Incoming CC student - is it over

Was committed to stern but after arguing for the last 2 months for aid, will not be getting enough. Only got into one other school, washu, since I applied to only t20s and they said no to going since it’s too late. So will be heading to cc and transferring into new school as sophmore. Was pretty dead set on ib but I don’t know if that’s even possible. Would love to hear from anyone that had a similar experience.

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Tips:

  1. Do you know how much money you are going to save by going to CC? If you are getting TAP and PELL, you'll be making money by going to school.
  2. In those two years, focus on getting as high of a GPA as possible [ 4.0 GPA ], and you'll stand a shot at applying to Top Schools/Ivys. I have seen this happen so many times. If you are going to a CUNY, there will be internships available to you in the CUNY system so you can pad your resume.
  3. If you have a good GPA, you'll have a good shot at lateralling to a top school. I went to Baruch (not considered Tier 1), but can't tell you how many times I have seen Community College > transfer to Baruch > BB/Tier 1 front office role.
  4. Work hard on your skillset and technicals, improve social skills (try to do any CUNY internship in NYC, there are plenty and will give you some money), or do jobs that require customer service like being a bartender, retail. 

I didn't go to a CC, but I went to a CUNY and ended up saving a lot of money. In my late 20s I bought a nice apartment and have a tier 1 finance role. If I went to a tier 1 school, I would have never been able to buy a place. 

My number 1 advice to you: Use the chip on shoulder to work hard but dont be insecure. Life is short, your 20s are short. Try and become as well rounded as possible through sports and hobbies, learn an instrument. You may not know this but as you get older your free time decreases and most conversations will be based on the knowledge you acquired in your younger life.

 

I know someone who went from CC to Jefferies that recruited FT, no junior summer IB internship. Anything is possible with the 4-year runway that you currently have. Just do things to impress people. Enter pitch competitions, maybe take CFA level 1 or SIE, network network network. Just because some kid went to Cornell or something it does not mean that kid will be better on the job, it is just a filtering mechanism. Wishing you the best of luck. 

 

Usually lurk the IB since I work in a HF, but wanted to say that 5 years ago I was in your seat, got into some great schools but couldn't afford it (parents made a lot but where laid off during covid so didn't qualify for aid). CC sucked, dredged through it, but when I transferred I was able to land a good role for sophomore summer, then got an a elite shop (commodity trading) for Junior year and FT, but had some final rounds at IB as well. 

Truth is that people are people, a lot of Ibankers where in your seat and transferred, and a lot of those people would love to help out someone in your shoes. From my experience, even if its at Boutique shops, if you have a genuine passion for banking and high finance then it'll shine through your coffee chats and people will help. Esp. if you have commonality. 

For transferring as others have said focus on your GPA, I would also recommend rounding your resume and showing passion in Finance. I cold called about 30 brokerages until one let me shadow for my freshmen summer and get my SIE, S7, and S63 with them. After that I felt differentiated enough to get some serious traction when I got to uni

ALSO! Big thing, alot of people don't realize but to transfer into some programs, IE Finance, alot of T20 schools require certain classes, I had to bust my ass to learn math to beat those classes, but some of my friends attempting to transfer as well neglected it and thus had there applications thrown out.

Best of Luck, Youve got this 

 

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