Asian female interested in econ & finance - reverse chance me?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi, I’m a rising senior interested in pursuing a career in the finance industry (specifically consulting). I want to double major in economics and finance and I was wondering what colleges I should add to my list outside of my state school. I have a small list generated so far and would really appreciate if you could also try to predict my chances at the listed colleges. Thanks.

Background: NJ resident, Asian female, income approx $190k, public school

Tests: 1520 SAT (720 R&W, 800 Math), 790 SAT II Chemistry, likely NMF (225 selection index)

GPA: 3.94 UW, 4.42 W (class rank 56/629)

AP: Chemistry (4), Calculus AB (5), took 4 tests this year but I don’t know my scores yet

Senior Courses: AP Stats, AP Macro, AP Lit, Comp Sci, Psychology & Human Development, Honors World History, Accounting, AP French

Extracurriculars:

  • vice president of a mental health volunteering club at school that offers opportunities for students to take part in specific initiatives (I’ve been really involved with this club since freshman year and have lots of leadership experience from it)
  • blood drive supervisor & financial chair for school's Red Cross Club (handled budget, registrations, and the software used to track donor information)
  • member of a nonprofit affiliated with a T20 university (compiling & analyzing data to form an official list of medical resources for those who need it)
  • learning piano for 11 years & won several awards and competitions in NYC (I also teach 3 students about music theory over Zoom and have been doing this since October)
  • chief editor for a student-led music magazine (social media marketing, outreach, & media relations)
  • I have an Instagram page where I post covers of songs that I wrote/performed myself (I don't have many followers but I spend a lot of time working on this)
  • member of school's economics club (participating in local competitions)
  • intern at a popular magazine for high school students since freshman year
  • Math Honor Society, Business Honor Society, Music Honor Society, Science Honor Society, Social Studies Honor Society, French Honor Society

SCHOOLS I’M INTERESTED IN (I would love suggestions on how to improve this list):

Reach: Princeton, Northeastern, Rice, UVA
Target: Rutgers (honors?), UF Honors, UGA Honors, UDel Honors, Fordham Honors
Safety: Purdue, UPitt, UCF

I really want to attend a school that has a balance of school spirit and academics. I would ideally stay on the East Coast but I’m open to different locations in the US based on the university itself. I’m applying to Princeton since it’s one of the Ivies that I’m really interested in. Should I apply ED to any schools (even those not on my list) considering that I need aid? I feel like my stats are great but I’m a bit worried about my extracurriculars since I don’t have many. I tried to focus on a few areas I’m really passionate about but I don’t know if that’s the right approach. Please help me refine my list and/or suggest other schools I should consider! Any advice is appreciated.

2

What is your budget? You’ve got a lot of out of state public schools on your list and they tend not to give financial aid to out of state students. Most private schools won’t give much aid either.

3

My budget is $35k but my parents are flexible as long as the net cost is below our EFC (50k). Most of the public schools on my list would be affordable because of national merit and/or other scholarships - UF and UCF would be free. The other schools I mentioned offer merit scholarships to OOS students with competitive stats so I thought I would add them to my list. Are there any schools in particular you think would not be a financial fit?

4

Purdue is closer to $40-44K/year (depending on housing) for OOS and is getting less generous with merit.

Have you looked at IU? For finance/econ/business, they tend to be the stronger program.

FWIW, I think you have a decent list.

5

Pitt OOS is probably $50K/year. They offer merit but don’t count on it or getting enough plus I think they’re moving more towards need based aid.

Temple might be another safety option. I would think you would get enough merit and honors college. We were impressed with the Fox business school and the business honors program. They really look out for their honors students.

Indiana and Ohio State had some good OOS scholarships that would get you close to $35k. Not sure if they will continue with everything going on. South Carolina could be an option. They list all their OOS scholarships online. You should be able to get under $35k. Their business school is very good, especially the international programs.

Econ usually but not always falls under Arts and Sciences at a college. Finance usually falls under the business school at colleges. It can make a difference on your application. Business schools are usually tougher to get into. S20 was advised to apply to business schools if he had any intentions of doing a double major outside the business school.

6

My advice for anyone applying for business is to apply to Indiana University Kelley Business school it is ranked in the top 10-15 of every business school ranking and employers love that school as they get great placement. Your stats would qualify you to be a direct admit. If you apply to Indiana Kelley, which will be your safety, then you shouldn’t bother applying to much worse safeties or targets. Other schools I would recommend are NYU, UNC Chapel Hill, U Michigan, USC, IU Kelley(again), UT Austin, Emory, Notre Dame, WashU St Louis, Carnegie Melon, UIUC, Cornell, UPenn, Boston College, Tufts, Georgetown, Wake Forest. I think you should change your list dramatically especially in the safety and target range. Once you have Kelley a top 10 business school in your hands almost as a guarantee then you should just be shooting up.

7

Make sure you run the net price calculator (NPC) for each college. It can be found on each college’s website.

I agree with @vntdman7 's list and post. There are certain schools that will get you into finance. Most of them are on that list (other than Harvard and Yale).

8

In searching for colleges notably strong for the study of economics, consider these analyses:

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html

Regarding potential choices not offering a specific finance degree, your goals could be furthered by pursuing an economics and math intensive schedule with included courses in topics such as corporate finance, financial economics and international finance.

