CHANCE ME- a tired first gen student

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Life is long. If you want to learn accounting, you’d be better to go to a school that offers it because going to many on your list - that’s not possible.

Econ is a liberal art. It’s not necessarily a hard skill. It’s theory.

If I want to be an accountant then, I would study accounting. You might as well study sociology or French or whatever interests you then because your likelihood of learning accounting will be similar.

Check out their accounting outcomes.

If you want top accounting schools (and it’s not necessary), you should have listed uT Austin, Illinois, Indiana, USC, Florida, Ohio State and more.

Penn too…if you applied to Wharton.

It’s why I said if you want accounting, you need to alter your list. And fast !!!

You are chasing rank. Pedigree. That won’t get you what you want in life. You know what will - an accounting degree, even at a school without pedigree. As I said even kids at a low ranked school like UNLV end up in the big firms.

Good luck.

Ps y do you truly want to attend just these ? Have you been ? What do you know about them ? What will you do if/when you get into none.

You’re a fine student and you’ll have lots of opportunities at the right schools. I hope you get into one but it is unlikely. And again two UCs offer accounting so why not add them to your application ??

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Do you have any matches or safeties that you haven’t listed here – or are you planning on applying to only reaches?

If the latter, please, please reconsider. Everyone needs safeties, and it’s nice to have matches as well. Some of your accomplishments are very impressive, but so is your competition.

Since you are from California and have an interest in agriculture, I would definitely look at UC Davis (super strong in agriculture) and possibly Cal Poly Pomona. Most people tend to love UC Davis. It has a really strong campus environment and a town that many people really like.

I would also apply to some Cal States – the application is very easy – no essays, no LORs.

Your GPA is strong. You would almost certainly qualify for the UC System’s statewide guarantee, which says that if you apply to one or more UCs and don’t get in to any of them, then you will be offered a spot at a UC that has room. In practice, this means UC Merced.
Statewide guarantee | UC Admissions (universityofcalifornia.edu)

However, if you get in via the statewide guarantee, you are not necessarily guaranteed your major of choice, so if Merced actually has a major of interest, it may be worth applying there directly. They have this major, which might be something to review:
UC Merced Management and Business Economics Degree Program

Wishing you luck, and very strongly urging you to include at least one of two safeties and a couple of matches.

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“And thus why, I’ve included Econ to make up for the gap in which some colleges don’t provide accounting.”

No. If you are an econ major, you will take MAYBE one accounting course and possibly two. That’s it.

Do you know any accountants? See if you can arrange a few hours with them at work to observe what they do. It is high on practice and low on theory- pretty much the opposite of econ.

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I have two children who graduated from UPenn. Econ is a popular major there. Stats, EC’s are important, but your essays must stand out the most. There are so many brilliant students like yourself with so much passion, so essays, in my humble opinion, are one of the things that tell them a story of who you are and what is important to you. If you have more specific questions about UPenn as a campus or academics, I will be happy to chat with you and give you my perspective. I feel that you have a very good chance - good luck :slight_smile:

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OP, do you want to be an accountant? Or are you wanting to go into investment banking? Depending on what your goal is, the advice will be different.

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This is what I’ve kept asking - what you did - because they’d become two different lists - but this was the only response.

To me, it sounds like someone who wants to do accounting - but who is more stuck on the fascination of pedigree.

You can’t have both - in this case - and OP will learn that pedigree does not assure future success and given his list, certainly not his desired outcome (if it is accounting) - in fact, OP wouldn’t even sniff being an accountant. I hate to be so blunt but…

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In response to one of my posts, OP said (bolding is mine):

This makes me think that investment baking (IB) is probably OP’s interest. But the accounting talk is throwing me off, too. That’s why I said earlier that most people who want to go into IB will typically major in finance rather than accounting. For IB, prestige often counts and econ will suffice as a substitute. For accounting, however, you’re totally right that the only option is accounting and prestige matters not a whit.

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Some clarification from OP would be helpful as to major and career goals, as accounting seems like the odd man out. Note that asset management (what OP suggested as a career goal) is not the same as investment banking.

