Advice - transferring colleges
Advice needed - current student at IU Kelley accepted as a transfer to Georgetown McDonough
I am a current student at IU Kelley (Class of '25) and I just got done with freshman year. I got accepted to Georgetown McDonough as a sophomore transfer. As of today, I wish to pursue finance/IB after my undergrad. While I'm cognizant of the fact that my career plans within business may change, I am pretty certain that I wish to pursue finance (or maybe consulting if not IB) after graduation.
I am an international student in the US so I am already paying about 65k a year at IU. Georgetown would cost me about 85k per year. Fortunately, my parents can fund my education comfortably and I am not taking on any debt for college. However, the additional 20k price tag is still a significant sum and I just want to be sure that I am making the right decision if I do choose to transfer to Georgetown.
I personally believe the transfer is the ideal choice (please do correct me if I am wrong) for a few reasons:
1) Georgetown's alumni network, recruiting prospects in finance/IB, and overall prestige in business in comparison to IU
Of course, Georgetown offers much better recruiting prospects in finance. McDonough's class size is only 300 in comparison to 2000 at Kelley. And according to my understanding, Georgetown does not have any specific "workshops" which particularly feed into banks; recruiting is less centralized and more evenly distributed in comparison to the IBW (70 member workshop which takes only 1-2 international students) at IU. Additionally, I would love to work on the buy side and possibly also pursue an MBA down the line. For buy side recruiting and MBA applications, I believe Georgetown would offer an edge over IU.
2) Location/Campus Diversity
I grew up and lived my entire life in a large metropolitan city (similar to New York/London) and coming to Indiana, I somewhat had a geographical shock. At Bloomington, the entire college life and experience is limited to campus/Bloomington. The nearest large cities are Nashville/Chicago which are also about 3-4 hour drives. It does become a bit isolating to live in a small college town in the middle of nowhere in Indiana. Also the student body at IU is less diverse and extremely large. This is another positive Georgetown offers in terms of the metropolitan city experience.
3) STEM major/VISA issues resolved
As an international student, I would have to add an informatics/computer science degree at Indiana because no Kelley majors are STEM certified. Just for some context, graduating with a STEM degree would allow me to work 3 years on my OPT (Optional Practical Training) in comparison to only 1 year on the OPT as a non-STEM major. The additional 2 years offer more opportunities for the H1B visa lottery as well. At Georgetown, there are 2 majors offered which are STEM certified within the business program itself. Therefore, I would not have to do a double degree program (additional 50+ credits). Personally this is one of the most important factors for me because I am not too strong in informatics/CS myself and doing an additional 50 credits at IU would not only increase workload significantly but may also mess up my GPA for recruiting.
While there are so many benefits of attending Georgetown, I do have some reservations as well. At IU, I have already made friends and have a good social group. I really enjoyed the campus life and social scene at IU as well. The thought of restarting my entire college career at a new institute slightly intimidates me. Is it harder to integrate as a transfer student? Can any past Georgetown transfers advise?
Additionally, of course the 20k extra tuition is something which is not the most ideal.
Could someone please advise? Perhaps past transfer students, IU/Georgetown alumni, and those working in IB/finance. I would really appreciate any advice because it is certainly quite intimidating to completely restart from square one at a new institution. Will I be making the right decision if I choose to transfer?
what were your stats?
Some people might call this a toss up, but for your specific situation Georgetown hands down. IBW is not guaranteed and it's definitely harder to get in as an international student, and you're kind of screwed if you don't get in.
Georgetown has excellent placement for all of the reasons you mentioned - and doing CS major would 100% mess up your GPA. If you're not taking on any loans and your parents are okay paying for it, head to Georgetown and don't look back.
agree with this. Georgetown is a no brainer
I go to IU and am in the workshop. Leave IU; it is a no-brainer. Being an international student puts you at a significant disadvantage and 75% of the kids in the workshop get in through connections and not on meritocracy.
Of course.
You are trying to convince yourself not to transfer because you are scared of change which is inevitable and probably have lots of good friends at college. I was in the same situation (just finished pledging too), but I grew a pair of balls and sucked up that change is necessary for success. I attribute my success in this industry to transferring from a top 100 private university to top 15. Just take the jump and don’t look back. You’ll thank me in 5 years.
Kind of coincidental but I just got accepted to a top 15 after finishing up pledgeship at my state school. Why do you attribute your success to making the jump and do you feel you would not have gotten to the place you are now if you hadn't transfered?
I need some advice, can I dm you
The only people who would try to convince you to stay are delusional IU kids. Take Georgetown and don't look back. It's not even close.
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