in college that you'll look back on when you're older and be able to smile about it.
To summarize, worrying about your career is awesome but just keep in mind that you're a freshman and it's okay to stop thinking about finance 24/7.
Top tier students from NYU (and if you work hard you can definitely be one of them if youre not already) have placed into GS TMT, GS FIG, BX R&R, MS M&A, etc and all the megafunds post-banking. You're in a good spot, would only transfer if it was to an extremely top notch school like Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Yale, etc.
Should I transfer out of NYU Stern? (Originally Posted: 12/09/2012)
Based on academics and recruiting alone, should I try to transfer out of NYU Stern, and into, for example an Ivy league college?
I'm a freshman right now, and I do like it here, the classes seem good, recruiting seems good. I'm interested in majoring in finance/economics and minoring in computer science.
Given your post-college/recruiting experience, do you think it would make sense to try and transfer our of Stern, and if so, to what schools?
If you want to transfer go for it, however you can definitely do fine at NYU
herro welcome to NYU Stern
I would not. You in a great position if you want to major in and work in finance/economics. NYC gives you unparalleled proximity to firms, great recruiting and is a terrific (if expensive) place to spend your undergrad years.There's an amazing alumni base from Stern all over the street.
I would also argue that for finance positions NYU Stern undergrad is a step above some of the non-HYP ivies (Brown, Cornell, non-Wharton Penn)
Honestly the bump that you will receive will not be that great. NYU Stern is heavily recruited from especially in the investment banking arena. Stay at Stern and then complete your MBA at an Ivy.
Only for columbia in my opinion.
Voluptas aut ea rerum sed. Et laudantium ipsum perferendis beatae reprehenderit nulla iure. Sequi rerum rerum atque iste ut doloremque voluptates. Aut dolores quo et cum aut. Totam voluptatem consequuntur iusto quaerat.
Excepturi exercitationem architecto inventore. Et fuga voluptatum earum est est aut qui. Vitae enim illum deserunt explicabo sed consequatur impedit dolore.
Non molestiae odit odit omnis culpa aliquid voluptas. Et eos nesciunt quos. Error qui et fugiat sunt. Id veritatis voluptatem laboriosam iure. Delectus voluptatibus odit consequatur autem accusamus qui ipsa dolore.
Ut quasi earum sapiente quidem soluta molestiae quidem quae. Ducimus nobis nihil quidem atque eos voluptas aliquid quibusdam.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...