Transferring to UPenn or Harvard

My background:
2nd year undergrad that already secured sophomore and junior year IB SA gigs

At my current uni (very non-target) I’m:
President of real estate club
Research analyst in investment club
VP of Finance club
E-board of Soccer and Lacrosse club
President and Founder of Securities Society.

I have a lot of things going, I really worked hard to get my positions and stand out to IB recruiters.
But if I’m being completely honest with you I don’t like my university. It’s not that I don’t like the campus, I don’t like the people.
I’ve been wanting to switch up the scene and maybe go somewhere colder where I can meet and socialize with smarter people and not a bunch of frat retards (I’m in a frat) that peak in college and think they are at the top of the world because they are bartenders at our colleges favorite bar.
I’m yearning for something more in my college experience.

Thoughts on possibility of actually being accepted as a transfer ? And is it even worth it with all I have going on?

GPA: 3.96

I feel that when I apply to transfer and send in my resume, recruiters at Wharton and Harvard are just gonna see me as someone who is trying to escape his responsibilities which im not, I like all my extracurriculars, I just don’t like the people and want to switch up the scene.

 
Most Helpful

I actually transferred while I was in undergrad. It is a tedious and time consuming process for sure.

If you are serious about transferring, only short listing two schools is not a realistic way to go about this. Transfer admission are incredibly difficult, so you need to cast a wide net. Apply to all the top undergrad business schools, not just H/S/W, consider applying to NYU Stern, Georgetown MSB, Cornell, UVa, Duke etc. You can probably find a list of target schools somewhere on this site, just apply to a decent chunk of them to ensure that you land somewhere.

 

Any chance you could PM me? Have a few questions for you

 

Transfer acceptance rates at upenn of harvard are like 1%. Even if you went to a peer institution it would be super hard to get in. If you want to transfer I'd recommend applying to a lot of colleges and targeting places like USC Cornell and good state schools like UMich, UVA, UCB etc as they all have decent room due to their transfer programs.

 

They actually release data on this. Harvard transfer rate is historically 1-2% and Penn is around 7%. Penn has a lot of infrastructure set up for transfers—check out the TSO. Still crazy competitive tho, good to diversify

 

Look up school transfer rate acceptance %’s and plan accordingly based on those numbers. Focus your search on some reach schools (Columbia / Wharton) and some transfer friendly schools (USC / UVA / Cornell / Vanderbilt). You should note that a majority of transfers to the top schools (H / S) are athletes or have military experience.

How was your SAT / ACT? If your score wasn’t superior, you either need to retake it or just focus on schools that don’t require it for transfer admissions.

 

i went to penn and i think you have a decent chance with your gpa etc. only thing that might be hard is that anecdotally i’ve seen more second year transfers vs third years. kind of a crapshoot but the transfer community at penn is great

 

Your chances are good but you need more schools on your list. As mentioned, those acceptance rates are like 1% and many of those transfers come from other Ivy or similar tier schools. Don't think anyone will see you as escaping involvement, that's a standard list of involvement for anyone applying to H/W/S

Before you accept any transfer offer you also need to double-check with advisors how your credits will transfer - pretty common to have to do an extra semester, especially transferring so late. Your IB will not be happy to push a FT offer a year, so something to confirm before going anywhere

 

I transferred from a nontarget-but-decent-school to a semitarget, and I really wouldn't recommend it in your shoes. Let me dispel your primary notion real quick: your interactions won't be more intellectual, you won't find communities of people that want to have long and girthy discussions on politics (or at least in any way you'd enjoy) or efficient market theory or whatever random shit you love. Seriously, don't get your hopes up - most kids at top uni's are AA-admits, legacies, or just decent students who's parents knew how to navigate the admissions game from an early point.

As well - social circles are very locked in by junior year, so that ordeal probably won't be as ideal as you think it might be.

That said, if you reallyyy want to transfer, I think you have a decent shot at Penn (maybeeee Wharton but someone above said that isn't allowed, and I personally suspect they let in a lot of ultra-wealthy alum's kids in via transfer), but zero shot at Harvard. H is pretty much impossible to transfer into unless you already can be reasonably assured any single school would take you. Consider Columbia, Brown (no fin aid I believe tho), and various liberal arts schools up north (friend of mine got into swat/middlebury, and I believe Amherst/Williams might take some). On your apps, unless applying distinctly to a business school, PLAY DOWN YOUR INTEREST IN BANKING. Admissions people hate business people and are generally milque-toast liberal women.

 

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