Hi y’all! I am looking to transfer for spring 2026. I am majoring in bioinformatics and have made a 3.5 cumulative GPA in my five semesters of college. I have also presented at an undergraduate research symposium. I should have pretty strong recs as well. I must confess though I did struggle with some of the tougher classes, getting a C+ in Calc I and a C- in Calc 2 and a C in calculus based physics. The rest of my classes I have all A’s and B’s in. I am currently applying to Baylor, Fordham, Boston University, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Virginia Tech, Loyola Chicago, and Pittsburgh. Could you please let me know what my chances are for these schools and if there are others I should look at applying to?
Where are you now?
What’s your budget - that’s the most important thing.
And what’s your state of residence.
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I am currently in North Carolina but I am willing to take out loans because there really aren’t any good schools for my program in state.
What is your program?
Fortunately for you, the feds limit how much you can take - very little. Your parents can take more.
Loans strangle you financially - for years and years and years - so no, you don’t want to take loans, not a significant amount.
What can you afford to pay? What majors - I find it hard to believe there are no good schools.
Again, I’ll ask how much can you afford - without loans - because you may not be able to get loans to fund your degree - not in the amount you need.
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If I had to guesstimate probably about in state tuition rates so about 10k. I am majoring in bioinformatics
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So you can’t go to schools like Va Tech, Pitt that are near $60K - if you include room & board.
So look at UNCC that has the major - forget the other schools - you don’t need $100K in debt to strangle your future.
Have you run the net price calculator for BU - it’s $90K+ a year.
Undergraduate Studies - College of Computing and Informatics
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I appreciate the advice, however I do not want to go to a schools where its graduates average about a 40k salary 6 years after graduation. That’s simply not good enough for me.
*school whoops
You can’t look at a salary for a school. You have to look by major.
Guess what - it doesn’t matter where you go, companies pay the same - by location.
Example - my engineer son turned down Purdue for Alabama. I thought he was nuts. He told me I was wrong - and he is correct. He works with Purdue and Michigan kids but also W Michigan and Akron - and they all make the same.
You cannot saddle yourself with crazy debt - unless your parents will - and who is going to pay $1 or $2K per month for the next ten years - where are you going to get the money.
I’m sure you’ll get into Loyola, etc. but you are looking at things improperly.
A school’s average salary is not relevant. You have to look by major.
Debt is a killer…and I’ll leave it at that.
Run the NPCs - but if you can afford $10K, in two years, you’ll accrue $100K in debt (if you can find a parent to take it on) - oh, and with the new federal government rules, from the Big Beautiful, you can’t anyway - limited to $65K and $20K per year. See, someone besides me is looking out for you and even that is too much.
So you need a low cost list - and that starts with UNCC.
Getting into a school and then finding out you can’t pay for it is silly. Run the NPCs but I’m giving you that heads up now.
btw - in 2022, so several years ago, the average salary from UNCC in the major was $77,696 - as I said, the stats you are looking at aren’t valid for the major.
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I see what you are saying, and cost is important. I’m happy your engineer son is doing great. However, I do think its important to understand that its not what you know, its who you know. And at UNCC I don’t think I will get the chance to know as many people in my industry as I would at a larger more prestigious school. And also, going to a school like UNCC would be severe for my mental health since it is a commuter school. It doesn’t have that same college experience that I am looking for.
@tsbna44 is exactly right. How much you get paid on the job depends mostly on what you know how to do, and to a lesser but still significant extent where you are. As one example a university in Silicon Valley will tend to have more graduates who work in Silicon Valley, which is an area where salaries tend to be a bit higher (although probably not enough higher to make up for the high living costs there). The same would be true for NYC and Boston, which are not cheap areas in which to live.
What you know how to do will depend a great deal upon your major. This means that universities that have a lot of students in majors that pay well will tend to have graduates with higher salaries.
Also, it is possible to get part way through a degree and then discover that you cannot borrow enough to complete the degree. It is possible to end up with the debt but with no degree to show for it. You do not want to be in this position.
BU was in a near tie (with NEU) for the most expensive university that either daughter ever got accepted to. She went somewhere else, thankfully.
You should definitely be applying to your in-state public universities.
It would be a HUGE advantage if you can graduate university with an employable major and no debt.
So find a school you can afford - but $10K as a transfer will be tough.
As i said, you can only borrow so much thanks to the new laws - and frankly, what’s worst for your mental health is debt and that will last a lot longer than your last two years.
Where are you now and why can’t you stay?
You’re assuming kids from say Va Tech or Loyola will do better than UNCC - what info/data do you have to prove that?
Will your parents co-sign loans the exceed the $6500 and $7500 you can borrow by yourself for years three and four? (And that’s assuming you don’t use Direct Loans for the first semester next academic year). In some cases, these will be HUGE loans for the schools you have listed.
I think you need to make a list of transfer colleges that are financially attainable. If you can’t pay the bills, the schools won’t let you enroll anyway. Or even worse, if you figure out a way to pay for one term, and then run out of laying options, you will need to transfer…again.
Get a firm number that your family will contribute. Then you can add in $6500 for year three, and $7500 for year four.
If you have excellent financial aid where you currently are, you might want to figure out a way to make that school work for completing your bachelors degree.
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Appreciate the concerns about costs, but I will cross that boat when I get to it. I’m moreso concerned about the academics.
I appreciate the concern, but I don’t want to debate this. I will worry about costs once I get accepted to schools.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
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If you want to know the truth - this is as easy as fill out the NPCs. If BU tells you that it’s $90K a year and you have $10K, then you’re not going.
If they tell you it will be $10K, you’re likely not going because they are need aware and won’t want to support you.
Run the NPCs to see the cost. Worrying about cost afterward is just a recipe for disaster.
You say the “academics” will be better elsewhere. How do you know? At some lesser schools, they’re great. At some top schools, they’re not.
And you got Cs in math - so it’s not like your current school is a cake walk.
You are potentially heading down a path of financial ruin, so that’s quite sad.
But I wish you luck.
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I appreciate your concern about finances, and I understand the cost issue is real. I’ll definitely be running NPCs. But what I’m really looking for right now is academic guidance — which schools are realistic matches for my GPA and coursework in bioinformatics. Since UNC Charlotte is the only in-state option, I need to look out of state. My question is: given my profile, where should I realistically be applying?
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I don’t know your overall record, classes taken, and transferability to the new school. In other words, some of your classes may not transfer. And the Cs in math will hurt given the major.
You can look at the CDS for each school - section D for admission stats. But some stats or acceptance rates will be inflated as some programs have guaranteed transfers.
Niche lists every school with the major but you might want to validate UAB is lower in cost and a healthcare leader but you’ll stamp it like UNCC. You can try UMBC, Buffalo and Arizona too. Iowa State too.
Good luck
I’ve done the math and about 55-60 of my credits should transfer. It is important to note that I aced both my biology classes (I and II) and got B’s in both of my chemistry classes (I and II)