Need a Reality Check Regarding Colleges

Hey WSO! 

(I'm new, forgive me). 

I'm currently applying to colleges and I'm quickly realizing that my college plan is full of holes and faults. If any of you could give me advice to help fix it...or just tell me to screw off because I'll never make it...that would be appreciated! 

Primary Major: Geography, Geographic Information Science, Economics, and Urban Economics (Real Estate). Yes, I applied to mostly Geo/GIS majors. First mistake? 

Schools: 

UCONN (instate). I heard it has a good RE program. Although I did not apply directly to the business school, there's over a 50% internal transfer acceptance rate. (GIS/Urban Ecomics)

Trinity College (Urban Studies/Economics)

Bucknell (Geography/Economics)

Gettysburg (Env. Studies/Economics)

Bates (Env. Studies/Economics)

Clark University (Geography/Economics). Clark is a solid LAC (Top 100/Top 70 USNews) that is well-known in the Boston/NE area. Also, I could get a free, accelerated MA in Urban Development/Planning. 

Alright, so what do I need to do? Get into school, get good grades, network, network, network? Or just throw in the towel and prepare a transfer app? 

Thanks. 

5 Comments
 

Well, like any high school senior who wants to make money, of course I’m interested in Blackstone/Bridgewater/Cushman/etc. 

But to be completely honest, I’m not ready to go in debt to get a degree that will leave me barely breaking through. The schools listed here are all relatively affordable (with merit), and I’d rather play the networking game and start calling friends/family members/recruiters and seeing if I can break in another way. 

Worst case, I have a friend who’s high up in a regional development/engineering firm (develops high rises for northeast cities with populations 50-150K). I could always go to school and then try to make connections through industry. 

But it I might as well try. 

 

> I'd rather play the networking game and start calling friends/family members/recruiters and seeing if I can break in another way. 

You'd probably break into some no name boutique. There are a lot of good schools that provide decent merit/financial aid if that's what you're worried about.

> I could always go to school and then try to make connections through industry. 

not really how it works but ok

 

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