HS Senior Debating Transfer (need advice from older ppl)

I’m a current HS senior who had the stats for some top IB targets (1550+ SAT, max course load + 3.9 UW, internships, outreach initiative w/lots of impact, captain of multiple varsity sports + many clubs, I’m not doxxing myself but you get the idea). I ended up at UNC and am wondering if transferring is worth it. I understand that I was very vague with my description of my high school stats, but I want to make it clear that I’m asking if transferring is worth it rather than if it’s possible. Would it be better to just be a top student at UNC (again assuming that if I’m good enough to transfer I’ll be a top student anyway) or to try to move to NU, Duke (sorry), or like Dartmouth after my first year? Is starting fresh recruiting wise for both clubs on campus and actual career progression worth doing for the increase in prestige? My apologies if this is a dumb question, my only frame of reference has been other 18-21 year olds on the internet and IRL as of rn.

5 Comments
 

Transferring into certain schools is even harder than applying UG. Unlikely you’ll be able to transfer into a school significantly better than UNC and in line with those listed, but worth a shot

 
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This is easy - UNC sends SO many kids into IB/PE/Other finance. You have to be a top 50-60 kid there but you can be if you join one of the best funds/clubs your first semester. I would go all out your 1st semester regardless in terms of grades, course load, research, club joining, and if you aren't in a good spot to stay and recruit from UNC, then you will have the base to transfer (basically just essays left). 

If you do transfer, you're realistically only going to have a few shots that are worth it, and those are UChicago, Northwestern, Dartmouth, and Cornell. Otherwise all the other places that are better for finance/would be worth it like Duke, Harvard, Stanford, Yale take maybe like 10-15 transfers and that's IF they take that many. And places like Gtown that take transfers wouldn't offer you a big enough advantage that should sway you. I will say tho that if you transfer, you may have to spend an extra year in college (basically becoming a freshmen all over again) which most of these schools will let you. If you end up at a place like UChicago, you won't have to join any clubs to recruit technically (you can recruit without that) but even still, a place that sends so many kids to finance doesn't mean everyone is going. Probably hundreds of kids from a place like Dartmouth want to go into high finance but maybe 30-50% are making it? Just an educated guess from seeing other colleges. 

 

Would having a strong network at UNC (top clubs, ect) outweigh starting fresh at say NU, or would it still make sense to transfer if I’m doing really well at UNC (my apologies if that’s too close to my original question). My fear isn’t my floor so much as my ceiling, I want the door open for EB and MBB (I get that these are very different fields) and feel that UNC can’t get my foot in the door there. Would being at a t10 like NU but without that freshman year of club recruiting and networking essentially keep me from those career paths anyway?

 

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