Business ECs

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I’ve been running a relatively popular web network for the past 2 years (although I only got serious about a year ago). Its always been a hobby for me, but it seems like it may be a good EC for Wharton, perhaps even a hook. </p>

<p>Anyways, I’ll let you guys decide if this is a hook/a reasonable EC. </p>

<p>My network serves several million visitors monthly (upwards for 5 million), has employed over 100 employees (mostly part time/freelance) in multiple countries, includes some 50+ websites with topics ranging from asbestos/mesothelioma cancer to programming/software development. </p>

<p>Now for “the problems:” </p>

<p>1) I don’t make that much profit - granted a couple of hundred/thousand isn’t so bad. However, one of the kids at my school was netting $15,000 a month at my school, my profits pale in comparison :(. I probably gross more than 15k a month. However, my net profit is in the dumps after you take out the money I pay out to Uncle Sam, my employees, and the “server people.”</p>

<p>2) My grades are far from “stellar.” Last year was tough, I pulled a bunch of B’s in a bunch of honors/AP courses (soph. year). Good thing I pulled 5’s on my APs :). However, my class rank has probably dropped a bit (probably 40~ out of 500~). I’m pretty sure I can pull myself back into the top 20, or maybe even top 10, but I won’t get my hopes up too high. I’ve probably got a 3.6-3.8 UW. I got a 2150 on the SAT I - probably in the lower half for Wharton :(?</p>

<p>Anyways, how does my EC match up with my otherwise average/below average stats? Does it give me an honest shot, or should I work on spiking my grades/SATs instead/look at other schools?</p>

<p>Boy, looks like I turned this into a chances thread.</p>

<p>Edit: I forgot to mention, I’m an Asian Junior (soon to be). Also, I’ve got most of the stereotypical Asian ECs inaddition to the above - violin, piano, science club, math club, track, etc.</p>

2

<p>go poop yourself</p>

3

<p>I'm completely serious :(.</p>

<p>Another thing (I suppose this will be the end of me), I forgot to mention I got a C last year in one of my AP classes. My teacher and I totally clashed, but I got a 5 on the AP. So, that probably puts my chances down a good 1 million notches or so :( .</p>

4

<p>You have 100 employees working under you! As if you didn't already know, most ADULTS do nnot make 15k a month or anything close to that. Please don't tell me you don't think that is impressive</p>

5

<p>I don't even net close to 15k a month. That would be my gross profit. From that, I take out a couple of thousand for advertising, server costs, employee costs, and good ol' Uncle Sam's share. I've made maybe $5000/month max. My monthly average is generally closer to $1,000.</p>

<p>The 100 employees have been the total amount up to now. I'm only employing 20 or 30 people now. Mostly all part-timers/freelancers so I kind of doubt they can even be counted as employees.</p>

<p>Anyways, where I come from, grades are usually the first priority. Everything else is second. I've heard that to even be examined by the adcoms, your number stats have to pass a certain level. I.e. 2100 SATs/3.9 GPA, etc.</p>

6

<p>You know my dad makes $600 canadian minus taxes a month right? Nothing against you, but it actually ****es me off to see you doing this.</p>

7

<p>Apologies. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not trying to "flaunt" anything and its not like I'm doing this with "daddy's money" or anything - my parents haven't put in a single penny for me. I started up with $100 made from tutoring.</p>

<p>I'm not one to be complaining (running this has been my choice all along, and many times its been a great pleasure), however, if you think its been all been a walk in the park for me and that I'm flaunting just to make other people feel bad, I politely request you to reconsider.</p>

<p>I've worked for every single bit of this. Excuse the cliche, but my blood and sweat is in this business - many weeks during the school year I devote 20+ hours to this thing. During the summer 40 or 50 hour weeks aren't uncommon. Suffice it to say my social life is almost non-existant. </p>

<p>When the servers go critical/down, I'm up - may it be 6:00 PM or 3:00 AM. Sometimes my eyes are so bloodshot and I look so tired that my friends joke with me and ask me if I was up all night doing drugs. Granted, this isn't an everyday thing, but that sure as hell doesn't make it any easier.</p>

<p>I'm not asking for tears but letting you know that my life sure as heck isn't a walk in the park. My parents are just average/middle class and every extra bit helps. </p>

