Chance a rising Intl Indian junior for Ivies, T20s Eco/Finance

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Sorry, this is gonna be long, but please skim through and lmk your views. Thank you!!

Will be applying next fall, graduating HS in the Class of 2023

Demographics: Male, Indian, private school, top 6-7 in the country, kind of a feeder, sending 20-25 kids to T20s, and 1 or 2 to Stanford, Harvard every 2 years, 2-3 to Uchicago every year, although idk anyone from the past 10 years who’s gotten into Wharton (btw 80% of these ppl who get in are IB kids, but I’m ISC, so lmk if you think this makes a difference. But many say its just self-selection, since ISC kids don’t wanna go abroad)

Hooks (URM, first generation, legacy, athlete, etc.): None, except sibling legacy at Uchicago

Intended Major(s): Finance/Economics, with a minor in CS/STAT

ACT/SAT/SAT II: Not given yet, but practice tests on ACT showing 35

UW/W GPA and Rank: School doesn’t weigh, follows the ISC-ICSE system in India. School sends decile ranking, so I’m 1st decile (10%)

9th: 92.5%

10th: 95%

11th, 12th: NA, but should be 90+

Coursework: AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores, etc

We don’t have IB or Dual enrollment, but my subjects are:

English, Math, Accounts, Physics, Economics

APs: Macro (4)(gave this in 8th grade lol), Micro(5), Giving CompSci A, Calculus BC, Stat this year, expect 5 on comps, and either 4 or 5 on calculus and stat

Awards:

  1. Young Entrepreneur Award 2021 given by the Indian Achiever’s Forum, affiliated with the Government of India for activity #1

  2. Havard Business School International Case Competition organized by (Redacted) Institute from HBS. Won Best Delegate, with a cash prize and networking sessions with HBS grads, Citi, and other corporates

  3. 1st in 5 national economics and business competitions with 50+ best schools across India, but idk if they’re considered prestigious cuz they were organized by other high schools as events. Pretty tough to win anyway. These were start-up pitches, stock simulations, and other economic events and competitions. these were rlly fun tho

  4. National Creative Olympiad - 4th in the country, 1st in the state, and 1st in school, among 9000+ students from 800 schools (this isn’t considered v prestigious tho, so lmk if you think I should put this on my app)

  5. Received acceptance to Georgetown’s 3-week summer Economic Policy Academy, with a scholarship - couldn’t attend cuz of my school’s MUN at the same time + timezone problem.

  6. Cultural Badge given by my school for my extra-curriculars, winning at national and international competitions - the only student in 3 years to be given this, but there isn’t any such rule that 1 student every 3 years is given, its just that I was the only one, (so how do I show this selectiveness to colleges)

  7. Most likely an Ashoka Young Changemaker this year, and another national child honor i may get. (both are really prestigious, but the child honor is v unpredictable so idk about it)

  8. I’m also giving quite a few finance and eco olympiads this year, plus competing in the Wharton Global Investment Challenge, so those could come up here if I win

  9. Also an ASSET Talent Scholar, for top 5% percentile lol but idt it matters

Extracurriculars: Include leadership & summer activities

  1. Founder, CEO of India’s largest (product redacted) dropshipping start-up. This is an initiative to help roadside (product) vendors struggling due to the pandemic with a permanent source of income. We’ve collaborated with numerous vendors and small businesses + a recent collab with India’s largest (product) distributor. We’ve had roughly INR 200k in MRP sales in 3ish weeks, so expect INR 2 mil (USD 35kish) in sales this year. We’ve reached 40 countries in 5 continents, with 40k visitors a month, and sold 200+ of these products to date. Accumulated 500 members in these 3 weeks. Being featured in India’s largest newspaper as a ‘Beacon of Hope’ (could I mention this in the awards?), as well as a few local newspapers. Plus I received 300+ college students from IITs as applicants for an internship at my start-up, interviewed, and selected 2. Also in talks for an angel investor, and the largest (product) seller in India has also shown interest to invest in/acquire the start-up.

