IU Kelley Transfer Prospects

Hi everyone,

I am currently a freshman direct-admit at IU's Kelley School of Business looking to transfer.

I have almost completed the first semester, and I'm fairly certain I will end with a 4.0 (currently have above 96% in all of my classes, even with 18 credit hours. None of my finals seem difficult). I am involved in 6 clubs, a business fraternity, and have established leadership roles (only freshman with board positions in 2 of the clubs and pledge class president). I am a part-time intern at a consulting firm and have been a finalist in multiple case competitions. 

While I feel Kelley does an excellent job preparing students for the business world, having 2,700 students in my class makes the program feel too much like an assembly line. I am looking to transfer to target schools for IB (Wharton, Stern, Ross, Mcdonough, McIntire, Duke, Dyson).

The main issue is that my high school GPA is very low (~3.55 UW, 3.85 W). My high school test scores were also pretty low (31 ACT), but I recently retook the ACT with minimal studying and got a 35. I believe I can study more and achieve a 36. Much of this underachievement was due to intense mental health and identity issues that I addressed during the pandemic, and my growth followed instantly.

How realistic are my selections? Is there anything I can do to prove my growth as a student and hopefully overshadow my high school grades?

 
Most Helpful

The general rule of thumb is that the longer you are in college the less your hs grades matter. I’d say that you would be better off transferring in a year rather than right now personally. You’ll build an academic track record with an upward slope as well as an extracurricular history longer than 3 months.

Also don’t waste your time retaking the ACT that score is already exceptional and there is very little difference between 35 and 36(akin to someone with a 1540 sat retaking for a 1600).

If I were you I would try my luck this time around, get glowing recs and see if you can chat one-on-one with the admissions counselors where you want to go. Also try to build a portfolio of some sort that will set you apart if you have any sort of paper or project you’ve been working on. Also after you apply send updates of your grades/life(more so grades) to the admissions counselors in the spring- keep the relationship ongoing!

Best of luck to you as you begin to apply, if you end up not getting in I would stress reapplying next year as a lot of junior spots open up typically as students change majors/drop out bc that’s when it really starts to get serious. Also keep in mind there are spring transfers to- just food for thought🙂

 

What's the point of transferring after sophomore year if recruiting is wrapped up by late sophomore spring?

 

FT recruiting. I got a solid offer for my junior summer from my complete non-target but got a buy side offer after transferring because the firm  recruited on campus. Don’t underestimate the difference in recruiting between non-targets and targets. 

 

Plan to take 1 semester off (do an internship or just travel abroad) and push your graduation to the following December. Boom, you are a sophomore again and can recruit fully.

IMO given the effort you're putting into transferring, the extra semester is well worth it to land SA, and it's very common for transfers to push graduation.

 

I am going to disagree with this since some schools don't even allow junior transfers. I transferred from a regional semi/non-target to a large target (UVA, UC Berkeley, UMich Ross, Cornell, NYU) and think the OCR SA recruiting opportunities and the mentorship you can get from established programs at your school are quite helpful, waiting for FT presumes you get a good role for SA which is possible since you might get into Indiana IBW. However, why risk if you get into a real target. Furthermore, certain schools, like Wharton, only let you transfer in as a sophomore transfer and not as a junior, so you will need to apply to some this year and not wait. 

 

If I were you I would try my luck this time around, get glowing recs and see if you can chat one-on-one with the admissions counselors where you want to go. Also try to build a portfolio of some sort that will set you apart if you have any sort of paper or project you've been working on. Also after you apply send updates of your grades/life(more so grades) to the admissions counselors in the spring- keep the relationship ongoing!

I'm confused as to what exactly you disagree with. I told this person to apply this year and see what happens. 

 

I’m an IU grad and I saw many students transfer throughout my time there. A lot of students went to Northwestern from IU, which suggests it’s feasible especially for a student like you. I’d recommend looking into it a bit more.

 

I transferred into Georgetown McDonough two years ago from a state school of a similar caliber to IU Kelley.I think you have a great chance at transferring to Georgetown. Just as some reference, these were my stats: college GPA was 3.9, ACT was 33, HS unweighted GPA was 3.50 (weighted GPA 4.00). So I definitely think a 35 is plenty good enough to transfer to Georgetown.In my opinion the key is to really convey what the school you are applying for offers that your school doesn't, as well as your motivations for wanting to transfer. When I went to a transfer info session at Georgetown, the head transfer admissions officer said they throw a lot more weight into your college grades as opposed to your high school grades, so I don't think you really need to worry.PM me if you have any questions about transferring to Georgetown or any info on what banking recruiting is like here..

 

I transferred to Columbia from a lower T50. Academically and extracurricular you are more than fine and will help you get in, but the transfer process is also heavily reliant on stuff outside of the stats (i.e. your story, essays, recommendations). I urge you to reflect on what exactly you are looking in a school. Wanting a smaller class size is a good start, but admissions officers aren't going to care that you want to go to a target school. Coming up with a believable (and ideally honest) story for why EXACTLY that school is going to be a determining factor (transfer essays aren't like regular apps, the main prompt is essentially "Why do you want to transfer here"). I agree with the Georgetown guy on his points with regards to this.

I don't think you should wait. There's no reason not to apply this year (you can apply again next year and uprooting yourself only gets harder year after year). If you continue with how you've performed next semester then your improvement from highschool is undeniable and honestly might make your applications stronger given your growth story and how you might've learned from it. Also, for recommendation letters make sure you're getting them from professors you have a deep relationship with who like you. I think my rec letters are singlehandedly what got me accepted and it makes sense for colleges to give a lot of weight to professors considering they're highly respected.

But finally, I'm going to caution you against transferring. It may seem like a no-brainer but having gone through it there have been many times where I've regretted it and wished I hadn't, even though Columbia is far ahead of the school I transferred from in multiple ways. Ask yourself if you're ready to go to a completely new community and leave the friends you've made to start from square one at a completely new school. It really can't be just for job prospects or else it will be very hard and there's a good chance you'll regret it. Its much less the school than your drive and with IU you could get into any program you would get into from an Ivy.

Hopefully this helps. If you wanna talk more about the transfer process feel free to PM me.

 

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