Big Ambitions: But can I still get into an Ivy?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi everyone: I’m looking at several schools and seeking advice going into my junior year.

Here are the rest of my stats:

HS GPA UW: 4.0
Class Rank: Top 7% (Concerned about this, especially coming into junior year)

Extracurricular Activities & Accomplishments:

Business Professionals of America (Went to Nationals freshman year, won Nationals sophomore year)
Health Occupation Students of America (5th at state during freshman year)
National Spanish Exam (Gold Medalist)
Indian Culture Club (VP)
Spanish Club
JV Tennis (2 years)
Leaders Investment Club (with Julian Marchese, Austin Schwab)
Investment Club (Not just simulated stock market games, I self-study courses from MIT and Yale and implement them in the club)
National Honor Society
National Technical Honor Society

Future Extracurricular Activities (please factor these activities in your chance analyses):

Science Fair (Comparing different stents and engineering an improved model; plan to enter in ISEF, ISWEEP, and Siemens)
Extra courses at local community college (Financial Business Administration and International Banking & Finance)

Not sure if this helps, but I am also the founder and editor-in-chief of The National High School Journal of Finance and The Law of Ambition, a self improvement social network.

Planning on taking the SAT and PSAT this October, and expecting at least 1540.

Family/Personal Stats:

Race: South Asian (Indian)

Mother has a Masters Degree
Father has a Bachelors Degree and is currently unemployed
Household Income: $100,000 - $200,000

We have all immigrated to the US.

I have clinical anxiety and depression, although I doubt that plays a role in admissions.

I am planning on applying to these schools:

UPenn (Wharton) - Early Decision
Harvard University
Columbia
Stanford
Princeton
Rice
Brown
Cornell
Yale
New York University
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Dallas
UC Berkeley

I always thought that I would get into a good school, and that I should just study what I am interested in most (business and finance), but now people are intimidating me in a way, saying that it is pretty much the class valedictorian with a near perfect SAT and some community service that gets in to these colleges.

Thank you everyone!

2

This question has been asked a million times before and the answer is no. Admission officers do not care about AP scores, they are used for credit in college courses AFTER you have been admitted.

Please check to see if you question has been asked before posting…

3

Even the Ivy Leagues?

Apologize for my naiveté. I will edit out the portion inquiring about AP scores. Please chance me for the listed schools?

4

A few things:

  1. Which year are you? If you are a rising senior, why was that your first AP test? Is your school an IB school or have a limited selection of AP courses?

  2. Just as @CiteYourSources said, your chances are not ruined. However, I disagree that they play no factor in admissions. They probably do, especially for the schools you listed. However, they are probably a lot less important than GPA, ECs, Recs, Personal Statements/Essays/Supplements,and ACT/SAT scores. A good way to counteract low AP scores, which may question your school’s course rigor if accompanied with a high GPA, is with SAT subject tests.

  3. It is awesome that you are the editor-in-chief of what seems to be an impressive finance journal - but you just compromised your anonymity! Please be careful about doing this, especially if you do not want to be publicly connected to you College Confidential account.

An aside: You seem to claim that your journal is peer reviewed - how so?

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@yikesyikesyikes:

Sorry for being vague. I am a rising junior, and that is my first AP class offered to me (and taken) as a sophomore. My school is a good one, but not nationally ranked. Is there anything I can do to remove this blemish? Do you think I should take my AP test again this year?

And you’re right, I should edit this post soon. About the peer-reviewing on my journal - I have a relatively large network of people in finance who regularly publish their informal research. Most of the research that is being published goes through them and put into the journal publication, which will be released later in the fall.

Thanks for your help so far!

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@Arjun0728

AP scores are self-reported on the Common App, if I remember correctly. Simply do better on your other AP tests, in the future and report them instead. I think that there were only 10 available spots for reporting APs anyway. As for retaking your AP test - I would say not worth it.

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@yikesyikesyikes

Thank you for your help! I’ll probably cut one or two AP classes next year to prevent this from happening again.

If I could ask you one more favor - Do you mind giving me an idea of my chances for the listed schools?

Thanks again!

8

You definitely have passion and drive in the economics/finance field which is great. That is half the battle. You have a perfect GPA, keep that up, I won’t harp on the fact that test scorss are missing because I’m sure you will score highly. If you don’t, well that will be your issue to deal with. As for you national journal of finance and law of ambition project, they SOUND great but what actually is posted often? How many people do you have following them? How big is your team that keeps it running? What have you done with these national projects to influence a group of people? Anyone can start a website and call it national, it’s not about the title. You need to make sure that you are being influential to a greater population in order for these ECs to have weight. That being said you obviously have extreme competition with your south asian peers so your personality will have to come through in your essays. However, I think i’ll chance you once you survive your junior year, that is the test. :slight_smile:

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@Arjun0728

At this point chancing you would be pure folly - as you do not even have ACT/SAT scores yet. Once you have those scores, and are well into your junior year, then “chancing” will make more sense (even then, it is pretty useless - but at least there will be some rationale).

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@CiteYourSources

You’re right, anyone can start a journal or a club, but it is what you do with it that matters! :slight_smile:
I’m in the process of getting other people on board from Leaders Investment Club and some other societies.

I hope junior year won’t disappoint, and see you on the other side!
:smiley:

11

@yikesyikesyikes You’re right. I should really be asking: What should I do to be or stay on track?

12

Keep up your GPA - that 4.0 can do wonders. Also try to get an SAT score of 1500+/1600 or an ACT score of 34+. The Leaders Investment Club seems to be a powerful network, I would leverage it, as you plan on doing, to really make your finance journal stand out.

Also, I need to add some shameless promotion in here for my school and vouch for you to add Michigan to your list - we have a great business program, and even our College of Engineering and LSA prepare people well for roles in finance/consulting. We get a good amount of attention from Wall Street and top consulting firms, and some Chicago prop shops.

13

@yikesyikesyikes

Any memories of the difficulty in maintaining a GPA during junior year? Is it difficult to do so, or is it simply a lot of homework?

Michigan looks good, and I’ve heard of some people even landing jobs at Goldman and UBS with a Michigan degree. I’ll keep it in mind, thanks!

14

@Arjun0728

Junior year is usually pretty difficult, with harder classes and balancing more extracurricular commitment and standardized testing.

And yeah, I know Goldman does on-campus recruiting, and I would not be surprised if UBS did so as well.

15

Try to keep your confidentiality. You can give us an idea of your EC’s without giving up your identity. Unfortunately you’ve given some personal medical information away already. There should not be a stigma to mental health disorders but you still don’t want that info out there. I’ve noticed lots of young posters do this. Perhaps it’s a sign of becoming blurred between their private selves and public selves?

16

You have too many reaches. It’s a sign that you want prestige over fit. You need to do more research for your academic, social and financial fit.

17

The reality is that no one can really chance you. Continue to do what interests you. Find your voice when writing. The essays will be crucial.

18

@goingnutsmom You offer some good points. Maybe I should reiterate - Would I be a good fit in these schools, given ambition and the factors I have provided?

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@goingnutsmom

I agree partially. Although social/academic fit is very important, if the OP plans to go into financial services, prestige will matter quite a bit (although it is possible to break in from less prestigious schools with enough elbow grease and networking).

Of course, financial fit is absolutely necessary.

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@yikesyikesyikes I agree, it is important to be in a target school if you want to break into financial services.