  2. Co-founder (1 of 3) at a consulting firm that helps non-profits, small businesses, and student-run organizations in various areas such as web development, marketing, restructuring, etc. We have 10 clients with USD 2 mil in combined revenues till now, and we’ve just started out, so these numbers should go up soon.

  3. Founder, President at my school’s investment and finance society. Started this in junior year, a few weeks ago, since my school doesn’t allow us to start many clubs in general, and none in freshman/sophomore year. We are having corporate guest speakers, education sessions, and participating in competitions. I’m also hosting our very own flagship stock simulation competition, with our own computer systems. Plus competing in the Wharton Global High School Investment Challenge as Team Leader. Also launched our finance newsletter, I am Editor-in-Chief.

  4. Published my research paper on the situation of migrant workers in India, in a very reputed journal, that I won’t mention here to avoid being doxed. But the impact factor of the journal is pretty high, 6.64. Also presented the paper at The College of Business, University of Delhi. Was a very thorough self-researched paper of 15 pages, explaining everything from a macro and micro perspective + analyzing government stimulus.

  5. Institutional Trading Intern at a small, but 100-year-old trading firm situated in the Bombay Stock Exchange. Prepared stock reports using DCF Modelling. These reports were referred to by institutional traders making trades of 100cr+ (USD 10m+) (this may sound like cap but it isn’t lmao, they just glanced through my report summaries, so technically counts)

  6. Active member of school Symposium (MUN) Club since 8th grade. Won 1 Best Delegate, 2 Oustanding delegate, 2 honorable mention awards, all were national and international MUNs. Additional Director of the economic committee at my school’s MUN this year, which is the oldest and largest MUN in India. Going to be Director of the economic committee next year at the MUN.

  7. Entrepreneurship Club. May get leadership position senior year, but this is a lil weird since normally IB students only participate in this, I’m the only ISC/ICSE student working on this. We basically organize talks from entrepreneurs, other sessions, etc. Will organize a finance, business, etc. competition this year, with students from schools all over India.

  8. Active member of school Nature Club, will be President in senior year. Conducted plantation drives, sold plants in school fun fair, participated in poster-making competitions, and other environmental competitions like the ClimateScience Olympiad (selected as a semifinalist, probably not gonna be a finalist but I don’t really know lmao).

  9. Prefect of student body, House Captain of my house, both senior year, practically confirmed. Will conduct all inter-house events, lead a student body of 1600+ students. Maybe will place 1st or 2nd in inter-house events. I also represented my house in a lot of inter-house events, and placed in stuff like elocution, debate, etc.

  10. Hindi Debates captain, Best Speaker in inter-house debates, plus gonna participate in many online debates, but this isn’t too huge. But additionally, wrote scripts and acted in Independence Day, Republic day assemblies, and author for the school magazine.

  11. These are my athletics. (this one’s weak lol so pls give suggestions on how I can work on this) Chess Captain likely, but I’m not FIDE rated. Represented my school in the district tournaments, but also had a few chess awards when I was 5, post which I quit until 7th grade. Inter-school cricket squad, played quite a few matches, didn’t place tho. Inter-house badminton, chess, etc. 1st position, plus was in the inter-school teams for these, but didn’t place anywhere.

  12. Donated essential products to relatives of patients at a famous hospital in my city, since 8th grade. Continued during the pandemic, provided sanitizers, etc. Also hosted a charity game night to raise money to buy sanitary pads for women through an NGO.

  13. A bunch of Udemy courses on stock market, web development, etc. and CS50, Private Equity Venture Capital, etc. from Harvard and all through Coursera (did the ones I liked only, not for college)

  14. Oh forgot this - a JuniorMBA certification in Business Technology from this Ed-tech company (isn’t prestigious but I learnt a lottt so I was happy)

  15. Karate Green Belt certification (pretty sure this doesn’t matter but just put it lmao)

Things I’m planning to do:

  1. A global organization that’ll focus on investing, I’ve got this planned out, will work on it and launch before the end of this year.