<p>I've always heard that in the admissions game, grades count more, so I'd like to gauge if this has any chance of negating my low grades (by ivy and cc standards?).</p>

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<p>off topic - how do you make that money?! hosting people's sites?! thats insane! insanely cool, nonetheless.</p>

<p>i wish my site made money like that.</p>

9

<p>omg oops sorry i dont know what i was thinking 600/week i dont know why but i thought you posted per week i dont know why sorry!!</p>

<p>But ya 1000 bucks a month is still a lot. I think the type of business you are doing is more impressive than the profits. good luck</p>

10

<p>Thanks, I'm not out to offend anyone, so please don't take anything I said the wrong way :). </p>

<p>I do make a lot of the money by hosting sites. I also make some informational sites to share what I know with other people who have similar interests. Recently I learned about the effects of asbestos, my curiosity was piqued so I did a bit of reading on it. I turned what I learned into a website and its been chugging along ever since :).</p>

<p>People have told me the business is impressive - and I'm sure it is. However, I'm really not sure how ECs weigh against grades in the admissions game. I'll be competing with the best of the best. Many applicants probably have their own business as well in addition to near perfect stats. </p>

<p>Anyways, I've heard that ECs can be the deciding factor between 2 equally matched students grade-wise, but I'm doubtful I'll be "equally matched" grade-wise with many people in the applicant pool. </p>

<p>In any case, this isn't exactly an educational EC like USAMO or RSI :(.</p>

11

<p>I am surprised you a have run such a successful business but haven't figured out how stupid this post is.</p>

<p>Grades vs. ECs whatever.... What you have is what you have and you can't change it.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

12

<p>Thanks for the luck, I think I'll need it.</p>

<p>How is this post stupid?
I'm just wondering if anyone knows how grades and ECs are weighted (approximately). Are grades the main thing, and ECs just the deciding factor between 2 equally matched canidates? </p>

<p>And I CAN still change things, its junior year. If I work hard I have no doubt I can make straight A's and up the SAT to a 2200 or 2300.</p>

<p>However, that will detract from my site. One of them has to go. If things are "fine" the way they are, I can continue to focus on my business. If not, then I suppose its time for me to get to work :-p.</p>

13

<p>Thats probably the second best business EC I have yet seen on CC. Its a trillion times better than the "web design" business that everyone and their sister seems to have here. Kudos on the great business. Dont worry about whether its a hook or not. Just expand your reach and show your commitment to the business on your app. Keep in mind even though it nets 1K most people here have yet to do any substantial work or true commitment in any serious business venture.</p>

14

<p>Sentient..congratulations, your business is very impressive. The impressive part is that you've gotten a business going with such an expansive reach, employees etc--and it doesn't matter all that much that your employees are part-timers or that other kids at your school earn more from their businesses.</p>

<p>As for your application to Wharton. Having a business is key and is seen as a great hook for Wharton. However, most of the people admitted to Wharton who have established businesses are those who are also straight A students at the top of their HS classes; part of this is because these students find school really easy and invest very little time in school and still stay at the top of the class and then use up all their free time on their businesses. I'm not saying that its not possible to get into Wharton with a business and stats that are a little less than expected, but why risk it..</p>

<p>You've only just finished your soph year and you will be at about the top 8% of your class. The B's and C's don't look good, especially for an applicant who has a successful business AND lots of 5's on AP exams. They are going to make the adcom wonder why you don't have A's because you certainly are capable of A's--your 5's prove that you mastered the subjects so you should be getting A's in school. </p>

<p>How many APs are you taking your junior year? You have to work hard in school to make sure you pull out straight A's this year--improvement in grades looks good and it will pull up your class rank. You need to do this even to the detriment of your business. By NO means should you let your business go down the tubes in any way because it is a major hook BUT you should focus on school rather than expanding your business during your junior year. Keep the status quo for your business because you aren't going to get into Wharton or be kept out of Wharton because your business grossed an additional 2k. Depending on the breakdown of the score, your SAT score is in a competitive range. However, you are going to be making up for your class rank and your soph year grades, so you may want to consider studying some more and taking it again this year to get a higher score.</p>

