Worth transferring from non-target LAC?
Hey all,
Rising sophomore at a non-target LAC. Not a terrible school, usnews top 40, but largely no career focus and meh Econ dept. Not unhappy there, but not head over heels about it. Has an investment fund club and not a terrible amount of alumni in finance I’ve connected with. Am a D3 athlete.
Thing is I know I could do better. 3.83 GPA so far, 1530 SAT in hs, lot of extracurricular involvement and leadership positions in college and HS.
Should I bother trying to apply for a spring semester transfer? Top schools that even take them are CMC, Brown, Amherst, UVA, Notre Dame, Rice, NYU.
I think I’d have a fair shot to get in at least 1.
Current thinking was stick it out and don’t try to change schools in the heat of application season this winter, apply to some top schools in the spring, then see from there. In my mind if I could transfer to Princeton or Williams it’d absolutely be worth it, but Notre Dame maybe not. Though would it matter if i transferred for junior year when jr summer recruiting is done before then?
any perspectives welcome
....
Yeah don’t disagree that odds are slim at those schools and some take maybe a dozen transfers of hidden geniuses at community colleges, but I feel like it wouldn’t be worth it to transfer to a school that’s not a top one.
I go to a 30something ranked LAC, not worth it to me starting again socially to go to Hamilton or middlebury, but maybe would be Williams/amherst. I think for various reasons that I have really good odds of getting into CMC, so strongly considering at least tossing an application there
CMC has great career services and if you really want IB from there you can get it. However given how early recruiting is, being a transfer is almost always a disadvantage since you’ll be clipped from most clubs/scholar communities. Just the unfortunate reality.
Assuming you’re transferring as a junior, recruiting would already be done. CMC however, I think can work due to the RDS masters program which would let you defer graduation and effectively give you time to re-recruit. Also doesn’t hurt to come in earlier/in the soph spring.
Sure but my point is that you would be better off applying to a school that is equally likely to get you into IB with a higher acceptance rate. Pretty sure HYP have a legitimate 0% acceptance rate - frankly, people there already just don’t transfer out. Other schools like Northwestern, Chicago, Emory, Duke, Dartmouth, UVA, etc are arguably better than those LACs (especially for IB recruiting) and have high transfer acceptance rates.
Middlebury is a phenomenal placement school, places very well across the street. If you go to any LAC not named Williams or Amherst, Middlebury is a noticeable enough improvement to transfer unless you really love your community AND you happen to also be in another LAC that places fine into finance like CMC or Wesylan or Bowdoin.
I was a Spring transfer that opted to transfer mid-year so that I could take advantage of the Target’s network for SA recruiting. It went very well recruiting wise and couldn’t be happier at the school. Everyone’s situation is different and it depends on where you are accepted if you apply, but don’t discount the value of getting to recruit SA rather than FT.
Was it worth it starting over at another school for better career prospects?
I have no doubt I can get into banking from my school, it’s just going to be an uphill fight for an MM vs ocr from EBs somewhere else.
For me, absolutely. Transferring might’ve been the best decision I’ve ever made. I love my school and have met some of my best friends there. I wasn’t sure I could get the positions I wanted at the non target and had the stats to improve my odds so I took advantage.
As a transfer, the most important thing is you should be at a school that you enjoy, with people you enjoy, and allows you to do the activities you enjoy.
If you are transfering only for prestige and IB recruiting that changes the equation for me because you are unlikely to find anymore fullfilment out of better IB recruiting or a more prestigous name (and if you do I would be concerned about your character.)
I transferred from a non-target to a semi-target as a junior after I already got an offer and would say it was worth it because I was genuinly happier at my New School, it added very little to my resume tbh. But will say headhunters seem significantly more open to reaching out to me than my peers at similar/better banks at my non-target (That is the only benefit recruiting wise to consider).
Transferred from a semi to a semi and wanted to echo what you said. Having a good fit at school made me come across way more naturally on interviews and I was just genuinely happier so I probably came across as more charismatic. Interviewers would always ask why i transferred and the question would be a homerun bc it shows critical thinking/introspection.
Definitely a bit of both, some of it kind of goes hand and hand. I don’t love how people at my current school are kind of “save the world” types, lack a future focus, and a lot lack a work ethic despite decently hard admission standards. A school that’s better about those things is probably going to be better with recruiting too id think.
Guess I’d say my school has a work not too hard, play a little bit hard attitude and I’d definitely like more work hard, play hard kind of lifestyle
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