<p>Hello,my name is Kendall and I'm going to apply to Princeton next year as a senior. Im an African American(black) that lives in New York. I only live with my mother, two sisters and my brother. We are a low income family(30k) and one of my sister's currently attends college(BMCC). My mother and father have yet to go to college. Im looking to get a job on Wall Street and work as an Ibanker for a top firm. Below are my stats
GPA: 3.75 NOT INCLUDING FRESHMAN YEAR---> I don't think they look @ that year and if you NEED to know, it was a 3.3.
Rank is top 10%. My high school isn't competitive and send 1 or 2 students to top 50 universities each year.
SAT score is 2350--Math-800 CR-800
3 AP's expecting 4 or 5 on exam
Math2: 800
Physics: 710
EC's-Basketball Team, 3 years;recruited athlete, 270 hours community service, Chess team 3 years, Active Tutor--done about 10 hours/week
I currently have a part time job at McDonalds;been there for 3 years now
Recs should be AMAZING-great relationship with teachers and I've been one of their best students if not the best
Im a decent writer(more of a math/science kind of guy) but essay should be fine
Any more info needed just ask</p>
<p>low income, URM = good. 8/10. </p>
<p>SAT+SAT II = good. 9/10. </p>
<p>GPA = terrible. 4/10. </p>
<p>EC = decent. 6/10</p>
<p>so, overall 27/40. more than a coin’s flip chance, which is more than i can say for myself :D. try raising the GPA.</p>
<p>Your GPA doesn’t matter. They just look at your class rank.</p>
<p>Are you top 10%, top 5%?</p>
<p>I would say URM+2300=admit.</p>
<p>If you are supported by the Princeton basketball coach you will be accepted.</p>
<p>If I may: you should take your eyes off of IBanking for now and focus more on what successful IBankers achieve. They are top math and analysis people with lots of common sense – who excel at top schools/top college programs. Your 17-18 year old desire to be a financier can be perceived as “novel” – instead you should strive to maximize your chances at a school like PTon or other peer institutions. At the heart, Princeton wants learners – not mercenaries who only view it as a stepping stone to a six figure career. The tone of your post makes you seem much like the latter and less the former.</p>
<p>You’ve accomplished quite a bit. You’re to be congratulated. Now focus those energies on getting the most out of your next four years – not on which company logo will be on your first postgrad paycheck.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>According to last years Common Data Set, only 29% of the applicants reported their class rank. (of the 29% who reported 99% were in top 10%)</p>
<p>*See last line of C10- <a href=“http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2010.pdf[/url]”>http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2010.pdf</a></p>
<p>^Yes, but rank still provides better insight on the applicant’s standing compared to his peers’. If a 2.5 puts him in the top 5% of his class, they’ll assume he’s a top student… unless, of course, his school is notoriously bad.</p>
<p>
I disagree with you here regarding this particular individual. Put yourself in his shoes for a second. He grew up in a low-income family in New York with very little sustenance and probably very little academic encouragement since neither of his parents attended college.</p>
<p>Why shouldn’t he be allowed to dream of being a rich banker? Not everyone can afford to go to Princeton, major in English and become some sort of critic or writer without any concern for practical matters like money. The majority of Princeton’s applicants who come from privileged backgrounds can probably afford to learn purely for the sake of learning and fall back on daddy or mommy’s money if their aspirations to become artists or writers don’t work out.</p>
<p>However, the OP can’t do that. He needs the money to help his family, maybe put his little siblings through college and give his kids the sort of quality academic support that he never got. If in order to accomplish all this, he needs to work on Wall Street then so be it. This is what the American dream is all about and there are many paths to reach it with investment banking being one of them.</p>
<p>Good luck to the OP wherever he ends up.</p>
<p>Actually if OP were truly a good financier, he would realize that investment banking would probably be a poor choice for accomplishing a goal of making money to put his siblings through college and climb out of the socioeconomic situation his family is currently in.</p>