I continue to have the concern that OP needs to broaden the list to include at least one affordable safety, and ideally some matches.

OP, what is the plan if you don’t get into any of the schools on your list?

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The OP is well aware that these schools are reaches…(with the possible exception of UCSD).

If they are a senior, they have already applied to UPenn ED, right?

@White_Rose1 you sound like you want these schools or bust. Is that correct? What will you do if you aren’t accepted to any of these schools?

Re: the accounting vs economics major…you aren’t the only high school senior who isn’t 100% positive about what they want to do next. If you get accepted to a school you love, you perhaps might find another major to pique your interest.

I’m hoping all the schools on your list are affordable options. You say you are “middle class” but the cost of Cal is too much.

There are a lot of wonderful public universities in California, @Gumbymom when is the deadline for applications?

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Nov 30 is the deadline for the UCs and Cal States.

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@White_Rose1 you might want to look at the offerings at these public universities in your state.

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Perhaps it was unfair to connect my opinion to your first-generation status. Nonetheless, I’ll say that students who compose their college lists with the help of an experienced college counselor generally arrive at a range of choices with a different overall look from that shown in your own. In any case, I believe that the success of all students in finding a desirable college depends on the suitable construction of their lists as much as on any other aspect of their efforts.

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I wonder if your analysis means I’ll apply to #1, #3, 6,7, 12, 18 (Columbia) and a UC.

What is the commonality that brought you to these ?

Why has working hard for four years ‘granted you’ the opportunity to apply to only these ?

Sounds like my daughters valedictorian. She applied to 16 of the top 20. NYU and UTK. She got into the last two only - with a GPA like yours and ACT 3 points higher. She’s at u of TN.

Alabama has more national merit finalists than any school in the US.

It’s likely that every flagship in America has kids as accomplished as you or more.

You are wonderful but why do you have the opportunity only to apply to these?

You’ve made it this. I hope you don’t strike out.

A kid who worked hard has earned the opportunity to ensure they have a successful post high school experience. For some their hard work pays great in scholarship. For others it’s an entry to a high rank.

But very few go for the moon or go home and that’s what you are doing.

While your stats are great, they are not uncommon.

I think you need to take a deep breath and read what everyone is telling you.

I also think you need to determine what is is you want to study - which frankly is more important that the name of the school you attend.

You don’t need to know the answer to the major now. But if there’s one of strong consideration, you do need to ensure your school possibility offers it.

I wonder if you’ve been to all these schools so that you know these are the only you are worthy of attending.

Best of luck. I hope one pans out.

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Thank you so much for the kind reply!

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Investment banking, thus my school choices.

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Their financial aid options are exceedingly generous, UC Berkeley’s is not.

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@White_Rose1

Thank you for the clarification. You absolutely do not need to major in accounting to go into investment banking.

You have an excellent GPA, and really, that is what your instate publics consider. They are test blind. You have a chance of acceptance at your reach schools but you might want to consider adding a couple of more likely instate options. It’s just a suggestion.

So…you are hoping for need based aid that will bring your cost of attendance down to below the $38,000 a year or so it costs to attend Cal? Is that correct?

I’m assuming you have run the net price calculator for each of the above colleges. And that your parents aren’t divorced, don’t own a business, aren’t self employed, and aren’t owners of real estate other than your residence. In addition, are your parents citizens? This doesn’t impact your ability to get need based aid, but it might be funky especially if they have earnings from another country.

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I just noticed your 2nd teacher for LOR is speech and debate. Schools request ‘core subjects.’ You have math but you need a science, history, English or language teacher.

Yale, as one example, states this as do others. See the link.

So in essence with what you’re proposing, your application won’t be seen as ‘following directions’ so I would fix that asap so it’s not held against you.

Good luck.

https://admissions.yale.edu/instructions

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Not only that, but accounting majors are unlikely to be attractive IB applicants (and for OP investment banking is not asset management, which OP stated earlier in the thread was the career goal).

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This is really important which I mentioned earlier in the thread, to which OP has yet to respond.

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