This resource can be especially convenient for estimating costs: https://myintuition.org/.

9

Her budget is $35K/year and EFC is $50K. The COA at just about all of these schools is $75K/year. Most of these schools, especially Ivies, don’t give merit scholarships, just FA which she won’t get enough to attend. Also, the acceptance rate can be lower for business majors compared to the overall acceptance rate. All of these schools are reaches even if the COA were affordable. She needs a few safeties. Rutgers is a great safety.

They’re great business schools but most likely not affordable. The only one that’s a good possibility is Kelley. Direct admit and probably enough merit to get it close to $35K/year. If your parents up the amount to $50K/year you might apply to a few on this list. UNC, Michigan, and UT might be around that amount for OOS. Look at the ones that are meets full need if you can swing $50K.

S20 went through the process this year for business schools. We set similar budget. Our in-state flagships (Pitt, PSU) cost $35K/year. ND rep told him he would get in but no merit or FA. SMU merit was the most generous. COA would’ve been $45K/year. Fordham around $50K/year with merit. In the end we upped the budget. He’s going to Georgia Tech. He has a good chance of graduating in 3 years if he wants.

If you want to work on Wall Street or consult for Bain, then you’ll need a T20 school or better. They typically recruit at schools like Penn or NYU. You can Google “bulge bracket firms”.

Poets and Quants is a good resource.

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/2019/12/20/wharton-again-tops-pqs-best-undergraduate-b-schools-of-2020/8/

10

Possible affordable schools for you on the P&Q list in top 50:-

Reaches (due to business school admit rate and needing merit)

  • IU Kelley
  • U Mass Isenberg
  • UGA

Matches / Safeties

  • Miami OH (auto merit)
  • SUNY Binghampton (SUNY is well priced without merit)
  • Arizona (auto merit)
  • The College of New Jersey (ranked about Rutgers!?) instate
  • Rutgers instate

I think being accepted into the Honors College/Program at these schools is also essential. Recruiting for consulting will be targeted at business / honors students.

A lot also rests on the junior/senior year internship.

11

Thanks for all of your replies. I’ve looked at IU Kelley and I really like their business programs, but I was concerned about my net price since I heard that merit aid is rare there. I know someone with a similar profile that is attending Kelley for $40k.

Temple was on my list but I wasn’t sure about the safety in and around campus. I live nearby in Camden County so I’ve been in the area, and honestly I don’t really like North Philly.

Regarding @vntdman7 's list, I obviously would love to apply for and attend those schools, however I don’t think they would be a financial fit for my family. The NPCs for most of those schools (except) Princeton expect my family to pay $50k/year or higher which is definitely expensive. I would have half-tuition at USC due to National Merit but I’m hesitant about moving across the country considering travel expenses and overall comfort 3000 miles away from family.

Fordham would be $22k/year since I would have a full tuition scholarship. Gabelli is highly ranked for finance, but would it provide access for recruiting purposes? I really like that it’s in NYC (I’m interested in the LC campus) and think that it could be really helpful for finding internships, making connections, and whatnot, but I’m not sure.

Thanks again everyone. I’m reconsidering Purdue and Pitt. TCNJ doesn’t offer a finance major or minor which is why I didn’t consider it in the first place. I guess I’m going to spend a lot of time revising my college list…

12

Fordham LC was probably my son’s 1st or 2nd choice. It’s in a nice location if you like NYC. Not much of a campus at LC and they only offer certain majors there but if not you could probably split time at RH. I liked RH campus but it’s in the Bronx. Plenty of intern/job opportunities.

USC sounds nice but I think going far, far away to school is overrated. It’s nice having a support system within driving distance. Then there’s travel costs which add-up fast. YMMV.

I get not being crazy about North Philly. I think Temple is better than it used to be and the campus is actually pretty nice. Small and contained and you’re right on the main line for public transportation which goes everywhere. Philly the city kind of grew on us. S20 basically could’ve gone there for the cost of room and board plus he was offered university honors and Fox business honors. The Fox business honors staff really takes care of their students. There are a lot of nice perks being in honors colleges. Keep that in-mind when applying.

I still would take a look at UGA, UF, or South Carolina. I think you could get SC below $35K. If you would consider Dallas you might look at SMU. They offer merit to top scholars and the BBA scholars award opens a lot of doors. You might get the COA to around $40K/year which is fantastic for what you get.

It’s difficult getting your COA below $40K/year when your EFC is higher. Schools expect you to spend a lot of your income or take out loans to go to school (bad idea). Just be thankful your parents make a good living and can pay a decent amount towards college. There are many threads here from kids who really can’t afford to go to college even with FA.

To be honest, when the app process began I think my son thought he would get a lot of scholarship money and be able to pick any school he wanted. Then reality set-in. He was offered some nice opportunities but the COA was still over $40K/year. The only school we would’ve upped the budget was Georgia Tech. He was deferred EA but got in for RD. He’s going there in the fall hopefully.

I think you’re actually in a very good spot. Your list might not be long but it’s solid. If you end up having to pick from Rutgers, Fordham, Kelley, Temple and one of the SEC schools that’s not a bad list. Especially if you get into the honors programs. Even if Rutgers is a safety please put the time and effort into the app and essays. You want to make sure you get everything you can from the safety schools. I’d rather have a short list of really good/great schools than a long list of mediocre schools. In the end you can only pick one school. Good luck.