<p>I-banking is a security with huge volatility. Sure there’s a chance that you’ll make it to VP or MD stage and make millions, which would be great, but there’s also a 99% chance that you will fail to break into the industry, 90% chance that you won’t make it past the 2nd year analyst (which pays only ~60k, btw), and then 90% chance you won’t make it past the associate position. So it’s all well and good if he actually makes it to the money, but from a risk standpoint one should never make such high risk investments (in this case, of time and energy) when your Principle amount is close to 0, as in the OPs case. Because in the highly likely chance that the aspiring banker fails to realize his dreams, then HE is the one who doesn’t have daddy or mommy’s money to fall back on. It’s the kind of risk that is more suited for the middle class or upper class person who does have some liquidity and wouldn’t be putting all his eggs in one basket, as it were.</p>
<p>At least, that’s what a real investment banker might think.</p>
<p>
I have to agree with you. People disguise, or are encouraged to disguise, their true intentions and motivation. This makes one a hypocrite and be disingenuous. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, wrong with pursuing a goal that truly motivates you. Why is pursuing an investment banking career taken as immature? Any talented highschool varsity football player will be aspiring to become an NFL player. Why would he be aspiring to become an NFL player? For fame only? Or for the sake of ‘learning’ to play better at one’s sport? What a nonsense and a hypocrite. The money that a profession brings is as big a motivating factor as any in this country or anywhere in the world, especially if you have grown up in a poverty stricken neighborhood or family. When one advises the student to fabricate a zeal for learning when one’s desire lies elsewhere, he should be kidding. better shutup. Like one Harvard applicant who said in his application, whose essay was picked as one of the 50 best essays for that year, to paraphrase, ‘you work hard for your goal, if getting admitted into a college is your goal, what is wrong with doing things and working hard for things that look good for college admission?’
It is not noble to force fit yourself to a perceived notion of what the college may want in its applicants. To be successful in a major that will lead to an ibanking job in wallstreet, well, learn he will to maximize his chances. don’t worry.</p>
<p>@toughyear: Well said.</p>
<p>^ I don’t buy that line of reasoning. This isn’t analogous to a talented football player aspiring to play in the NFL, it’s more like a five year old wanting to be a fireman.</p>
<p>^I would have to agree with that. I’m fairly sure the OP has no insight into the struggles encountered by people aspiring to be IBankers (pointed out by newest newb); so, in this case, he would be the 5 year old.</p>
<p>Ummm newest newb has no idea what he/she is talking about or has gotten dinged by investment banks. </p>
<p>If you go to Princeton, you have a >70% chance of breaking into the industry if you really work hard at it. Most analysts do leave after 2-3 years, but usually to business school or to another finance firm (ie: private equity). Second year analysts last year at bulge bracket banks got paid around $80k base + $65k bonus (top bucket got paid higher). If you fail to find a job in investment banking (or get fired), there are always other investment banks (such as boutiques), accounting firms, or consulting - it’s not like you will die homeless as a result.</p>
<p>I will be working at a bulge bracket investment bank this summer - I’ve done my research.</p>
<p>Also: I don’t think Princeton will look too favorably at you stating your intentions of wanting to be an investment banker. Our admissions committee is pretty liberal…</p>
<p>If I may: My advice to Kendall is with the goal to get him into a school like Princeton where he might have the chance to become a financier. He seems quite accomplished already. However, I wanted to caution him to not wear his intentions so emblazoned on his forehead – for fear of being labeled “novel” or “quaint”, to be blunt. </p>
<p>Successful WallSt candidates let their achievements in quantitative coursework speak for themselves (given his top scores, I would rather think he’s got an inside edge alread). At the heart of it, if he has the chops and it’s still his desire, I hope he gets in 100%. </p>
<p>However, I can’t shake the feeling that I get when I read some random student who posts on CC about how he has got to get into an Ivy League school although if you query him, he has no idea what the Ivy league schools are about besides their reputation.</p>
<p>“2nd year analyst (which pays only ~60k, btw)”</p>
<p>Not even close to the salary level let alone salary + bonus. Easily 100,000+ Was $140,000 to 150,000 several years ago for a bulge bracet analyst.</p>
<p>think about the living expenses though…nyc, etc…</p>
<p>Every major investment bank has offices all over the country. They let you choose where you want to work usually.</p>
<p>You’re very well qualified for a URM. I’ve known many more who are wayyy less qualified than you are that went to Princeton. I also know many minority SEO people here at my work (BB) so you’re set.</p>