Transfer UNC, UVA, or Vanderbilt

Ignore title. Currently a freshman at a T20 LAC known somewhat for finance. Long story short, I want to transfer, not mainly due to academics or not being a "target" or "semi-target" but because the school is honestly too small, sports suck lol, and school pride/spirit is bad. I had a good first semester with a 3.9 GPA and have some good EC's tailored to Investment Banking and finance in general. I have a few questions: 

*Interested in finance, will most likely choose to recruit for Investment Banking (most passionate about), but also open to other careers in finance. 

  1. For UNC, I can't transfer directly into Kenan-Flagler; I have to apply after one semester, which isn't a guarantee to get in. Is that risk worth it to take?
  2. For UVA, I can apply for direct admission to McIntire, but it's extremely hard to get into, and I'm sure students already at UVA have the advantage. On their page, it approximated that they will take around 40 kids into the School of Commerce, whereas CAS was 550. Is going to UVA as econ major worth it, or should I send it and apply to Commerce?
  3. Biggest criteria for these schools will probably come down to which is the cheapest (I'm out-of-state for all). Obviously, all three are great schools in general and for IB, but another big factor would be the social scene, sports, and being in a college town, which all mostly have, but I think UNC takes 1st place in that category.
  4. If you were in my shoes, what school would you choose? Any other things I should consider or other schools I should look into? 
3 Comments
 

UVA McIntire > Vanderbilt > UNC.....Additionally consider applying to Stern, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, and Emory. They accept quite a few transfers

 

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