Chance Me: Rising senior wanting to get into target schools for finance or accounting [IL resident, 3.5/1490]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics: Male, Indian, Illinois, $35K combined household income(yes you read that right), first gen, large public high school ~ 2000 students

Major: Undeclared Business (want to go into finance or accounting)

SAT: 1490 (760English, 730 Math)

Rank: N/A(school doesn’t rank)

UW: 3.535/ W: 4.535

Coursework: 8 Honors (max you can take), 14 AP’s, 2 Dual Credit

Freshmen Year: AP CSP(4) AP seminar(5)

Sophomore year: AP Euro(4)

Junior year: AP Physics 1(2), AP Physics 2(4), AP Calc AB(5), APUSH(4), AP Lang(5), Dual Credit Spanish 4

Senior year: AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP Gov, AP Macro, AP Chem, AP Lit, Dual Credit Accounting 2

Awards:
All AP scholar awards, Honor Roll(3.5+), Most Improved and MVP of Team for Varsity Tennis.

EC’s:
Job for 2 summers at local Tennis Club(youth tennis coach, tennis hut manager) I Tennis : 2x Sectional Qualifier 1x State Qualifier for doubles, Varsity (10,11,12), Varsity Co-Captain (11) I BPA 4x State Qualifier (Banking and Finance(x2) Payroll Accounting(x1) Business Law & Ethics(x1) Financial Analyst Team(x1) I Co-Founder of Finance and Investing Club I 2x Chess team state qualifier (Board 5) I Youth Group leader at local temple I 70+ volunteering hours (tutoring/kumon, FMSC, and in school opportunities) I idk if I should put this on it but I do paper trading and made ~6K profit after 8months started with $1k

I feel like my application is solid but my grades from freshmen and sophomore year kind of tanked my gpa a little too many B’s. Please feel free to honestly chance me thank you!!

Schools:
UT Austin(McCombs), UIUC(Gies), UMich(Ross), NYU(Stern), MSU(Broad), USC(Marshall), DePaul, IU(Kelly), UVA, UNC, UIC, WashU(Olin), Texas A&M(Mays), UW-Madison, UF, Purdue

Maybe: UPenn(Wharton), Notre Dame(Mendoza), Stanford(dream school since I was a child)

I know its a lot of reaches but might as well apply. If you guys have any reverse chance me options please lmk.

Thanks!!

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Yes, you have a lot of reaches (IMO too many).

Have you run the net price calculator on the colleges on your list? I don’t expect they will all be affordable.

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@vivid1521 any chance you’ll be National Merit Semi/Finalist? That would definitely open doors for you at Texas A&M. If not, OOS tuition will not affordable.
UT McCombs OOS tuition will also not be affordable, and your scores would be a hard Reach to get in.
You sound like an amazing young man! I’m sure many schools will be after you…but you’ve got to be realistic at the same time.
Best of luck!

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Lehigh.

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Forget UT Austin, U Michigan, MSU, IU, A&M, Madison, UF and Purdue.

You have huge need - and they aren’t going to come close - if at all.

You have a chance at Gies - your GPA is well below but rigor and test score are strong but test scores are of a bit less importance.

My guess is you have no chance at your last three (reaches). Of your schools, MSU, Depaul, and UIC are the only ones I see you getting in but MSU you needn’t bother. Depaul run the NPC but I’m guessing it will come unaffordable.

UNC and UVA meet need - the only two publics in the country. You won’t get in - but it’s not a waste to apply. Note neither is direct admit - so you get in for Junior year into the major.

Your best bet is UIUC, UIC and if you want another SIU.

If you wanted to go out of state, Culverhouse at Alabama is excellent and you’d get $28K off - leaving you low 20s including room and board and you’d qualify for Honors. But I can’t imagine you can afford that. But mroe than 1,000 Illinoisans are enrolled.

You might also look into the Iliinois Committment which gives free tuition at a public - which would save you $5K or so over Bama.

Good luck.

How do you qualify?

  • You must be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen

  • You’re an Illinois resident (parents listed on the FAFSA are also Illinois residents)

  • Your family income is $67,100 or less

  • Your family’s assets are $50,000 or less

  • You’re under the age of 24

  • You’re admitted as a new freshman or transfer student

  • You attended and graduated from an Illinois high school

  • You must be enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program for at least 12 hours during fall or spring semesters

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Title says IN resident, not IL resident.

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Big oops. Thx

Ok forget UIUC and UIC. I saw them and assumed Illinois.

Why not IU Kelley ? If your transcript shows a 3.8 and it will, it’s a safety.

Perhaps Indiana offers a low income plan ? Couldn’t find it.

Also you might look at Questbridge.org.

