Should Successful students at "non-targets" transfer to targets?
If a student is doing well at a non-target (I.E 4.0, internship, honors college, solid friend group, happy, etc) try to transfer to a target? Is it worth having to start all over at a new university just for the name and network of a target? Some unis (UPenn, Cornell, Vandy) have pretty high transfer acceptance rates all things considered.
(This is a general question, not for me in particular)
I would say no. Having a good GPA and a solidified friend group in a way save you time and stress. Turn that time and stress into networking efforts. Meet alumni, cold call banks, take online courses and prep for interviews. Being from a non target can be tough, but it builds character and isn't as big of a deal as people on this forum make it out to be. You'll just have to put in the work, but with some effort it'll work out.
friends should not be a factor real college friendships are few anyway you can always make more; sure there's more nuance to that and those that matter, you can stay in touch with. You will always regret (professionally) not going to a better school if your non-target is bad
Wow you must be fun at parties Mr. No Real Friends.
absolutely transfer. many firms only do campus recruitment from their small list of target schools. Not being at one of those target schools puts you at a distinct disadvantage.
If you can...do it. College is not supposed to be a 4 year party...its to prepare you for your future career...then next 40 years of your life. Staying put is very shortsighted thinking.
The mixed answers already on this thread should tell you. It is a question of tradeoffs. I transferred from a public non-target to a semi-target 7 years ago and still can't tell you if it was really worth it.
Pros of transferring:
Better OCR
Prestige
More successful classmates/network (this one was not really true at the upper-middle end for me when you consider how much larger my old school was, a decent # placed into MM or BB IB and other solid F500 roles, but on average students at my new school were more successful)
Cons of transferring:
Harder classes resulting in lower GPA
Transfers have to be very outgoing to make new friends, no one will be actively trying to become your friend. Finding a friend group is doable but a challenge (I had one and ended up doing better socially than my old school, but would say half of the kids I transferred with never really found a group they fit in with and regretted it)
If you can transfer to an ivy level school, and can afford it, you 100% should do it. Its wild how much cache an opportunities with those places have. I know people will say - yea bro its all what you make it you can achieve anything with hard work - sure fine, but its all about odds and risk mitigation. Its just easier to get your foot in the door and your network will be exponentially better. Not to mention surrounded by more like minded driven people.
I know a couple of people that transferred to Ivy schools and it totally changed their trajectories. Even at the "clean slate" bschool its not entirely true as kids from top schools are looked upon more favorably than other schools when recruiting for postmba jobs.
All that said, if you can't transfer, no biggie just work hard and try your best. Its easy to get sucked into the prestige game but ultimately your job doesn't dictate your long term happiness.