Chances for Selective Schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello all, thanks in advance - I am a Junior second sem

Major: Business/Economics

Choices:
UT Austin Business Honors + Plan II
UPenn (Wharton) (Early D)
Cornell (Dyson)
Northwestern (Economics)
Berkeley (Haas)
Carnegie (Tepper)
NYU (Stern)
Duke (Economics)

Race: Indian American
Income: 200K

Academics:
4.76/5 Weighted, 16/689 (Top 100 High School in Country)
SAT: 1570 (790 Math, 780 Reading)
SAT Subject: 800 Math II, 740 USH, 780 Physics
Plan on taking ACT in summer, should score at least 35
PSAT: 1490, should be NMSF

College Courses:
Freshman: AP Comp Sci (5)
Soph: AP Music (5), APUSH (5), AP Stats (5)
Junior: AP Euro, AP MacroEcon, AP Micro Econ, AP Spanish, IB Spanish SL, AP Physics, IB Physics SL, Comp Sci SL, AP Calc AB, AP English Literature, AP Human Geo
Senior: History HL, Economics HL, AP Physics C, IB Math SL, AP Calc BC, Comp Sci HL, English HL
(I will be recieving my IB Diploma)

Extra Curricular:
Debate: UIL Quarterfinalist, top 10 Speakers in State, National championship qualifier
Economics: 1st place state economics challenge (Council of Economics Education), next year plan on published economics paper in a journal and starting a video series for AP tutoring
Track: Varsity all through high school
Piano: Composer, 1st in state composition contests all three years
Writing: Published in various magazines including Adbusters, HuffPost
Provisional Patents received for two personal inventions
Summer: Attend debate/research camps at MSU, Wake Forest, and UT
Citizenship Committee: Run a politics blog for the school, conduct interviews with Austin Mayor and other politician

Leadership:
Debate: Team Captain 2 years
Citizenship Comittee: President

Volunteering:
Irrelevant things like NHS
Started Chess club at new ES, won state championship
Started Math Olympiad club at a new ES, 4th in the national championship

Essays: Have not started as I am a Junior
Recs: Have not recieved, but will ask my TOK teacher, History teacher, and Economics teacher

2

To me it looks like you have a good chance. However, definitely have safety schools, including economically safe schools. As I am sure that you have read in other places getting into very selective schools is unpredictable.

3

I applied to UT Austin and Cornell, out of that list you have there. I was accepted to both, and your achievements are way better than my own. However, the programs you are applying to are considered very selective even within those universities. But I am sure you are aware of that already.

Overall, I think you have a good chance. Anything else would mostly be out of your control. IMHO, all you need now is to craft an application that will woo admissions committees. You have some of the best ingredients, now it’s time to cook.

P.S. UW GPA and your geographical location will play a role in admissions as well, just FYI.

4

This is ridiculous. Teach my your ways of becoming an intellectual paragon capable of topping 4 different fields. What on God’s green earth are you attempting to accomplish with college confidential?

5

As a senior who applied ED to Wharton, got deferred and then rejected, let me share some thoughts:

Academically, you’re in great shape. Why are you even bothering with the ACT? Also, is your UW GPA close to a 3.9 or above?

Your ECs are strong as well, although I don’t quite see a coherence to them. Make sure you emphasize what you’re passionate about in your essays, letters of recommendation, and even the order in which you list your ECs on the Common App.

Also, I recommend knowing how many others in your school are applying to Wharton. There were about 3-5 others who applied ED to Wharton. One, who was legacy, got in and the other was very close to our class valedictorian. Wharton is super competitive so just be prepared for that. All the other schools you look like you have good to great chances at. Good luck!

6

Based on our experience, Duke, Northwestern will be just as competitive as Penn. While Berkeley, Cornell will be slightly less, and then Stern (not NYU as a whole, just Stern) and Carnegie Mellon, be prepared to have some more match and safety choices as each of these schools have tons of applicants that profile the same.

7

UCB (Haas) is not a direct admit. You apply after Sophomore year, but you do look like a competitive applicant for UCB.
Best of luck.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites listed below are UC Berkeley campus courses. Once at UC Berkeley, students must take all prerequisites at UC Berkeley. If non-UC Berkeley college level course work was completed before admission into UC Berkeley, it can be used to satisfy prerequisite or breadth requirements (with the exception of Principles of Business (UGBA 10), which must be taken at UC Berkeley). If off-campus work was completed at a California community college, visit the Assist website, www.assist.org for courses at each school that fulfill the prerequisite or breadth requirements.

All prerequisite courses must carry a minimum of 3 semester units and must be completed with a letter grade of C- or higher no more than 5 years before starting the business major. Some requirements may be fulfilled with exam credit.

If you repeated or have taken more than one course to fulfill a prerequisite you must use the first attempt to satisfy the requirement. If you received a C- or higher for your first attempt you should not repeat the prerequisite.

Prerequisite Courses for UC Berkeley Students
Undergraduate Business Administration 10–Principles of Business. All UC Berkeley applicants must complete this course at UC Berkeley.
Math (Calculus)—Two semesters of calculus are required: Math 16A and Math 16B or Math 1A and Math 1B or Math 1A and 16B. Math 53 or Math 54 will also fulfill the calculus prerequisite for Haas.
Economics 1 or 2—Introduction to Economics
Statistics 20 or 21—Introductory Probability and Statistics. Statistics 131A or 134 will also fulfill the prerequisite. Stat C8 and Stat 88 taken together will also fulfill the statistics prerequisite.
English/Reading and Composition Requirement R&C (more information below).
English/Reading and Composition Requirement (R & C): You must satisfy this requirement by completing courses comparable to both Berkeley’s English R1A and English R1B.

Go to the Letters & Science website for a complete list of courses that will satisfy the first half (“A”) and second half (“B”) of the R & C requirement.

You may use first-half and second-half courses from different departments. Please remember that Haas guidelines differ from L&S guidelines. For example, for Haas one course may not be used to satisfy both a prerequisite and a breadth requirement.

8

Thank you, I was wondering what the acceptance rate is for undergrad Haas and how competitive the applicants are

9

https://haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/class_profile.html

10

see the profile here
https://haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/class_profile.html

It’s an incredibly competitive program, you need ECs in addition to a good GPA (3.65) which is tough there.

As for the other schools, it may be a little too late but you need more focus, your app is not going to stand out.

11

My school has maybe 1 applicant to Penn every 3 years - not sure why the number is so low, but I’m sure no one will apply to the school in my class. What does this mean for my application?

Also, my UW GPA is a 4.0.

12

the key to Penn is applying early if you really want to go, they have a significant discrepancy between ED and RD. If you sure that’s your first choice, apply early.

13

bump