My previous message holds except the two Illinois schools won’t work.

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Original post does say Illinois, but title says IN - OP will need to clarify.

Seconding Lehigh, which has no-loan aid for low-income students and good business programs, and doesn’t require a 4.0UW to have a reasonable chance.

Emory might be a better reach than some of the others, since they recalculate GPA without 9th grade, and it sounds like that was a weaker year in this case.

Agree that the OOS publics (except for UVA and UNC which meet need, but are tough admits) are generally going to be too expensive. UMich does, in theory, meet need for low-income OOS students, so it’s worth running the NPC.

Are any of the listed schools within commuting distance?

Run NPC’s for all, eliminating schools that clearly won’t be affordable. Consider an ED application to a full-need-met school with favorable NPC numbers and a higher acceptance rate for ED. (Thinking especially of WashU, Emory, Lehigh… or another full-need-met school with business that favors ED apps, like Wake Forest, Richmond, or Washington & Lee.)

Maybe try running the NPC for SMU (Cox) as well. They don’t guarantee full-need-met aid, but they do give merit, which could fill the gap. This is probably better financial option in TX than A&M or UT, and the business programs are strong.

U of Denver (Daniels) is another that might get you there via a combination of need-based and merit.

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Seconding SMU, if the finances work. They are very strong in finance and accounting. Dallas is a hot job market.

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Where are you all seeing the financial needs? Was that edited out of the OP?

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OP mentioned in his opening paragraph:

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If from Illinois, check out Illinois Promise. Great deal for low income families in state.

https://osfa.illinois.edu/types-of-aid/other-aid/illinois-promise/

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Thank you! Missed that important piece of information.

@vivid1521 are you from Indiana or Illinois?

How much can your parents contribute towards your college education each year.

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UIUC Gies is a reach, even if in-state with a 3.5 GPA…Gies is a small school which makes getting in competitive. Here is the Illinois Promise (a full ride for low income and low asset students) info, to see if you qualify. Illinois Promise – Office of Student Financial Aid

Make sure you apply to UIUC early action. I suggest you pick a gies major as your first choice and DGS (undeclared) as your second choice. You can transfer into Gies after DGS, but it’s competitive. In your essays for the Gies major make sure to highlight your classroom and business experience that support your major.

I would also look at Northern Illinois…their business school is excellent. Is commuting to UIC an option?

As others have said your list is too reachy and the out of state public schools won’t be affordable…UT, U Mich, IU, Purdue, Madison have to come off the list.

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The definition of “target” varies for each bank. From your list, the following would be considered target schools for high finance jobs: Wharton, Stanford, UVA and NYU Stern. For accounting, there is a much broader set of schools from which they recruit from.

Your GPA and test scores are not competitive for T20. But I think you would have a chance at some of the others.

Given your family’s finances, I honestly think your best chance is to go to community college for 2 years, knock it out of the park, and then apply for transfer to a T20.

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Notwithstanding the title of the thread, his info states the following: “Demographics: Male, Indian, Illinois, $35K combined household income(yes you read that right), first gen . . . .” (emphasis added).

Perhaps the OP can clarify which state – Illinois or Indiana – he is a resident of.

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Based on the use of brackets, it appears that “IN” was added to the title as an edit by a moderator or other user, perhaps mistakenly. It seems likely, then, that the OP resides in Illinois. Nonetheless, clarification from the OP would be helpful.

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If Illinois, the Illinois Commitment info I posted would be a great fit then.

Questbridge potentially too but not sure how the GPA fits.

Academic Profile

  • Average GPA: 3.92
  • Class rank: 87% from the top 10%
  • Middle 50% SAT score: 1290 - 1460 (if reported)
  • Middle 50% ACT score: 28 - 33 (if reported)

Please note: Test scores are not required to apply, and around 40% of QuestBridge applicants in the past year did not have test scores.

Financial Profile

Household income under $65,000: 92%

Free or reduced-price meals eligibility: 85%

Demographics

First generation to a four-year college: 78%

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Is there an equivalent to the Illinois Promise for other Illinois publics that are not UIUC? I did a brief search, but everything keeps going back to UIUC. If OP wants accounting or finance, and Gies is not a sure-thing (though certainly a possibility), then I think we need to find some options that are extremely likely admits that will also be affordable. And may I just say, that the Illinois Promise is an awesome deal for eligible students.

Since OP spelled out “Illinois” in his first post, I went ahead and changed IN to IL in the bracketed part of the title.

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They have UIC - Illinois Chicago.

They can also look at Illinois State, Northern Illinois (mentioned earlier by someone) and Southern Illinois.

But the OP had UIC so assuming that’s likely enough - although is one affordable safety ever enough :slight_smile: Two sounds better.