Transfer from UNC to Columbia

I'm a freshman at UNC and just got accepted to Columbia. The question is, should I go?

Here's my pros/cons of each school:

UNC Pros:
-Relatively cheap ($10-$15K/year)
-Close to home (~3 hours)
-Less competition(?)
-Party, Party, Party
-True college campus/experience
-Could graduate in three years if I wanted (due to AP credit)

UNC Cons:
-Relatively weaker academics
-Relatively less prestige/name recognition
-Not as much IB recruiting

Columbia Pros:
-Good IB recruiting
-Superior academics, espec. in my field
-Diverse compared to UNC
-It's in NYC (I love NYC)
-It's Columbia
-It's Ivy
-It's #4 in the nation

Columbia Cons:
-Expensive ($55-$60K/year)
-Far away from home (would have to fly)
-Apparently pretty tough for transfers to fit in
-Lack of true campus/community(?)
-Don't know how much credit will transfer

 

^I definitely want to go. I just didn't want to rush into making a decision that will directly impact the next few years of my life and my future, so I thought I'd get some outside opinions. Based on your feedback, it seems like Columbia is the clear choice.

Anyone here go to Columbia?

 

I'm also interested in transferring. I'm ending my freshman year at UT in engineering with a 4.0. I'm currently applying to the business school/business honors program and hopefully will be accepted over the summer. Is this the right move to break into banking/consulting? I'm also considering applying for an upward transfer next year. Is this suggested or is BHP/Engineering at UT with a good GPA a strong enough combo to break into banking? Thanks!

 
Best Response
pangster92:
I'm also interested in transferring. I'm ending my freshman year at UT in engineering with a 4.0. I'm currently applying to the business school/business honors program and hopefully will be accepted over the summer. Is this the right move to break into banking/consulting? I'm also considering applying for an upward transfer next year. Is this suggested or is BHP/Engineering at UT with a good GPA a strong enough combo to break into banking? Thanks!

You will get in to the business school. No guarantee on business honors but you should have a great shot. But business/engineering with a good GPA is certainly good enough to break into banking in Texas or New York. There are quite a few places you can intern at during the school year (boutique banks, small PE firms, wealth management firms, etc.) that will give you a leg up during recruiting. With some relevant experience and keeping your grades up you will get plenty of interviews

 

Eric, Thanks for the help. I guess my two big questions are: 1) Is double majoring in business and engineering a good combo to try to break into banking if I can handle it? 2) Would being at an Ivy confer a great enough advantage to warrant applying for transfer? I could try for MIT spring admissions, or Ivy fall admissions. From UT, with good grades an an internship, will I be able to break into BB NY? Basically, what doors will UT essentially close?

Thanks again for the help!

 

It's not that easy to land a BB internship from Columbia. It's quite competitive and there are many students volunteering to build up experience for FT. Columbia is not college, it's more similar to NYU and the campus revolves around a couple shitty bars. There's a high level of dissatisfaction and it's an intense school, I'm sure you'll fit in just fine but it won't compare to UNC

No rain drop ever blames itself for the flood.
 

Haha that's true; CU is ranked the most stressful college http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/1470/1/?redirectURL=http://www.t…

I find getting selected for the first-round interviews on campus is rather competitive, because many students do finance-related internships during their freshman/soph summers... and have a high GPA. Having said that, I'm sure your chances of breaking into banking will increase if you transfer.

CU doesn't offer business major to undergrads if I'm correct. Are you going to CC or SEAS? You might want to consider the newly introduced financial economics major if CC. Otherwise, financial engineering major is highly regarded by recruiters.

Btw, we have lots of parties too, not much on campus but outside school.

 

Columbia alum here..don't take on debt to go (I had a ton of Fin/Merit aid so it was a different story for me), the campus recruiting pipelines are very good of course, but not as strong as Harvard/Penn. If you love NYC and have a network there, maybe that makes sense for you, but if not, the happiness/campus life is probably a lot better at UNC. Also factor in Columbia's political and ideological climate, which is drastically different from UNC I'd imagine. That said, Congrats on the acceptance - I know a few people that transferred and loved their experience! 

 

UNC is a very solid school. But Columbia is regarded as a top 5 school by millions of Americans. I wouldn't underestimate how much the brand can carry, not quite as prestigious as saying I went to Harvard, MIT, Stanford, but very close. 

 

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