I am currently at a semi-target(BC). I was wondering if it is worth it to transfer to a target school for opportunities. I had pretty high stats in high school(4.0 UW GPA/34 ACT, sports, leadership, volunteering, etc), and am doing very well academically here so far. I am doing well here, but I I went to a pretty average public high school, which had barely the opportunities compared to my elite private school peers here. Its made me kinda feel bad about my lack of opportunities before and I don't want that to happen anymore as I can at least choose my college. Also, most of the private targets would also offer better financial aid than BC, so there's that.
Is it worth throwing a few transfer apps out there to some target schools? I know a lot of people at non-targets try to get to a semi target or target, but this is far less of a jump. It is the end of my freshman year, so it would have to be for sophomore spring or junior fall, and I'm not sure if that's too late to transfer and acclimate to a new school before recruiting begins. I know there are social issues with transferring too. However, I feel like I'm the type of person that would always regret it if I don't try. I was thinking maybe Georgetown(extended waitlist for freshman admissions, less selective for transfers) and UVA would be (slightly) more realistic targets to apply to. Any other schools I should look into and any opinions if I should seriously consider transferring?
Seems like you have a pretty solid handle on how BC places kids in IBD. Citi / Barclays / DB / UBS are the top recruiters from the BBs. My year also sent 1 - 3 kids to each of the rest of the BBs (GS / MS incl.), and then a handful to EBs/MMs as well (Jefferies and RBC being the two biggest recruiters there). I know that Citi considers BC one of its "top-tier" targets, and I think BC sent something like 9 kids to intern there last summer in IBD alone, so that connection is very strong. I remember trying to count all the kids my year graduating with IBD roles, and me and my buddies were able to come up with ~40 or so kids (out of a business school class of ~300(?).
One other thing to keep in mind is that the average kid in CSOM is probably not interested in IBD. The vast majority of my classmates all went to BIg 4 (audit or consulting). Target schools like the ones you listed will undoubtedly send more kids each year to IBD. However, I suspect that if you looked at things in terms of the % of students interested in IBD that successfully land something, that BC packs a respectable punch. If someone was interested in IBD, had a solid GPA, and put in the effort to go through the recruiting process, they generally ended up with a NYC IBD role. If you have already taken the step of reaching out to alums / recruiters at banks like Citi, I have to imagine that you are ahead of the curve in terms of recruiting at BC.
It also seems like you don't have a major school culture / fit reason for transferring (at least it wasn't evident in your posts above). The benefits of transferring in sophomore spring might be marginal at best (limited time to actually establish yourself at the new school with the accelerated recruiting process Pump and Dump referred to). Consider carefully whether the social / non-academic hardships of transferring are worth the benefit, especially since you seem to be content at BC already.
Apologies if the above was a bit rambling... just dumping some thoughts late at night. Hope some of the above was helpful... feel free to drop me a PM if that's easier
I painted houses the summer after my freshman year. I had a bunch of friends who all landed IBD offers from BC who did something similar after freshman year (waited tables, lifeguarded, etc). I'm going to guess that the group of kids who have cool internships for this summer tends to be a bit more vocal about what they are doing than the kids who do not. I wouldn't stress too much about it. Just take some time and enjoy your summer... it may be the last one where you have minimal commitments for quite some time.
I'm speaking a bit outside my comfort zone here, but I think that the Bulge Bracket equivalent (major consultant companies) refers mainly to the "MBB" companies- McKinsey, Bain, and Boston Consulting. You are right that those do not recruit heavily at BC. But the Big 4 Accounting firms (Deloitte, EY, PWC, KPMG) all do for their consulting roles, with Deloitte and EY being the two biggest. Summer internships at those companies are relatively limited, but they come back in the fall of Senior year and hire some additional people for full-time roles.
And I just want to echo what @EagleFA" said about junior and senior year getting significantly more fun at BC. Freshman year was definitely the least fun year I had, and I know that experience was similar for a lot of guys. If you had an enjoyable experience so far, you are in for good times to come as you get older at BC.
Ultimately, it seems like you have a good understanding of the pros / cons of transferring. It doesn't hurt to send a few applications out there to test the waters and to keep that option open. Wishing you good luck on your upcoming finals, and feel free to drop me a PM in the future if you have any more questions about all this.