Chance a low GPA student, with a strong piano background [MN resident, 3.5 UW, 31 ACT for finance]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Chance me for any school within the top 25. Intent to work on Wall Street and will need a prestigious school to have a chance. Hence why I am applying to 25 reaches. I understand this is a terrible idea but the odds of breaking into Wall Street from a non-target are around 0.

Background

  • Private High School in Minnesota
  • Asian male
  • Won over 30 international and national piano competitions. Performed on NPR and scouted by AGT.
    *Majoring in Finance

Academics

  • 3.5uw
  • 3.8/4.3 Weighted
  • GPA is low due to practicing 5/6 hours of piano a day. Additionally I skipped two grades so I was 15 as a Senior. (not sure if that matters)

31 ACT, will get 33 hopefully

Class Rigor
14 Dual Enrollment classes
8/10 available honors
Our school does not do AP and had only 10 available honors classes through Junior year

Music Awards (Most impressive)

First place Tadini International Music Competition in Italy
First Place St. Petersburg International music competition
First place Schubert Club competition
First place Great composers international Competition
First place Dakota Valley Orchestra Competition
First place Minnesota State Fair Talent Competition
First Place Golden Valley Orchestra Competition
First place Minnesota Orchestra Young Peoples Concert Competition
First place Bosendorfer competition
First Place Steinway Competition

Opened for the Goo Goo Dolls and Prince’s band

Extracurriculars

Head of Finance for non-profit (Bronze Presidential service recipient)
Founder of Investment Club at High School
Partner with non-profits to give piano concerts. Performed for Holocaust survivors. Raised over 15k in one concert for non-profit
Caddie at Hazeltine (3 years)
Started for quiz bowl team that took 13th in the nation
Organist for my Church
Started a Piano studio
Football/Baseball (I was terrible)

Essays/LORs/Other
Managerial Finance prof- 10/10
Piano Mentor- 8/10
High School Counselor- 4/10

Essays (9/10) primarily focusing on piano through the lens of service and leadership.
Other Essay(8/10) Focuses on what I gained from losing 10k in the stock market as a 15 year old lol.

Cost Constraints / Budget
No cost constraints, parents willing to pay

Schools

  • Safety Bethel, Anoka Community
  • Likely N/A
  • Match

Fordham
Baruch

  • Reaches:
    Amherst
    Boston College
    Carnegie Mellon
    Emory
    Villanova
    UT-Austin
    NYU
    U Chicago
    UIUC
    U Mich
    UNC
    UND
    UVA
    William and Mary

I want to know if my Piano ability and strong essays/recs will be a good enough hook to overcome low GPA. Also is there any other schools with prestige that are easier to get into with a low GPA. Thank you!

2

You need to read the thread I’m going to link here. You need to read the whole thing. This kid in the thread was a very very strong student…NM, top in his class, excellent ECs, leadership…and he applied to no sure thing colleges the first time…and got accepted no where. No one expected this outcome.

You don’t want to have your senior year end the way this student’s ended. He did take a great gap year, and landed well on his feet. But his end of senior year in high school was…not a happy one.

You don’t want this to be you. Please reconsider your application list. And add some sure things for admission that you like and that are affordable.

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This concerns me. These are likely not the recommendations these schools are looking for. They generally require two teachers in core subjects. A piano mentor might be a supplemental LOR (which some schools accept and some do not), but should not be a core recommendation. You need two teachers - math, science, English, history, etc - take your pick. But they should be teachers of core academic subjects.

Also while I have obviously not read your essay, I am concerned that the second one could come across as privileged - very few 15 year olds have access to $10,000 to invest - and lose. I would think about whether that topic is really going to portray you in the best light. While I am certain you learned some valuable lessons from the experience, it might help to explain how you even managed to be in that position in the first place if you can point to how you earned the money (perhaps it was prize money from piano competitions?). Even then, I think it could raise some eyebrows.

You are obviously fantastically talented and an accomplished musician. That shows incredible commitment, persistence, resilience, and hard work - these are all qualities that colleges value. I do think your accomplishments will help your application, but for T25 schools, unfortunately, you often need a high GPA to get your foot in the door for consideration. I think it is certainly still worth applying to a few reach schools, but you absolutely must have some targets and safeties. I see Fordham on your list - that could be a great option for you and, because of its location, you would likely have access to Wall Street through contacts and internships.

So, sure, shoot for the stars. But do not limit yourself to T25s because they will be long shots. Not impossible, but long shots.

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Thank you so much. I am still waiting of my letters of rec for the core subjects, as I am doing DE so am no longer in contact with my HS. I won the 10k from 2 piano competitions, but understand your point. I will consider perhaps not disclosing the amount, or changing the topic. Thank you so again much!

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Read the thread, and thought it was interesting. One comment in particular attacked the problem statistically, e.g. if you apply to 5 reaches at 10 percent chance each you have a 60 percent chance of getting rejected from all. Do you think just applying to 20 reaches will give me a solid shot of at least 1? I might be looking at this completely wrong also but that’s just what I figured. Thank you for you input!

6

Not correct.

