Chance me for major Business Schools! Low GPA, great SATs and ECs

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey, everyone! So I’m planning on applying to a bunch of business/engineering schools this upcoming fall and I was wondering whether you guys could chance me! I don’t have the best GPA, but hopefully I can make up for it.

School type:

Pretty crappy urban school
Ethnicity: Central Asian (Jewish)
Income: Not actually sure. Single parent household, dad owns lots of real estate and corner stores. Probably low on paper, but high since most of it is in the business.
GPA: 4.3 Weighted/ 3.65 Unweighted (top 10% of the class. No excuses, but my ECs contributed to this)
SAT: 2310 (800 Math/800 Writing/710 Reading)
SAT II Math: 800, SAT II Biology: 800

Recs:
Econ Teacher (10/10): “The most talented student I’ve ever had. He has the highest business acumen of any teenager I’ve met thus far”
Physics Teacher (8/10): Thinks I’m insanely weird since I’d use Partial Differential Equations to (correctly) solve his tests, but respects me since I routinely tutor students.

Coursework:

Sophomore:
AP Calculus BC (5)
Honors Classes

Junior:
AP Economics (Expected 5)
AP Statistics (Expected 5)
Multivariable Calculus (Expected A)
AP Chemistry (Expected 4 or 5)

Senior:
Differential Equations
AP Physics
Dual Enrollment Stochastic Calculus
Dual Enrollment Automotive Classes

ECs:

Lawn Mowing Business (7th grade - Freshman Year): Made around $6000 a year by Freshman year through mowing people’s lawns. Had two “employees” under me.

Window Tinting and Automobile Business (Founder, sole proprietor. Since end of Freshman Year): My business made approximately $12000 a year before taxes during its first year. We’re on track to do about $21000 this year. In addition, I buy automotive parts and solar panels in bulk and sell them on eBay. I made $7000 last year by doing this. I have one co-founder of this.

Investment Club (President): I made 45% annual returns in our fake portfolio and 25% returns on my parents’ portfolio. I also have a Youtube channel where I talk about topics like Leveraged Buyouts, Black-Scholes models, and Personal Finance.

Class Treasurer (Sophomore, Junior): Streamlined the fundraising and club application process. Raised around $6000 for our class through selling water bottles at local college football games for $1 each.

Math Competition Team (Captain): National Semifinalists in Moody’s Mega Math Challenge

Member of National English Honor Society, National Honor Society, National Science Math Honor Society

Schools I’m applying to:
Wharton (Penn) for joint Engineering/Business special program
Sloan (MIT)
NYU (Stern)
Babson College
UIUC Economics
UIC Economics
Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

2

Wharton (Penn) for joint Engineering/Business special program: reach, but you are an impressive candidate:
Sloan (MIT): reach
NYU (Stern): match
Babson College: match
UIUC Economics: match
UIC Economics: ?
For the safety schools, I would add Indiana University and U of Alabama. They have good business undergrad programs.

3

Hey
Quick question since you seem to want to go into engineering etc, why haven’t you done SAT2 Physics? The SAT2 biology kind of confuses people since you don’t do or want to do anything in the medical field.

Your business ventures are great though! Although you seem not to have any Awards at all? This can be very off putting. Try getting into business competitions it can help your application greatly. Also when you say your business made $xxxxx is that in revenue or profit? That makes a huge difference. Universities might be skeptical tbh. Also you kind of focused too much on business, I would advise you to diversify into other fields a bit, so it shows you have been through many life experiences.

Wharton (Penn) for joint Engineering/Business special program: If you take my advise and diversify a bit you might have a chance( planning for wharton too!)
Sloan (MIT) : you dont really match a typical student there in my oppinion
NYU (Stern) : most likely
Babson College: match
UIUC Economics: match
UIC Economics: match

Add georgetown maybe?

Chance me

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1776534-chance-me-for-harvard-wharton-cornell-etc.html#latest

4

These numbers are pre-tax profit. I have proof, as I have online evidence that I will be turning in to prove it as well as some newspaper articles written about me through high schools about my fundraising ability and my businesses themselves. My high school doesn’t have too many opportunities for awards. How should I go about going into business competitions? There are very few clubs, since the school is mostly immigrants who often are too busy to actually participate in clubs.

5

In addition, I’m not sure if this is an “award” but I have placed well in local Poker competitions. I placed second place in one competition. I also have gained recognition at the local level for my window tinting business in the “Best of” section in an area magazine.

6

Wharton (Penn) for joint Engineering/Business special program: Reach
Sloan (MIT): High Reach
NYU (Stern): Match
Babson College: Match
UIUC Economics: Match
UIC Economics: Match

You might want to look at Georgia Tech- it would be a great option!

7

Are those all the classes you’re taking and will take as a senior? Your quantitative background is impressive, but most of the elite colleges will demand that you present high-level work in English, Social Sciences, and (in most cases) Foreign Languages with some Arts & Humanities thrown in for good measure. The public universities are often the strictest about fulfilling basic curricular requirements, and MIT wants well-rounded students, as well. Your test scores reveal great aptitude, but will your transcript have the breadth that colleges want?

8

Ah, I am also taking AP English. I took APUSH this year and am expected to get a 5. Unfortunately, my school is kind of poor and doesn’t offer too many AP courses, and I will have taken all the AP courses offered by my Senior year, but I am learning Chinese through Dual Enrollment courses and am fluent in both Russian and Hebrew (indeed, I teach Hebrew to younger kids).

Despite the fact that my father is highly intelligent and finished three years of college, he never graduated since my family had to leave our home country. I heard it actually helps if you are the “first generation” to go to college, but does my situation count? I had a brother who has already gone to college so do I still count as the “first generation” to go to college? Also, if it helps, he got into Stanford with similar stats (Had a better GPA, did well in Debate, ran a tutoring business, but had an SAT Score around ~2200).