<p>Other than that, all you need to do is keep the business going and stay involved in a few school ECs; a few academic awards would be nice to round out the application as well, but are not mandatory by any means. You're fairly competitive for Wharton but you have plenty of time to make yourself really competitive for the school, so don't just rely on your business as a hook to get you in and don't let this year slip away. Hope this helps. Feel free to post/PM any questions.</p>

15

<p>Thanks for the advice guys. </p>

<p>I honestly can't say how I have good test scores but bad grades. I don't pay much attention to homework, mostly I just study the book for tests. Lectures/assignments at our school are pretty pointless, and most of the time they just involve some mindless busy work. Those things may have really pulled me down - sometimes our teachers put alot of weight on homework/classwork. The odd thing is, when I enrolled in the AP classes, it was my understanding that tests would make up the majority of our grades (similar to college classes). </p>

<p>Also, sometimes my personality really clashes with my teachers - sometimes they just won't admit that they're wrong (even when the book says so). I've decided to just bite the bullet and keep my mouth shut this year.</p>

<p>To answer your question about the APs, I'm taking 7 APs (out of 7 classes) and possibly self-studying another. It sounds like suicide, but I think I can do it if I focus on school. Would a high class rank help negate the effect of a C and a bunch of B's? </p>

<p>I think I ought to put much more emphasis on my school work this year.</p>

16

<p>
[quote]
I think I ought to put much more emphasis on my school work this year.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>yes, definitely. you also said you and teachers clash. i hope not all of them, because you need some good teacher recs. if u haven't developed good bonds w/ at least one teacher, (well, that's not good. you should have known them for at least a year in order to get more weight to the rec) you can still try to make a good impression next year.</p>

17

<p>I have a couple of teachers that don't hate me, but I'm not really that close to any of my teachers - we get along fine. </p>

<p>I think I've kind of developed a "slacker" reputation and I really hope it doesn't follow me to this year. I'm sure the teachers and staff talk about kids all the time, and I have no doubt they're talking about me too :(.</p>

18

<p>Clashing with teachers isn't a good reason for bad grades and it shouldn't continue [because you seriously can't tell an adcom that you got B's and C's due to clashes with teachers]. You're smart enough to know that you shouldn't argue with HS teachers. These are not college professors who are intellectual and care to debate your views. These are mere college grads who year after year see kids go off to awesome colleges that they often couldn't have gone to and are on quite the power trip sometimes. Just keep your mouth shut and do what you're supposed to do. If the answer that the teacher expects on the test is the one he/she stated in class, write it down, even if it contradicts the book. If HW counts for 1/2 your grade, do it, even if its busywork. Of course teachers talk about students, so some of your new teachers may have pre-conceived notions. But I'm willing to bet what they've been saying is 'smart but doesn't work hard'; you don't indicate that you've done anything awful to the faculty, such that they expect you to be a truly horrible student. Its easy to overcome this if you just work hard, do what you're told, and keep your mouth shut.</p>

<p>Although my post makes teachers sound terrible, there have to be some who aren't bad and are geniunely into teaching. Do you know who your teachers will be this year? If yes, do you know what their reputations are? Often the long-time AP teachers are the best. If you have a few nice teachers this year, you need to work super-hard in their classes so that they'll write strong recs for you--you need at least 2 teacher recs and junior yr teachers are usually perfect for this.</p>

19

<p>Yeah, I take 100% of the blame for my subpar grades. I should have just worked harder.</p>

<p>Anyways, I have an update of sorts I suppose. I went my school today, and there was a massive conflict in schedules. I can only take 4 APs now, and its making me peevish, but I don't know what to do. Its completely out of my control. I have doubts if I can raise my GPA back to the top 10 people now. I may just have to settle for the top 10%-5% of my class. Is this still respectable?
Keep in mind my school isn't super prestigious like Andover or Exeter, so its rank doesn't carry as much weight.</p>

20

<p>Maybe you are spending your time on your business that should be going to completing homework. I think Wharton will think that you don't have your priorities straight. I mean creating a successful business is great, but it doesn't/shouldn't replace your academics(And you're not doing it to financially support your parents.)</p>

<p>I hate to say this, but you're going to be a Sternie(or whatever your second option is).</p>