Give me a reality check, and give me good finance schools!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics: White Male, Extremely competitive TX High school (4200+ students)

Grade: Senior

Major: Finance

GPA: 3.87 UW 4.53/6.0 W - class rank top 18%, but huge upward trend

SAT: 1450 (790 Math, 660 Reading), retaking for hopeful 1500+ in august. I got 1550 and 1530 on past two practice test

Coursework: 9 AP/De Classes- BC Calc, AP Gov, AP Econ, APES, AP Human, DE English III, DE English IV, AP Psych, AP Bio

AP Scores: AP Bio-4, AP Psych-4

Awards: none

ECs:

-Volunteer at animal shelter (1 year)- 70+ hours

-Investing (2 years)

-Cooking (8+ years)- Kind of a family responsibility

-Co-President of school barbecue club- kinda weird i guess lol

-Key Club Member member (2 years)

-Mu Alpha Theta Member (1 year)

-Gardening (4 years)

-football freshman year (1 year)

-member of esports club (1 year)

Essays: Commonapp: 8/10

Schools:

-Boston College (Reach)
-IU Kelley (One of my top choices, target)
-Northeastern (Mega Reach)
-Purdue (Target)
-UVA (Big reach)
-UW Madison (reach for business)
-Wake Forest (Reach)
-Baylor (target)
-Texas Tech (Safety)
-Texas A&M (Target/Safety)
-UT Austin (target for main school, big reach for the business school

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Consider adding the University of Richmond.

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SMU Cox. You should visit and see what you think.

I agree that Richmond is really good for business. Would help if you did ED but probably late for that since it’s not on your list.

Friend’s son is going to Wisco pre-business with bit lower stats. Very fun school but serious academics. IU Kelley is known for its b-school. Visit to see what you think of its remoteness. Huge b-school with strong east coast connections.

Purdue would be quite good for supply chain and less known for finance.

BC is a bigger reach than Northeastern.

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I like your list - if you’re from Dallas or Houston, look at Washington & Lee. In addition to the Johnson Scholarship, they have a full tuition scholarship for a student from Dallas…probably not that many.

FSU and UGA are both up and coming. At FSU, you’d get an OOS waiver. Bentley - if you want to focus on business is an outstanding choice and Babson which is more into entrepreneurship.

U Miami would likely bring a $25K scholarship.

I like your list - but what are your goals? Wall Street. Something else? What was your impetus for choosing this wide array of schools? If you want to do corporate finance, for example, where you go matters less and as always, the fit matters most.

Good luck.

The Dallas Alumni Honor Scholarship recognizes students from the Dallas, Texas area with superior achievement in academics, extracurricular activities, and community service. Supported by Washington and Lee alumni from the Dallas area, this full-tuition scholarship is renewable for four years, provided the recipient maintains a 3.3 grade point average while enrolled at W&L. Finalists for the award will be notified in late January and will participate in a personal interview in March, conducted by Dallas area alumni.

The Houston/Fox Benton Honor Scholarship recognizes students from the Houston, TX area with superior achievement in academics, extracurricular activities, and community service. Supported by Washington and Lee alumni from the Houston area and created in memory of Fred Fox Benton, Jr., W&L ‘60, this full-tuition scholarship is renewable for four years, provided the recipient maintains a 3.3 grade point average while enrolled at W&L. Finalists for the Houston/Fox Benton Honor Scholarship will be notified in late January and will participate in a personal interview in March, conducted by Houston area alumni.

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My biggest thought is working on Wall Street. I’ve considered IB, but there’s no way I’m getting into an ivy so I’m kind of straying away from it. However, IU Kelley has a really good finance program and good opportunities for IB, Consulting, etc. Thanks for all your help and suggestions!

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Kelley does have good banking and consulting placement and is a safety for you because you meet the direct admit criteria (minimum of 3.8 which can be weighted or unweighted GPA as long as on transcript (IU takes the highest gpa on transcript), and a 1370 SAT).

To be a true safety IU does have to be affordable, is it? Assuming it is, with Kelley as a safety, I would only apply to schools that you would attend instead of Kelley…which ones are those?

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IU appears quite accommodative for aspiring business majors who miss the cutoff for direct admission as a freshman.

What if I am not directly admitted and my petition is not approved for freshman year?

You can still earn a degree from Kelley through standard admission. You will take one year of Kelley I-Core prerequisites—the exact same courses you take as a direct admit—and make degree progress. (Need all Bs or better in 30 hours of total credit.)

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I tend to dismiss IB rankings out of the top of the top. Today, the Internet is your friend and so recruitment will be wider. It’s all about making contacts. IU and Miami of Ohio are both solid B-schools but I think people put them out like it’s the next tier - and I don’t think they are.

If you can handle an LAC (or if full tuition is appealing), the connections at a W&L will be much stronger (in my opinion).

Here’s a good link. It shows the top feeders but also adjusts for enrollment and you see a little bit of a change.

In the end, you have to be there four years - find the right school for you, not the right school for getting a job on Wall Street. Many from last year, for example, are still looking…and many firms are leaving…look for example, Alliance Bernstein is now in Nashville and UTK is on their radar.

Good luck.

Top Feeders to Wall Street (■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■)

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