Non-target student: time to focus on plan b?
First time posting here so bear with me. I just finished my first year at UCSD where I was originally accepted as a computer science major but later switched to business economics. My current end goal is to break into IB, however, due to a few reasons I ended my freshman year with a 3.15 gpa. I'm pretty disappointed with myself because I know I could have done significantly better with more focus which is why I am seeking advice. Through reading around, I have come up with what seems like three decent paths for me to still have a chance to break into IB (please correct me if I any of this is wrong).
1) Stay at UCSD and commit to earning a SA role. Since UCSD follows the quarter system, if I get all A's from this point onward and take a few summer classes, I can raise my gpa to ~3.5 by the end of winter quarter (end of march) and just under a 3.6 by the end of spring quarter (june) next year. At this point along with some internship experience, would I be able to still be in the race for some IB roles through grinding in networking? I could even consider delaying graduation.
2) Raise my GPA just as in the first path but instead attempt to transfer to a school such as USC if possible and attempt to break into IB from there. I know it is generally recommended to transfer after the first year of university instead of the second but I would still be willing to delay graduation to make up for lost time in recruiting.
3) Stay at UCSD but target more of a stepping-stone route instead of going directly into IB out of undergrad. This could look something like Big4 audit -> B4 TAS -> IB or MBA (again correct me if I am wrong). I know this path is the least effective since it would require additional years but is it the most realistic option?
TL;DR: Ended freshman year with a poor gpa at a non-target, what is the best path from here? I appreciate any advice.
Hey, I can see you are a bit overwhelmed with this but you should definitely see to improve your GPA significantly. It’s an extremely competitive field and you have to understand the people you are competing with. However don’t lose hope, I’ve known plenty of kids from non-targets break into IB and land full time offers. Your work ethic will stand out from the rest of you really put your all into it and recruiters will notice for sure. Make sure to get some decent experience on your resume as well and try your best to connect with people at the school and/or outside of it. Best of luck !
I graduated from a non-target and I recommend transferring.
Yes, there are a few students who are able to break in but these are very rare occurrences. You will hear about the few that make it from a non target on this forum but you don’t hear the thousands that don’t make it. But if this school is the best you can do, try to make it work.
If you haven’t already, check the other posts on breaking into IB.
To sum up the main points:
1) get into a target school
2) network and don’t be weird
3)join professional clubs and become a leader
4) master technicals
Echo the above transfer and consider extending graduation by 1 semester to come in as a sophomore and have the chance to go through the full recruiting process.
Def delay graduation a semester so that you’d recruit for SA 2025 instead of 2023. If you did terribly in any classes freshman year, try to retake them to replace the grade (if UCSD does that).
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