I’m aware that this isn’t necessarily a morally justifiable reason for transferring, but for me, the college experience isn’t my priority; education comes first. I understand that a school’s name won’t guarantee admission into top firms, but it will definitely help me get my foot in the door for interviews and opportunities. Since I’m paying full price, I want to make the most of every dollar spent.
I feel an immense pressure to ensure that I’m maximizing the value of my education and my parents’ hard work. If I’m not striving for the best school and outcome possible, I worry I’m not doing justice to their investment.
If you have any information or tips, I would appreciate it if you could DM me or leave them in the comments if you prefer to share publicly.
I already shared ideas on your Georgetown thread. Drill down on specifics about the academic and intellectual opportunities. Use the course catalogue to spark the narrative.
No adcom wants to think of their institution as an expensive corporate training program for the banking industry. Even if that’s what people think that’s what they are getting- these are real universities with professors and research grants and book contracts and symposia and inter-disciplinary conferences to inspire new ideas.
The university’s own website-- with the “what’s happening” calendar of lectures, roundtables, fellowship appointments, etc. should provide you with everything you need to write a meaty essay on “why” which is NOT about “I want to use your career services team to get a highly paid job at a bank so I can leverage that into a higher paying job in private equity and then leverage THAT into a monstrously paying job in venture capital”.
Try researching the academic opportunities-- that will get you 80% of the way there.
– IMO nobody else’s essay topic would be particularly helpful to you. You need to focus on finding your own interests and express them in your own voice.
– Prestige and the possibility of a better job generally will not be considered impressive or thoughtful reasons to transfer, particularly since you are already at a T15 school.
–Do research-- are there courses, majors, professors, etc. at these schools that will give you something meaningful you can’t get at your current school?
–Did you initially apply to these schools? If so, has your profile been significantly improved since that time?
–Keep in mind that transferring successfully can be done but it can be difficult. You will move to a school where most students are in good routines, will have friendships in place, where they understand the expectations of professors, etc. while much will be new to you. The grass is not always greener…
–Be sure you also focus on how best to maximize the experience at your current school in the event a transfer doesn’t work out.
You’re probably aware of this, but transferring into Stern from another college is extremely difficult. The school gives preference to internal transfers from within NYU first - even saying “ Nearly all of our available space is given to applicants who are already students at NYU”. Not to say you shouldn’t apply, because “nearly all” isn’t all, but be realistic, and you are probably going to have bring more to the table than just good grades.
Well I personally do believe there is a huge difference according to recruiting charts. Its almost exponential the ways recruiting increases for ranks. McDonough is #3 but I will take your advice into account.
Yes, liberal arts has a much higher admit rate than Stern. You would probably have had a significantly better chance trying to transfer into stern from liberal arts than from another university, but still far from guaranteed. It probably was a smarter move to go into a business program elsewhere as you did, even if you don’t get one of the transfers you’re looking for now.
I expect that recruiting at Gtown is better, but my comment that Gtown would probably not consider an applicant’s desire for increased prestige/better recruiting to be a thoughtful/meaningful reason for a transfer stands.