Chances of getting into Wharton?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>Hello all, I'm currently a softmore in high school and my dream school is Wharton school of business. I was just wondering if my current GPA/courseload is on track with what Wharton is looking for. </p>

<p>I didn't take any honors at all freshman year, I was intimidated by my high school and how competitive it was, I know that's probably a downer, but I attend one of the most competitive highschools in Pennsylvania (it's ranked #15 to #16...it fluctuates year to year). My clubs freshman year weren't that great either, but I'm hoping this year makes up for it.</p>

<p>9th grade course load:
Spanish 1: A+
Western Cultures Semester 1: A
Civics Semester 2: A-
Algebra 1: A+
Art Semester 1: B
Food for Today Semester 2: A+
Chemistry: B+
English: A+
Info Tec: A</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8 (Unweighted) 3.9 (Weighted)
Clubs: Science club
Sports: Track & Field</p>

<p>10th grade course load:
(H) English 10: A
World Cultures: A+
(H) Geometry: A-<br>
(H) Algebra 2: A-
(H) Biology: A-
Spanish 2: A+
(H) Business Law: A+
(AP) Economics: B-</p>

<p>Current GPA: 4.0 (Unweighted) 4.5 (Weighted)
Clubs this year: President of Future Business Leaders of America, VP of Business club, Treasurer of Student Council, Science club member.
Sports: Track & Field, Soccer</p>

<p>Community service so far: 153 hours</p>

<p>What classes should I take next year? Am I on par so far? What classes should I have taken this year to increase my chances?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>If I don't qualify for Wharton, what would be some other business schools in the country around the top 20 that I could definitely get into? I want to major in Finance: Trading/Banking.</p>

<p>Also, if this helps at all, I started trading stock when I was 15 (I'm now 16 and a half). My Dad gave me $1,000 dollars to start with which has now grown to be over $240,000. I love to trade and invest in the stock market. My dream is to work on Wallstreet and the reason Wharton is such an attraction for me is because of its great job placement.</p>

<p>I am a caucasian girl with my parents income of 200,000 annually.</p>

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<p>Decent enough chances. I would try to jack up your grades over the next year and be sure to score 2200+ on the SAT or 33+ on the ACT (these aren’t hard and fast rules or anything, but in my own observations that appears to be a pretty good threshold for an unhooked applicant). As far as extracurriculars go, you look okay but try to earn some medals or awards in FBLA. Also, I highly recommend applying Early Decision if you want to go to Wharton. Despite what anyone will tell you, I am almost positive it’s easier to get in if you apply ED. I say this as an ED applicant myself, as I know for sure I would have gotten rejected RD based on the people I know that applied and were rejected.</p>

<p>As far as other schools that are good for banking, I would recommend all Ivies (except Cornell), U. Michigan’s Ross School of Business, NYU’s Stern School of Business, and University of Chicago. These schools typically have the best recruitment opportunities for finance, with Wharton and Harvard tied neck and neck for the top.</p>

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<p>Kbolisetty23, thanks for your reply! Do you think that with these qualifications that you listed, I’d be able to get into Wharton for sure? Do you recommend anything else to increase my chances?</p>

<p>Also, I’m interested in attending CMU’s Tepper school of business. Would I be overqualified for Tepper? Would you say that’d be a good safety school? Thanks again.</p>

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<p>There’s no way of knowing if you’ll get into Wharton for sure. With elite college admissions, there’s always a very large element of randomness. As I said before, I know many people who were, at least on paper, far more qualified than me for Wharton but still got rejected. All you can ever do is maximize your chances. On that front, I think it would also help your resume if you could do something unique to set yourself apart from the competition. For me, it was being heavily involved in research in the summer. Reflect on your interests and try to think of something you can do that will “pop out of the page” on a resume. It could be anything from starting a nonprofit to building a nuclear reactor in your basement (two real-life examples of things people I know did that helped them get into elite colleges). </p>

<p>As far as your question about Tepper goes, I have never heard of it so I’m not qualified to answer. I can guarantee you that there’s probably a smaller recruiting scene at that school from the major IB firms than the schools I’ve listed. Good business safety schools for you are the aforementioned Ross at Michigan and Stern at NYU. Both of these schools have decent enough recruitment opportunities.</p>

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<p>Oh, I also thought of another thing. Wharton likes to see initiative in its students. I would recommend looking closely at your school or community to see if there are any needs or deficits that you find engaging or interesting and then creating a club or organization to fulfill that need. For instance, if you enjoy helping others and have noticed that there are a lot of students struggling in your school, create a peer tutoring organization to fill that gap.</p>

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<p>Alright, thank you so much! Very helpful. A couple of my cousins actually got into elite schools like Yale and Brown. The thing that set them apart (for one of them at least) was traveling to Kosovo in her Junior summer and helping draft a constitution or something of that sort. I’ll definitely do something innovative before I apply.</p>

<p>Any other comments anyone?</p>

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<p>Also, do my grades/participation in school my Freshman year really matter that much?</p>

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<p>Ba-bada-ba-ba-bump!</p>

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<p>“Also, if this helps at all, I started trading stock when I was 15 (I’m now 16 and a half). My Dad gave me $1,000 dollars to start with which has now grown to be over $240,000.”</p>

<p>Wow! If I had your talent I would have skipped college altogether.</p>

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<p>^lol</p>

<p>I hate to be cynical, but I think she may be off a decimal point or two.</p>

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<p>Hey guys, hey now. I wasn’t off by “a decimal point or two”. That number is accurate.</p>

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<p>^Haha that’s seriously amazing. If I had that kind of talent I don’t think I’d even go to college. You could probably make more money by just staying home and trading all day.</p>

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<p>Thank you. I have a lot of motivation to make my first million by the time I’m 18, and would like to exceed that, however, I cannot do that without a college education. My own smarts/luck will only get me so far. Do you think if I listed that on my application to Wharton (when I do apply) it would be a bonus, or too far fetched? I can provide screenshots/my portfolio.</p>

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<p>I’d like to see some screenshots myself lol. I find it sort of difficult to believe, no offense meant. Pretty incredible.</p>

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<p>Well, it that is true, your return is better than Buffet’s. I don’t know why they don’t hire you. Screen shots doesn’t prove anything as long as there is Photo shop. What you should do is write a gorgeous essay explaining your strategies and pretty sure they will pass it to the Finance dept to review. It might be a good hook.</p>

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<p>Here is a screenshot of the summary of my TD Ameritrade account. I hope this puts all of your guys’ hesitation to rest. Apologies for not capturing the entire screen, I don’t want my personal information on the web. </p>

<p><a href=“http://s12.postimg.org/b0n5jtdpp/Screen_Shot_2013_04_24_at_11_24_10_PM.png[/url]”>http://s12.postimg.org/b0n5jtdpp/Screen_Shot_2013_04_24_at_11_24_10_PM.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Sophia, you don’t have to prove anything. That screen shot does not prove anything either (Without showing historical data it does not prove anything ). But you don’t need to. Just write a good essay about your experience and the hard work, research, strategies that went into it. That is more than enough proof. You have good grades, good ECs and a definite chance of getting in.</p>

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<p>Thanks ognopgod, I understand that it could have seemed a little far fetched to some people. I’ll continue to work hard and stay on track. Thanks everyone else for the help!</p>

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<p>yet somehow you managed to get a B- in Econ…</p>

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<p>^You’d be surprised, dude. I know people who’ve made it to ISEF/Siemens but did poorly in their school science courses. Academic skills do not translate all that well into practical skills, at least in my experience.</p>