I’m assuming that by Indian, you mean South Asian Indian, rather than Native American Indian. If it were Native American Indian, yes, you most definitely can parlay that into an URM boost. If it’s South Asian Indian, nope, that’s in the ORM category, not gonna help you at all. Absurd, but reality bites.
Clearly, you’re very bright, were not interested in schoolwork in high school, but are now. A’s in community college are easily earned. They don’t necessarily predict that you’ll be able to apply yourself enough to do the work at a more demanding college program.
For the business you started, how about calling it motorcycle repair? It’s not lying - you’re custom building and custom repairing (small) motorized cycles. I’m warning you that for law abiding residents of cities and their adjacent inner ring suburbs, what you’re doing would be considered one step below selling illegal guns or selling ghost gun kits - we are that enraged by the hijacking of our streets by gangs of illegal riders. If you think that the bikes you’re selling are mostly being ridden legally at motocross competitions on private property, you’re either lying to yourself or you’re incredibly naive. Admissions officers are not stupid, and I guarantee you that someone at the table will point out exactly what I have pointed out.
I really don’t think you have a shot at Wharton. One semester of A’s at community college doesn’t cure your record at Boston Latin, nor does it stand alone as something to get you into Wharton. Besides, do you really want to move that far away from your mother? Consider UMass Amherst’s business school, Babson, Northeastern, BU, UMass Boston. Of course, your cheapest option is to finish the associate’s degree at Bunker Hill, then take advantage of their articulated transfer agreements, which include Lesley and Suffolk, or maybe UMass Boston.
I do agree with most of the things you said in your response. Whether or not making the minibikes may be a red flag to admission officers, I know that the bikes are used for the reasons I listed previously(although I am sure there are exceptions). Most of my bikes are sold to people in rural areas in New Hampshire. I know this because 1. I see the license plates of my clients and 2. In the bill of sale/purchase I require an address and signature. Even if this was not the case, the bikes I make are street legal as I get them inspected. My final point why I believe they are used as intended: the bikes are custom built for people to fit their desires with race engines containing methanol(not suitable for street cruising) and cost from 1.5k-3k. So I doubt the “thug riders” are spending that much on my bikes. But I do agree, in some people’s eyes it may not look too good.
I thank you for the advice and I respect your POV. It could actually be a great idea to call it a motorcycle repair shop, but I truly have put a lot of time to get the metal and weld together frames with race engines. But it is something interesting to consider. You are correct, CC grades are probably not well representations of your success at well established institutions
I respectfully disagree with parentologist. Apply and see what happens. What’s the worst outcome? That you rejected. So what? At least you’ll never be left to wonder whether you should have applied.
With regard to the nature of your business, I think the point is that at the young age of 15 you started a legitimate business (i.e., not dumping pudding on your head on YouTube for yuks and clicks) to help support your family after your dad had “gone missing” (I assume he abandoned the family, but I’m not sure). That’s a great (albeit, sad) story. Many kids have wealthy parents who coddle them and pay for their 15 SAT courses – their biggest adversity that they had to overcome in life is being stuck with a two year-old BMW as their first car.
Also, as far as the nature of the business goes, it’s legal. If there’s really a concern that someone’s going to think that you’re enabling gangs of bandits who ride through streets terrorizing decent, law-abiding citizens (and to be honest, I think that’s a stretch and never would have dawned on me), then speak to it in your essay. Give much detail about who your typical customer is and how you serve them.
Apply, and if the application fee is a concern, I’ll venmo you the money.
There are no worries about the application fee as my counselor has given me a fee waiver, but that is so generous of you to offer. To address the point of the “missing” father, I just wanted to clarify. My father was an avid gambler and addict, and one day my mother found a foreclosure notice in the dustbin. The next day he was gone and to this day we have not seen him. We filed a missing person report hence the need for me to include that he went “missing”. So yes as you said, it was abandonment but it was hard to believe. To speak on the point of the bikes, I thought about it from another perspective. If I was customizing dirt bikes and Atvs, would I be looked down upon? I’m not sure I would as I would be selling those power-sport vehicles for recreational purposes and for people to enjoy in more rural settings. It is not my fault if those people take it to the city and do illegal stunts on it(after all that is not my intent). It is the same case with the mini bikes in my opinion. I live in Boston and to this day I have never seen people riding mini bikes. it is always people doing wheelies on ATVs, ditbikes, ane scooters. Just my 2 cents on the topic, but to each their own.
I don’t “down” upon you over your dirt bike/ATV business (I’m ~15 miles south of Boston, BTW), but I can’t say how likely it is that others will (beyond parentologist, who should be commended and respected for their honesty). I’d run with it though because it’s an important part of your story, but that’s just my gut feeling. And who knows, maybe someone on the admissions committee was the “dirt bike champ of Minnesota” or something in high school, and your application will therefore stand out to that person. This country is filled with people of all backgrounds. One of the most successful and accomplished people I know competitively raced dirt bikes in the woods near Elmira, NY.
As far as your family story goes, I’m terribly sorry to hear about your father. Few kids have to deal with anything like that at such a young age. I’m not an admissions person but I find you to be very impressive. Do what you think is best and don’t look back. Good luck!
Yes I agree; However, Wharton and Northeastern will likely be the only schools I apply to for entry in sophomore year so I just wanted to hear some opinions.
You’re an impressive young person and an excellent communicator. Wharton is a long shot with only one college semester under your belt, but it doesn’t hurt to try. Overall, I feel like you could be on a trajectory for a top-tier MBA program, no matter where you do your undergrad. Play the long game and try to get out of undergrad without debt, and continue to distinguish yourself at whatever school allows you to make that happen.
What I wonder is, having run this successful business for years now, what has your income been looking like and how will that affect your need-based aid eligibility? (I’m not asking you to disclose any info here; just making sure you’re investigating this thoroughly.) Full-need-met schools will be generous if you qualify, but if your income makes your financial profile more complicated, the NPC may not give the full picture - you may want to approach financial aid departments about a pre-read to see where you would stand.
I hope you keep updating here; you have a lot of people rooting for you now! If you can score an elite transfer and it’s affordable, that would be awesome; but if you end up taking the UMass pathway, you can still knock it out of the park and have a bright future. Do your due diligence in terms of figuring out what makes the most sense financially, and keep moving forward - I don’t think the challenges of college will faze you, compared to what you’ve already handled in your life!
My plan is to Continue at CC and try next year for the colleges on the rest of list. If that doesn’t work, I will continue at one of the UMass schools through my bridge program to get into a good MBA program.
Good plan. If you were to continue to be a straight A student at community college (and you should know that some motivated students zip right through with 6 classes/semester, 3 semesters a year, and are done in under 18 months), transferred then to one of the UMass colleges, and did well there, and showed some extraordinary entrepreneurial achievement, you would have a good shot at the most prestigious MBA programs, if that’s what you want by then.
Hi. If you wanna go to Penn apply to the College instead. Only 13 people transferred into Wharton the year I transferred (2015). They all had like 35 ACTs and 4.0s. Obviously you have great stats but it’s a numbers game and applicants who are perfect on paper are constantly rejected.