  2. Planning more things for the finance society (don’t wanna reveal it since someone from my country could do the same earlier), but this will be pretty big, and on a country-wide scale.

  3. Writing a book on a vvvvvv unique economic topic, that’s very unexplored, I’m done with like 40 pages of this, but looking to write a full-length 100 page one, so will take a bit of time. But I reached out to a few professors at unis, and the idea seemed interesting to them, so I think I could get a few comments from them about the book. I also contacted a leading publisher in India, and while they liked the idea, they want to see the proper book before they decide on publishing, so that’s that.

  4. Will do 1 more internship in summer 2022, something related to stocks, cuz I love it

  5. Summer programs - Lmk which ones yall think are useful, cuz I’ve heard most are cash cows.

Wharton - Leadership in the Business World

LaunchX

Notre Dame Leadership seminars

Stanford SUMAC

YYGS

Just to add - I’ll be submitting college applications while I’m 16, and the age barrier is what prevented me from applying to these summer programs this year, so will hopefully get into some.

Essays/LORs/Other: Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.

I’ll begin writing in March 22, so I should be fine in essays, I’ve got some good topics in mind, and plus for the Uchicago quirky essay I’ve got a really good idea

LORs:

Economics teacher: loves me, says I’m the best student she’s had, and since I took sm initiative with the finance society, she really likes that. Lmao in fact since I did macro and micro APs before junior year she says there’s nothing more she can teach me (not to sound arrogant sorry), but in essence this one will be great

Accounts teacher: Accounts isn’t particularly there in the US, so most of y’all wouldn’t know, but its about balancesheet etc. I worked a lot with this teacher about the finance society, so she knows me very well, and will write a very good LOR for me.

3rd LOR:

Here’s where I really need advice.

So what I was planning is, since I’ve worked with roadside vendors for my start-up, they know me and my work ethic very well, plus there’s a very unique story of how I managed to convince them to trust me although I was a 15-year-old kid. So their native language is Hindi, so they could give some points, and a teacher or someone could translate them, as well as provide the original copy to unis. But idk whether this is a good option, so lmk what y’all think. I will of course be emailing unis also about this.

Schools: List of colleges, ED/EA/RD, etc

Income - $110,000

Colleges I’m currently planning for:

EA - Uchicago, with aid

RD - Wharton, Stanford - Full pay

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stern - with fin aid

Pls give college recs, which ones I should apply to. Also about safeties - ik I’m applying only to reaches, but I have a very comfortable option in my home country, which I love too, so I’m fine with staying here. Do lmk if you have any matches/safeties in mind though? (altho probably not, since I’m an Indian male asking for aid lmaoo)

Many people think this sounds dumb and I should ED Wharton, and that it’s at par with Harvard, but I really want to apply to Harvard, and Wharton going full pay will be a bit of a strain on my family, so that’s the reason. Feel free to lmk your views tho.

Finally, I want to add that people think I’m overworking myself and not enjoying HS - believe me, that’s not the case. I facetime my friends for like 4 hours every night, and play sm PC + phone games, so I’m enjoying HS a lot. It’s just that I was lucky to not be affected by the pandemic sm, so I could do a lot of stuff that I liked.

Thank you!!

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Anyone? Any thoughts? Sorry I’m really anxious lmao

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From the UPenn website, the COA is now $82,298

Is “a bit of strain” breathtaking understatement, or is there more to this story? Where is the money going to come from for Wharton & Stanford? Also, why do you think you will get much Fin Aid at Stern? NYU is famously stingy with aid for domestic students never mind international students.

Harvard will probably take 5-6 students from India this year. Will you be one of them? Nobody here can give you any meaningful answer. You know that you are a credible candidate. You know something about the students from your school that are currently at Harvard, so you have an idea as to how comparable your record is. Beyond that, it’s a black box.

