Non-Target Undergrad: Transfer and Work for a Year?

Hello All,

I'm a current Undergrad Sophomore at a non-target (old public university, great for greek life and skiing) and I got a heaping dose of reality when I began looking at career prospects from my school. We have very little recruiting, and the number of alumni who have ever worked in IB at BB's from my program is low (80 total from a huge business program) and few (20) have ever made it past the Analyst level.

My IB internship offer for this summer was pulled with no promise to return in the future. I worry that my career prospects just went out the door as well. Additionally, my school is very expensive and I likely cannot afford it going into next year without taking a huge loan out since I'll have no income this summer and my family cannot support me any longer.

I'm wondering whether it would be worthwhile to take a year off, work for a local Boutique, and transfer to a target or semi-target school. I have a 4.0 GPA, great hooks for admission, and have several rec letter offers from my professors. I'm also in-state in California and can graduate with a small fraction of the debt, albeit with an Econ degree from UCSB or UCLA instead of Business Admin at my current school.

I cannot take a single class more, or I'll be above the limit for transferring to almost every target school. So my choice is as follows: Stay here, go into debt for a mediocre degree in four years or Transfer for Fall 2021, work my ass off for a year, and graduate mostly debt-free from a better school (Ivy or UC) with recruiting in five years.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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