Transferring Schools, Looking To Do IB or Econ, Advice?
I'm currently at Parsons the New School for Design in my freshman year. I really dislike it. I've never met a group of more pretentious, rich/spoiled kids. That's being nice too. There's no sense of community, and while I love the city (NYC), I wish the school had more of a campus. I'm currently going for graphic design, but even the teachers are asking ME questions on the programs. I am Adobe Certified, but still.
So I'm thinking about transferring out to an economics or investment banking major. I've always had a strong interest in these fields, and manage my own stock portfolio invest heavily with Bitcoin.
I've always had good grades in high school, (3.83 GPA) with tons of dual enrollment and AP courses including AP Economics. I also got a 1990 on the SATs. Extracurriculars included Fencing, independent graphic design, working, NHS, and Key Club. I most likely have a 4.0 or close to it right now in college. It's hard to tell in art school.
I want to transfer to a great school though. I have this passion and focus to succeed in the world that I don't feel like my current school or future career opportunities could afford me. I'm currently in the process of stepping up my extra curriculars by attending weekly Bitcoin presentations, possibly if I'm allowed to - joining NYU's investment club, and hopefully some community service soon.
Schools I'm Considering Applying To:
Vanderbilt
Stanford
Columbia
Northwestern
NYU
Duke
USC
So what do you think, do I have a chance at all with these schools? Should I consider others? Any other things I should get involved with in NYC now? I know I'm reaching high, but I really don't want mediocre.
Usually colleges have stronger requirements for transfers more so than new admits, so I would recommend "transferring" schools as a new admit instead of thinking you'll be going in as a freshman. Especially since most if not all of your credits won't transfer over anyways.
Should I literally follow the same application process as freshmen then? My SAT scores aren't fantastic so I definitely don't think I'd compare to the other high school applicants. I thought my unique transfer story of coming from a highly regarded art and design school to a whole different major might set me apart a bit, worrying about credits transferring aside.
I just know that back in the day, in order for me to transfer engineering schools, I pretty much had to have enough credits to be a junior. This was me transferring from a T25 school to a T15 school. Transferring around lower level schools is easier, but when when you get to the upper level schools it's a little trickier.
My first step would be contact the admissions for each of the schools you're interested in to see if they have any requirements for a transfer student. As an example, for me to do my transfer, I had to have Physics II and Calc III completed, which were sophomore level classes and I was still in my senior year.
Ah then yes, I plan to transfer as a freshman essentially. I don't expect many, if any, of my credits to transfer, and I'd rather most likely get the whole experience at one of these schools anyway.
How that effects admission stats? I don't really know, but you're right in that I do need all the help I can get.
So what I'd do right now, if I were you, since the deadlines are coming up, is to get on the phone with every admissions department at every school to see what your options are.
I transferred with a similar SAT score (2010) and it was the best decision I've made.
To be blunt, with our SAT scores, there's no shot of getting into Stanford, Columbia, and NYU Stern. Vandy and Northwestern would be a big stretch as well. Duke and USC would be somewhat in reach. With that said, it seems like you have strong ECs so it can't hurt to apply to as many schools as possible.
One thing to keep in mind is that most of the stronger undergrad business schools (Wharton, Stern, UVA McIntire, Georgetown, Boston College CSOM, UCB, Ross, etc.) have extremely low acceptance rates for transfer students. For example, BC's transfer acceptance rate for their business program is 2%.
In any case, if I were you I would apply to all of the schools you listed (except Northwestern - IB recruitment is weak). Some other schools to consider (that place, to varying degrees of success, students into investment banking) would be:
Reach schools: Georgetown, Cornell, UC Berkeley, University of Virginia, Boston College, University of Michigan Ross, Rice University
"Safety" schools: University of Indiana at Bloomington, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Emory, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Texas at Austin, Southern Methodist University
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