How does transferring to Emory work for those pursuing BBA in Finance?

msport
Mon, 09 Oct 2017 02:47:22 +0000

@bernie12

Thanks for the extra words. GBS offers a valuation class, an investment banking class, an advanced corporate finance class, and some other awesome classes NOT offered for UVA Econ students. Those classes are vital because they are 100% relevant to investment banking and i’d rather learn them in the classroom setting first before paying for technical prep guides online, they don’t explain the concepts as well.

Also - I think your understanding of how much of an advantage these “elite business schools” play is quite diluted. NYU Stern, UVA McIntire(i can’t get into), UMich-Ross, UNC-KF, Northwestern, Wharton, HYPS, etc. are all TARGET schools that bulge bracket firms heavily recruit at. Students in the business schools at these universities have a huge advantage over the econ students because they are looked at first and more favorably - as well as usually having exclusive career centers and networking events.

Regarding math/cs: what you say is only true for the most quantitative roles in an investment bank. I specifically want to work in leveraged finance or mergers and acquisitions - these are the two most competitive groups because they have the best exit opportunities into private equity, the huge majority of people in these roles are pure finance/economics and having CS/Math on the side isn’t gonna be what makes you more attractive than your competition (these roles are accounting/valuation/modeling heavy - not really that quantitative). It’s gonna be what you’ve already got on your resume and which school you come from(yes, non-targets can break in with 200% more effort via networking). Emory is also a school with HEAVY bulge bracket recruiting and IMO should be considered a target as well. A simple linkedin alumni search of the class of 2016/2017 is literally lined with investment banking analysts to the level that UVA McIntire/UM-Ross/Stern are. It’s pretty crazy.

The roles you speak of that prefer quanty backgrounds are research roles, strat roles, sales and trading roles, and quantitative finance roles - which all have a presence in the front office of an investment bank but is not what I am going for.

Anyways, at the end of the day, Emory GBS > UVA Econ and this honestly cannot be disputed. I’ve crushed all my economics and accounting courses with A’s and if Emory declined them I would be happy to take placement tests (read that this is the case with transferring accounting/econ courses). Also, i’m coming from one of the nation’s top community colleges, this doesn’t really mean anything besides the fact that our coursework is as close as it gets to true university settings/standards - i mention this because my school is probably on the less likely side to have credits rejected.

To address your last question, what I really like about GBS is the curriculum and network, as well as the standards that Emory sets - everyone knows that Emory students have a LOT of core classes they must complete other colleges don’t require and I respect that Emory wants well rounded and cultured students. I don’t have any story about the location or having legacy but I think that is a fine reason to want to go to GBS. I’m literally willing to do anything that will increase my chances of breaking into banking out of undergrad.

I’m applying to UMich Econ, UNC Econ, UVA Econ, Emory, NYU Econ, and Cornell Econ. My gpa is at the lower end (3.5-3.7) and therefore disqualifies my competitiveness as a transfer applicant for the business schools at these universities - it’s really attractive to me that Emory gives transfers a strong opportunity.

I appreciate you being realistic with me about what to expect at Emory, but I assure you i’m willing to place all bets on myself - i’ll do what it takes to be a top performer because that is all i’m focused on at this point in my life :-).