Will transferring to another college better my chances for a competitive grad school?

Graduate School
1

I’m currently a student at Thomas Edison State University and have completed about 63 credits thus far, my major being Finance. I have of 3.9. However, I have been considering transferring to another school to better my chances for acceptance into a more competitive university for my master’s.

Just a bit about myself: I started college quite late (I’m currently 26 yrs old), as I came from a very troubled background. I don’t really go into specifics often because I feel many people use “sob” stories to make excuses for them not trying their hardest to get out of where they came from…

My father was incredibly abusive. He was very physical with my mother and then later to me. Often times I would refuse to go home simply to avoid getting hurt. My situation was very complicated at the time, but it wasn’t until 16 that my mother decided to up and leave, abandoning me with my father.

Needless to say, I did not do well in high school, and started working at 15 by forging working papers (as he refused to give me money for anything). I moved out as soon as I was able at 17 and tried to attend college once I graduated high school. I worked at a local community college as a graphic designer as well as a secretary job while attending their design classes, I did decently enough, considering my schedule (I worked from 8am-5pm at the office, then 6-7/8 at my internship, then classes were night classes from 9-11pm).

I then, got in a car accident, broke my leg, required surgery, and was unable to walk for 6 months. Unable to keep rent and my job due to my situation, I was forced back to my father’s house. Needless to say, that was a mistake as three years ago, shortly after I healed he decided to get physical with me and tore my shoulder. I ended up having a restraining order with him and was forced to bunk with friends until I could get back on my feet.

For a long while, college was just a faraway dream to me. However, I never gave up on myself. I spend hours stealing wifi and sitting in friends cars in parking lots, or at the library, just to get what I’ve achieved so far at Thomas Edison State.

I very much want to get into business, and know that I am capable. However, is it too far from my grasp to try and attempt grad school at a competitive school? I’ve spoken to advisors at several schools (I live in NY). Fordham, NYU, also schools such as Penn State. All have said that I have a good chance as a transfer student due to my grades.

I was accepted to Temple University about three years ago, before the accident, but was unable to attend as I was unable to take out the necessary funds remaining after FASFA (my credit was shot as I found out my father was using my credit score for various things without my knowledge, and so, I had horrible credit). However, it is now, much better, as I have opened cases and disputed things that he had fraudulently opened in my name. So, I would not mind taking out money for college if it means I can achieve my dreams.

If I want to let’s say, apply sometime in the future to a competitive university for my Master’s in Business, is it better to transfer from TESU to a state school? Or should I simply finish where I am and apply to competitive universities afterwards? Would I have a chance?

Thanks all.

2

One important factor for an MBA program is, “Where have you worked?” Can you go from Thomas Edison to a Fortune 500 company? If not, the most important thing when looking for a transfer school is the placement success of their business school. (Many top business schools have their own placement programs apart from the general university one.)

Nobody will care at all about your high school record when getting an MBA.

Otherwise, good grades and good test scores can come from almost any respectable school, does not have to be the most elite one.

Can you afford NYU? They give lousy financial aid. Even if you now have a better credit rating, it’s not worth it to go into major debt for your undergraduate degree.

3

Thank you for the response!

That is true, about NYU. However I have a few friends that are very deep in debt from college (400k+) and have very very good jobs in Wall Street making well over what I could dream making. A friend of mind went into debt to attend her universities and is now working for a very respectable hedge fund in the city. However, I was told that if I didn’t have a masters from a top tier school I wouldn’t even get looked at. I’ve just grown this preconceived notion that being heavy in debt, as someone with my lack of financial backing, was normal.

I’ve always been working, however for the past year I apply to about 10-20 jobs a week in internships or finance related fields in order to better prepare my resume for grad school, however not one company has gotten back to me. However, other people I’ve kept in contact with that attended schools like St Johns, NYU, Fordham were all able to get internships. I’m not sure if its because of my university that I’m attending. Or some other reason (as I have had work experience in administrative jobs, bookkeeping, accounting, and they applied as sophomores in college without any work experience).

Thank you for taking the time to help. Getting my plans sorted out is really keeping me motivated to try my best.

4

Is it that nobody at TESU is getting internships, or that nobody is getting internships on Wall Street, or is it just you that is struggling to get hired?

Wall Street is very snobbish, so moving up in school rankings would help. But remember there are no guarantees and be cautious about debt!

5

Yes of course! I know it could be a number of reasons other than the possible ones that I listed. It is, also smarter not to get ahead of myself as you suggested, and keep debt in mind.

The only local schools I can think of that two people I know went off to very competitive schools afterwards was Queens College and City College. The one from Queens College went off to Columbia and the one for City College to Columbia as well. Both had other things going for them though, such as honors societies and club activities while at Queens College…

6

If you have $400K in student debt, even hedge fund money is not going to be enough to comfortably repay that - or at least, you won’t be enjoying your hedge fund money. A $400K debt load even on an extended scheme of 20 years is over $3,000 a month. Even if you made $100K coming straight from undergrad at a hedge fund, after taxes and your loan payment you’d be left with less than $3,000 a month to live on. You’d be living like a grad student.

No no no no, it’s not.

You say you live in NY - are you an NY state resident? I would take a look at some of the CUNY schools. Baruch would be such an obvious choice for someone interested in business, but other good options are City, Hunter, Queens, Brooklyn, and Lehman. York College is pretty good, too. The CUNY schools are excellent; they are relatively low cost for a NY resident and you can definitely go from a CUNY school to a prestigious MBA program. If you are willing to move (it sounds like you are since you mentioned PSU), there are also the other SUNY schools - New Paltz, Purchase College, Binghamton, Geneseo, Albany, Buffalo, even Stony Brook and Old Westbury which are closer to you.

NYU is very, very expensive and very unlikely to give a transfer student much financial aid. Same thing with Fordham and Penn State as an OOS. You can get an excellent education and reach your goals at a much lower price and avoid acquiring mortgage-sized debt.