@SirEdan - I was also confused regarding your status, but I was not remotely confused when I responded to iamjack’s suggestion that you apply to some UCs. You have no chance whatsoever as a freshman; your GPA renders you ineligible for admission to any of the UCs, much less UCLA or Berkeley. Your only chance would be as a junior, but most of the transfer acceptances come from California CCs. You can get into many, if not most, four-year colleges, but not the ones you or iamjack mentioned.
I’m confused about your training program. You appear to be doing clerical and operations work. Even the book you mentioned about fund administration is operations type work. This is not a track that would allow you to ever do research or fund management. The kids doing internships from the Ivies are not doing operations work.
What do you want to do? Your story is very cool and should translate into a super application. Can a mentor at Blackrock sponsor you and help you be admitted to a school?
^^ While I agree your story is cool your level of academic preparation would be of concern for any top school. You should work on finding colleges that are more realistic for your 2.7-3.1 gpa and ACT of 21. I know you have pointed out that college kids need at least 3.5 to get internships at Blackrock and you got one but I can’t help but reiterate that you are probably comparing apples and oranges. It appears that you have a back office type position while these college kids are getting actual money management training doing financial analysis and research. I hope you do find a mentor to help you sort this all out and gain some college acceptances. Good luck with everything! You sound like a neat kid.
@Falcon1 I said I’m doing a mix of front and back office. Besides, it doesn’t matter what office I’m working in. As long as I’m producing results for BlackRock, then employers will want me over someone who just interned in the front office just because.
Just because? I don’t understand. Anyway, work on getting that ACT score up.
I am working at wealth management company now, and there were Ivy kids doing operations tasks for their internships for the past couple summers. But the bottom line is that a few months of internship isn’t really going to do much to improve your chances for top schools. You have to prove that you can compete in the classroom at those schools. Grades & test scores are critical.
@SirEdan You seem to be rather unrealistic in regards to your relative skills
No no no, this is not exactly how this works. Chances are, there are students at MIT, Harvard, Princeton, etc, with skills just as good if not better than yours. They gain experience interning at companies, and then are generally hired at decent to superior corporations. Most companies will want a hardworking, intern experienced, ivy graduate just as much or more than they'll want you.
@HarvardMaths Listen, when corporations are looking to hire someone, they want someone who can produce, not someone who can “work hard”. Anyone person on this planet can “work hard” as long as that person puts his/her mind to it. If someone is working hard for X amount of years–or in this case, a couple of months–but still can’t produce anything for that company, then the company/firm has made a “bad investment”.
" Chances are, there are students at MIT, Harvard, Princeton, etc, with skills just as good if not better than yours". The same thing can be said for my case.
“They gain experience interning at companies, and then are generally hired at decent to superior corporations”. Are you people even reading my posts or are you just jumping right into the comment section ? My internship-- I stated where I interned already–is just slightly shorter compared to a college student who does 3 internships–if he/she starts doing an internship in their sophomore year since the average internship is 10 weeks. Not to mention I could try to get my internship extended for a few more months. Also, keep in mind that I’m doing all of this BEFORE college. So, I really don’t see many college students having more experience then myself–yes I know there will be some students who will have more experience then me.
“Experience” does not equal desire to hire.
Just because you have a long internship does not mean, whatsoever, that you’ll be getting a job (or admission to a university) over a HYPSM grad. Sorry.
I think it’s important to recognize that top universities are still primarily academic institutions who look for students who can handle the work. Neither your GPA nor ACT score indicates that you can, nor does your internship, because while it is impressive, being successful in an internship does not necessarily translate to being a successful university student since the two require very different skill sets. Your best bet might be to go to CC and transfer after you’ve proved that you are now a strong student.
As an employer, I can tell you they can’t. They certainly think they are, though. Their perceptions are relative to what they know.
@OrchidBloom A high GPA is important, but work experience shows a true representation of your abilities. A high GPA can show that you have more critical thinking skills. However, actual work experience will give you more knowledge of the field than sitting in class for 4 years–which is why colleges push their students to get internships. Also, you talk as if you know me. My GPA is low due to my high school being nothing but a dam joke. Had I gone to a real high school, I wouldn’t even be on this forum. My ACT score shows that I’m average without studying for it. I was in no way ready for that exam, but still scored the national average.
Congrats on the great work experience! Are you in NY? If so, I would consider the SUNY/CUNY system. If possible, keep your hooks in at Blackrock - it will be invaluable to have a consistent work experience through 4 years of college. I would shoot for public universities (not top flagships) and not CC. If possible, keep working summers and breaks at Blackrock- great experience- and a great hook to be able to say ‘5 years experience at Blackrock’ when you graduate from college.
How are you proud of a) not trying and b) only scoring the national average???
@bodangles
a)I’m not happy for not trying. I’m a competitive person, but when you go to a school like mine, you just stop giving a dam after while. There’s always fights, hardly any respect for the teachers and 90% of the kids there are trying to be the next Busta Rhymes, The Notorious B.I.G., DMX and Jay Z because these guys came form my school.
b)Never did I state that I was happy about my ACT score. the only reason why I keep bringing it up is to show all of you that I have room for improvement.
@HarvardMaths “Experience” does not equal desire to hire.
“Just because you have a long internship does not mean, whatsoever, that you’ll be getting a job (or admission to a university) over a HYPSM grad. Sorry.”
Yes, because being a HYPSM grad–were talking about under grad–makes you a more qualified person then anyone else on this planet, right ?
@suzyQ7 Yes, I’m in NYC. I was thinking of doing that, but they told me that they have offices near the schools I want to attend. From what I’ve been seeing so far, it seems CC schools are for me cause of my average ACT score and low GPA.
@SirEdan
I get your point in part a) of your #55 post and I think you are quite right! Many people with potentials can be left out or overlooked and become the victim of the circumstances beyond their control. However, the ugly truth is that it is what it is, and unfortunately there is no easy solution (if any at all)!
I think you misunderstood. I’m not saying that I doubt your reason for your low GPA (although as a tip: don’t frame it that way when you apply to university; it doesn’t reflect well and appears like you’re just making excuses). I’m also not saying that a high GPA represents how capable you are as a person.
What I am saying that to a university admissions committee looking over your application, your GPA does not indicate that you are ACADEMICALLY prepared to succeed as a student (note: I’m not saying that is the reality, only that you so far have not given them any reason to believe the contrary). I agree that your work experience reflects well and will be of much benefit to you in the future, but since universities are not simply job training grounds but academic institutions, they will care more about your critical thinking, intellectual curiosity etc. than how much knowledge you have of the field.