Anxiety is entirely natural and also entirely a waste of energy. You have good options at home, so there is no bad outcome, and it makes sense to apply only to reaches (esp if matches and safeties would be less than what you have at home).

ps, please try and cut down on the faux self-deprecating lol/lmaos- it gets old really fast.

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Yep I know about the Upenn Wharton thing. So if I would attend on full pay, I’d have to take a few loans, and my family would have to liquidate some real estate probably, which is not preferable. And yes I know NYU is stingy, but I’m going for that in RD with aid, while applying to other need blind schools.

Thank you for your feedback!

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Strictly speaking, you’ve left me speechless! :zipper_mouth_face:

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I didn’t understand this comment :sweat_smile:

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I can understand why you might get comments about overworking. Is it possible to do as much as you have listed, with any depth? Be careful not to stretch yourself too thin. And get some sleep!

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I sleep 9 hours every night :sweat_smile: thank you
I’ve actually listed how I’ve worked on each activity in depth, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten recognition for them haha
But thank you for your advice, will choose which ones to list carefully.
And PS: people seem to think I did everything for college apps, whereas I actually decided I want to go to the US only 4 months ago, so just wanted to lyk
thanks!

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UChicago is need-aware for international students, meaning that they take your financial ability into account when reviewing applications and their COA is also around 82K. You should look into Amherst, it is also need-blind for international students.

Why do you only have UChicago as EA?

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I did look into Amherst, but I didn’t like the college so much tbh

For Uchicago I have sibling legacy, so that’s a plus. And my counsellor says my application would be competitive enough, since they had that recent grant of 35 mil for intl students.

Could you suggest other econ/finance colleges for EA? I’m thinking I might go REA with Harvard, Stanford, or Princeton. Any suggestions here?

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If you end up doing REA for Harvard/Princeton/Stanford, you can’t do EA to any private schools.

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Yep I know so that’s the catch. Do you recommend REAing Harvard with aid?

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I wasn’t implying anything about your motivation for your activities. And when I mentioned not spreading yourself too thin, I meant in your life, not on your application :slight_smile:

I don’t know how it is humanly possible to do so much (and I have two kids at Ivies who did way way less in terms of number of activities).

Good luck!

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Ah got it

thankyou!

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REA to the college you have the best chance at. As said before, Harvard only accepts 5-6 students from India, and do you think you are one of the top students? Also you’re only a sophomore, so we don’t have the full picture of your stats or AP scores. You said your school sent a kid to Harvard a few years ago, talk to your guidance counselor about how his application was, or try to talk to him/her directly.

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Got it - will do. Thanks!

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On $110,000 a year without a significant amount already saved for college, you really should not be full pay. Liquidating real estate that either provides income or shelter is not a good idea unless the real estate was specifically purchased to pay for college.

Not a single one of those colleges listed is worth your family borrowing more than their income to go to. How do you spoken to your family about this?

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The real estate and finances stuff is being sorted out by my parents - they’ve told me not to worry about that, and that I can go full pay at Wharton or Stanford if I get in. My parents have more than enough real estate, not something that would affect income/shelter. I will not be taking loans either, it’s just that my parents aren’t very inclined towards liquidating it, but they will if I need money for college.

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So the $110K income is a red herring, and with other assets your family actually can pay full freight, but just would rather not? I don’t blame them (who wouldn’t prefer to pay less?!), but if so, you are unlikely to be eligible for need-based aid- which is the main kind offered by the schools you list. HYP are need blind/meet need- but if your family can afford full freight you won’t get any fin aid. Did your sibling get a merit scholarship from UChicago?

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That real estate is not in the name of my immediate family, it is in the name of my grandparents. But my dad manages the finances of the whole family including them, so I’m sure I’ll qualify for aid. I used the Harvard NPC for example, and was eligible for more than 50% aid. My sister did not apply to Uchicago with aid, since they were need-aware.