I have a decent sat score but a really bad rank and gpa in comparison. I want to major in finance and am graduating in 2020. Here are my stats:
GPA UW: 3.4 W: 3.7
Rank: Around top 30%
SAT: 1470
EC: started a non-profit, raised a couple thousand; 3 years varsity tennis; started program to teach tennis to underprivileged; Volunteered at the Children’s Museum last summer; interned at my dad’s brokerage this summer; 100 hours volunteer work; nationally ranked tennis player (not too high); competed at DECA State
I don’t really know what to think right now. I know I can get into some decent schools but I want to do better. I slacked off freshman year and steadily brought up my grades. I didn’t have any crazy reason for getting low grades then, I just found it hard to transition. I have also taken 6 AP classes and taken 2 AP tests. The scores on those are still pending.
Here are some schools I’m looking at
Rice
UT Austin
UT Dallas
Texas A@M
University of Houston
UCLA
UC Berkeley
USC
Vanderbilt
Boston College
Boston University
Carnegie Mellon
I know these are a wide range of schools but still help me. I want to go to a good school to get into investment banking or high finance. I also live in Texas if that helps. Don’t hold back on any comments. Any kind of feedback is appreciated. Also if you have some college suggestions for me other than the ones i listed that would be appreciated as well.
It may be the case that some of the public universities (as well as a few of the privates) on your list would automatically deny your application based on your UW GPA. You might be better off if you were to replace a few from your group with schools that might offer a more comprehensive review of your application. Think about the University of Richmond, Miami (OH), Villanova, Lehigh, Babson.
Your GC and school naviance charts will give you a good idea where you stand in chances of getting into the TX schools. If your high school has a lot of kids applying to those OOS schools, the Naviance charts will be useful too. It can depend upon the high school as to how that gpa is viewed.
Are you looking for financial aid or merit money? What can your family pay. That info is important in assessing how realistic your list is.
Can you afford $65K/year for UCLA and UCB? Being an OOS applicant for the UC’s means little to no financial aid so pretty much full pay.
UCLA does not have a finance major or an Undergraduate Business school while UCB’s Business school is not a direct admit so you have to apply after your 2nd year.
GPA is low for Villanova, Richmond and Lehigh. Your list is very reach heavy (9 of 12) and those s hooks are looking for top10%. What are your parameters? Size? Geographic location? Merit vs need for aid? If you can bring your GPA up that may open a few more doors but with more and more schools going to ED, the RD acceptance rates are shrinking.
I am just applying there I honestly don’t think I’m getting in to any out of state schools. I’m looking at TAMU first and then UTD. How are my chances there? I’m not an auto admit and I want to get into the Mays business school for finance btw.
Start research on that school and get the due dates on it.
Even more important is locking up the schools you know you can afford and will take you. Apply rolling or EA to them. Then you can have fun buying all of the lottery tickets you want. Make sure they are even possibilities in terms of finances. Most of what you have listed give very very little in scholarships. You need to run your family numbers through their NPCs and see if they are even feasible for you. If they don’t give scholarship money and your parents won’t pay what they are saying they need to pay, no way you can afford the schools. UCs are not financial aid friendly at all to OOS applicants.
It’s hard to tell. At more selective schools your GPA will probably be cause for concern. At less selective schools your GPA might be below average, but you scores, ECs, etc are definitely above average–and that should help. A lot also depends on how much your GPA has gone up. What was your GPA freshman year? sophomore year? junior year? Colleges like seeing upward trends. If you got all A’s this past year for instance, your chances should be considerably better.
Another thing to keep in mind: try to do really well in school this year to improve your GPA. If you don’t get into a school you like, you can always try to do really well there and then try transferring.
@TheSATTeacher My grades have been rising a great deal since freshman year. I did really bad freshman year but managed to bring my scores up this junior year. My top 2 schools right now are TAMU and then UTD. What are my chances of getting in? I also really want to get full admission and not have to transfer.
Your GC is best source of info for your state schools. with UT-Austin, it’s nearly all class rank to get accepted. Less stringent but still a big factor at TAMU and no idea about UTDallas. I have nephews in TX. Both got into TAMU, one with your grades. Another did not and is at Texas Tech rather than going to a satellite TAMU campus. No idea if he applied to UHouston.
If those schools have EA or rolling admissions, it would be nice to get them in hand. For TAMU, if not accepted to College Station, it is possible the to be referred to a satellite campus which can be your safety school. You can then pick your RD schools accordingly.