I’m a current sophomore at a very competitive (pretty much cutthroat) and small liberal arts college. I’m applying to transfer and looking for an academically rigorous school that has a more collaborative, chill and friendly student body. A diverse student body is also really important to me! I am African American so would ideally like to have more than 5% black students at the school.
School spirit isn’t too important to me (although a plus). I just need a school where the students enjoy collaboration and generally seem happy! Many students from the school I come from don’t like the student culture and overall complain about disliking the school and its people.
Good weather and close to a city or in a college town are a major plus.
I’m studying Economics and Data Science and I have a 3.44 gpa.
I’m considering an Econ and Data Science double major.
I’m looking for midsize or large universities.
No geography constraints but I definitely prefer warm weather.
I’m on financial aid at my current institution so schools that offer good aid are definitely important to me.
Currently USC is top of my list (I’m originally from California and I loved the student culture). I’m also considering adding Emory (although I’m unsure because I couldn’t find a Data science major)
I did not apply to USC after HS but I did apply to Emory and got in.
Interested if anyone has more insight on these two schools and/or more recommendations based off my preferences!
Denison could be a good one to consider; they meet need and their Data Analytics major is very strong Data Analytics | Denison University (7% Black - higher percentage than USC.) Perhaps a little smaller than you want (2300 undergrads) but definitely collaborative.
You might look at William and Mary. It has Data Science and Econ majors. My son is there now and loves the people. It consistently ranks on lists of the happiest students. It’s not an easy school, but the quality of life has been good for my son. The current freshman class is 5% black, and I’ve seen lists that say overall it’s 7%. Beautiful campus with Williamsburg surrounding.
OP is a California resident who requires need-based aid, so I don’t know that there’s a path to affordability at W&M. There are a lot of great public universities that would fit in terms of the academic and other criteria, but not financially.
OTOH, when I try to filter for affordability and transfer-friendliness, it’s hard to find the diversity. U of Miami seems to fit the criteria, and they have a data science major, so that could be worth a look. (8% Black)
I would check out Rutgers (collaborative/diverse/a good bargain are words I’ve seen used to describe the school and perhaps there’s merit aid?), the Claremont colleges, Macalester (not warm but might check other boxes), and Rhodes. It might also be worth checking out Vanderbilt, Rice, or WUSTL.
Editing b/c I just realized you were looking for larger schools. Rhodes and the individual Claremont schools and Macalester might feel smaller than what you’re looking for. A friend used to teach data science at University of Maryland (College Park) and had very good things to say about the school. It’s also more diverse.
For example, U of New Mexico - not a huge black population but a huge hispanic one.
UNLV is 8-9% black and very diverse.
It’s $46K OOS - but it has WUE. Not sure if you can get as a transfer. Is that within budget?
Not all schools that meet need for first year do for transfer.
If you’re transferring as a 2nd year, your HS record will count.
USC doesn’t list a transfer GPA but looks like they accept a hair over 25% - so you might see if yours is even in range.
In regards to the DS major, most schools will have one - whether it’s in statistics or something else - but you can get close enough. Given it’s a major du jour today, the schools are adding it.
I know you want academically rigorous - maybe a school like PItzer that is part of the Claremont Colleges so it’s like a larger school - but it only admits 10% of transfers.
If you like Emory and USC and want warm - maybe Rice?
Finally, and it’s not a huge black population but very diverse - how about a CSU like SDSU.
TCU, SMU, Tulane, WashU, UMiami, Georgetown, Emory, Northeastern, Wake Forest could be a start for midsize quality but more laid back than, say, Swarthmore…
I just looked this up. Claremont-McKenna has your majors and seems more transfer-friendly. I think the cool thing about that consortium, though, is that you could theoretically be at any of the schools and cross-enroll in courses. And the schools do seem to have different student cultures, so probably good to do some digging.
If you weren’t looking to leave the region, I’d recommend Wesleyan University, which offers an interdisciplinary Quantitative Analysis Center with opportunities similar to that of a data science major.
I was also going to suggest Denison, based on my son’s experience at the school. I held back when I saw you were looking for a bigger school, but if you going to look into it, I thought I should add my two cents. The Data Analytics major is relatively new, but students are using it/combining it with other majors in interesting ways. And Denison is quite diverse and very collaborative, academically serious but relatively relaxed.