Also, you have no idea why your gpa is low. You’re making an assumption.

As you go to a private school, your counselors there would give you the best sense of odds. They’ll know where kids with your stats land.

At many of these schools, you’d need to apply TO.

Why don’t you have UMN, a fine school, on your list vs UIUC.

Or Indiana, where if you truly have a 3.8, you’d likely be direct admit to IU Kelley which is amongst the highest rated b schools in the country.

And Rutgers, which in addition to IU, is often on the feeder lists.

And SMU as another that makes top feeder lists.

In the end, based on pure stats, you’d be 0 for except maybe (but not likely) Nova or UIUC Gies in the reach category. Applying to more doesn’t mean - well one will land just based on quantity.

But if you are putting Wall Street over fit (you have a vast array of schools in regards to size, weather, religion, etc), you can optimize your list a bit better for feeder and realism. All that being said, there are people on Wall Street from all sorts of schools not just those on the feeder lists - there’s lots of firms and now Wall Street is no longer just a NYC thing.

Also, if piano is so strong for you, have you considered a double major ? Your piano could be a huge help but maybe less so if you’re not contributing your ability directly to the school.

Best of luck.

7

It doesn’t really work that way. And your chances are less than 10% at a lot of schools on your list. For example, the regular decision admission rate at UChicago is around 2% for all applicants. With a 3.5 unweighted GPA, that number is near zero.

Did you apply EA at your public schools (UMich, UIUC, UNC, etc.)? That might give you a slight boost.

Please listen to the advice given here. Expand your school list to include some target/match schools.

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I am concerned that the specificity of your awards may make it easy to identify you. I recommend editing your post to remove identifying information.

If you cannot edit your post, perhaps one of the moderators can help.

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You have an unweighted and then two weighted GPAs.

Can you explain the dual weighted GPAs?

Also, what is the weighting system.

Thanks

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Apologies- I mean to put 3.8 out of 4.3

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I did not apply EA unfortunately, as I want to submit my Senior year grades. I am adding a few well-known state schools to increase my odds. Thank you!

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I think a double major is a great idea-I will definitely consider that. I also have UMN, Rutgers and IU on my list. I didn’t put all of the schools on by accident.

13

Do you think people will really take the time to cross reference that? Not intending to blow your comment off, I am genuinely just curious.

14

I think all three are acceptances and all can lead to Wall Street with both Rutgers and IU on various feeder lists and UMN extremely well thought of.

That said, many don’t know what “Wall Street” even means - do you have a specific role of interest? And just because you go to “any school” is no assurance of a specific career or organization.

Best of luck.

PS - what does your guidance counselor say about your list? You’re in private school so I assume you have someone who is better able to speak to your odds than anyone on this site.

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Good to know! I love the atmosphere and competitiveness of New York, and would love to work at a bulge bracket investment bank in New York (Goldman, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan) To my knowledge, IU and Rutgers have great placement, and I would be more than happy to go to these. However, UMN has pretty bad placement for IB in New York, so I would consider that a safety. I am not really in contact with my counselor, as I am doing full time Dual-Enrollment at my high school. I can ask him next time I meet though. Thanks again for your input!

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Probably not, but that’s a pretty standard recommendation to students who have unique ECs that can identify them.

17

Not sure the “placement” and “safety” go together. Safety would be - are you assured admission?

Here’s the latest career report from UMN. Look at the companies listed (like Goldman Sachs). I can’t tell you the role there (they have jobs beyond IB) but clearly they’ve placed kids at relevant companies and four percent show jobs in IB.

It’s a solid school - and while you’d have to work hard and network, I think anything is possible.

And don’t forget, and as I tell my daughter, experience begets experience - so maybe an internship starts at one company in one summer and that opens up a dream internship the next.

Anyway, best of luck - wherever you end up - and don’t forget - there are no guarantees from any school. For kids to get jobs today, you have to be a go getter and great networking skills help as well. The school having an “in” to certain companies is one thing but then you have to be that student that the schools want to speak with.

The other thing is - have you looked at each school on your list and how they’ll treat DE credits? You may very well lose a lot of them, depending on the school.

Best of luck.

UG22_EmploymentInternshipReport_Landscape_F (2)_0.pdf (umn.edu)

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You are obviously a wonderfully talented musician. Is piano something you plan to continue in college (or after)? At first glance, I’d say your chances are very low at any T20 - your grades/test scores aren’t where they need to be in order to be a competitive applicant - but, I don’t know how much schools might value your musical accomplishments. If you were a recruited athlete your academic profile would probably be fine, but I don’t know if T20’s value musical accomplishment to the same degree and if that would be enough to offset your gpa/test score. Regardless, you need additional match schools if you want to make sure you have some choices next Spring. Also, simply attending a Wall Street feeder is no guarantee of getting into IB - while many students are interested in that career, they are only taking the best of the best.

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No. Your odds of getting accepted to each college don’t change just because you apply to MORE very rejective colleges.

If the acceptance rates are low at each college…they aren’t going to get higher because you apply to a lot of them.

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20

I would suggest you read this thread…

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