Community College To PE
Community College To PE Community College To PE Community College To PE Community College To PE Community College To PE
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As someone who started in Community College and now years later is a Director in Corp. Dev, it is more than possible.
It is good that you know want to go into Finance this earlier (I only came to that realization after transferring to a four year). Just keep improving GPA and networking (in addition to job applications)...
Honestly even if you get a 4.0 this semester your GPA is straight-up too low for 3 out of 4 of those schools (NYU Stern transfer acceptance is 2%, Columbia is 6%) so I would check out the semi target list here and see if any are friendlier to CC transfers or have special scholarships for CC students. Apply broadly and see who will give you money.
You need to transfer to your next school as a sophomore - just extend your graduation one semester to the following December, take one semester off and do an internship/work if money is a problem. If you enter as a junior, you'll already have missed all recruiting.
Once you get to that school, take the CC off your resume, get involved in campus ASAP, and get networking for sophomore fall. There is no smooth sailing at all in IB recruiting, especially for CC students, but there is a narrow path out there for you. I'd also do a search on here about CC to IB as there are plenty of people who have done this, their posts might give you some more advice.
Glad to hear you pulled the grades up and are maintaining employment.
I transferred from a Junior College to a West-Coast Target and have a few points to share.
I'll keep it real: your overall GPA is total crap (nothing personal - mine was too). Applying to Columbia (impossible to CC transfer w/o 4.00) and NYU-Stern (single-digit CC transfer class sizes) is not a productive use of time. I'd look for other schools with an acceptance rate ~15% where your impressive grade trend will factor into the admissions decision more heavily (think: UNC, UVA, Michigan, Berkeley, USC, UT, IU Kelley, Carnegie Mellon). I think your extracurriculars are strong but make sure you have a compelling reason for transfer and won't regress gradewise at your new institution. Also bake in some LAC's and safeties, optionality is everything.
You also just missed the application window for many of these schools. So it might be prudent to take a gap year and break into industry now so that you have more continuity in your story. Being a 3rd year is also an option - see if you can get another associates degree that can boost your GPA.
Once you land at a 4-year semi-target, breaking into industry will be anything but "smooth-sailing". Network your ass off with Alum and do your best to get an edge in recruiting in addition to your current setup (business clubs, social fraternities, student government, anything). Unless you are at an Ivy or God-Tier target you won't have anything handed to you, and you will have to be super motivated to land a role. For context, I spent 3-4 hours a day doing applications, coffee chats, interview study guides and the like and I signed my offer at the eleventh hour in late-november.
Hope that helps, and best of luck.