Help me figure out what my options are

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I just don't know what my first choice should be. I want to get an MBA in grad school, so I want to go the college that will get me into the best business grad school. I don't know if this means majoring in business at Michigan, majoring in English at Columbia, or something else. That is, if I can get in. That's what I want you to help me to figure out. These are my credentials:</p>

<p>White, Male, from NJ. Entering senior year. High school is parochial, 60 kids per grade.</p>

<p>SAT I: 2160. 740 math, 690 reading, 730 writing, 12 essay.
ACT: 33 composite. 35 math, 34 reading, 33 writing, 28 science, 8 essay.
AP's: 5 on English Language, 5 on Psychology, and 1 on Chem (which I'm not showing).
SAT II Literature: 650. Math I: 700
PSAT: 201. National Merit Commended</p>

<p>My unweighted gpa is 3.68. I am ranked 8th out of 60 in my class, so I am in the top 15%. I don't know what my weighted gpa is overall, but it was 4.2 for my junior year. When I graduate high school, I will have taken 6 AP's (pretty much the maximum for my school), 5 honors classes, and 4 accelerated classes.</p>

<p>This is my schedule for Senior year:
AP Statistics
AP Biology
AP English Literature
Calculus (no track available)
Jewish History (mandatory for everyone, no track available)
Hebrew Language
and bunch of Jewish classes (my school has a dual curriculum)</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities: This is where I am strongest.</p>

<p>Varsity Wrestling: 2x Captain, wrestled varsity in 8th grade. I took third place in the national Jewish league tournament twice, and I am currently seeded first. I am not allowed to wrestle in the state tournament because it takes place on Saturday, which is the Sabbath, but I have beaten state qualifiers in dual meets. I kept the team from falling apart my junior year, and I devote a lot of my time to wrestling (20 hours week)</p>

<p>Varsity Soccer: Walked on the team my junior year with virtually no experience, managed to become a regular player. Made a great defender because of my aggressiveness and conditioning from wrestling. Next year I will be a defensive starter.</p>

<p>I took a 100+ hour emergency medical training course this summer, and I am a certified Emergency Medical Technician. I am going to serve in an ambulance on Sundays during the school year.</p>

<p>West Point Summer Leaders Seminar: This was a one week simulation of cadet life at the United States Military Academy. I went through military training, physical assessment, and college level classes. We had about 4 hours of sleep a night.</p>

<p>I took an introductory business course at Columbia University over the summer and I have a pretty good letter of recommendation from my professor there (who is world renowned).</p>

<p>I have worked various jobs, such as interior design painting, construction/maintenance, and golf caddying.</p>

<p>I have been in random clubs that probably aren't too important and I have a ton of hobbies that I wont go into right now.</p>

<p>So, what are my chances at</p>

<p>UPenn (arts and sciences)
NYU Stern
University of Michigan (Ross school of business)
Some kind of scholarship at Rutgers Honors
Vanderbilt
Tufts
Brandeis
Some kind of scholarship at Northeastern's 5 year business program
Columbia University
Washington University in St. Louis (Olin school of business)</p>

<p>Does majoring in business make much of a difference when it is time to apply to grad school for an MBA? Thanks for any help you can give me.</p>

2

<p>Your goal should be to go to the best school you can get into. For top MBA programs you will need to work for 3-5 years following undergrad. What that job is and how you do in it will be even more important than your college GPA and GMAT score.</p>

<p>So the issue is to get into a college with the best recruiting for elite jobs. On your list that would be Columbia followed by Penn. Several of your other schools also have good recruiting, but not at the level of those two.</p>

3

<p>Thanks, that was never explained to me before. So, what do you think “the best school I can get into” is?</p>

4

<p>WOW!! That is a lot! i thought i was smart but i was proven wrong!!! but you should go to a school that has the same creditials that you are looking for in business. I mean, NYU has a good business school from what i hear, and so does the Columbia U. Also Northwestern is a good school too. You are having the same type of problems that i have. I want to go to Stanford but my mom’s wants me to go U Miami to stay close than leave for Stanford. </p>

<p>Here is top 20 schools:</p>

<p>1 University of Virginia (McIntire)
2 Notre Dame (Mendoza)
3 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
4 University of Michigan (Ross)
5 Brigham Young University (Marriott)
6 UC Berkeley (Haas)
7 MIT (Sloan)
8 Cornell University
9 Emory University (Goizueta)
10 University of Texas at Austin (McCombs)
11 Villanova University
12 Richmond (Robins)
13 UNC at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
14 Wake Forest (Calloway)
15 New York University (Stern)
16 Washington University (Olin)
17 Boston College (Carroll)
18 Miami University (Farmer)
19 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
20 Indiana University (Kelley) </p>

<p>So try doing a lot of googling of which schools sounds best for you.</p>

5

<p>I didn’t focus on your stats in responding the first time. Not being top 10% will make Columbia, Penn, Wash and Tufts unlikely.</p>

<p>I’d say Stern or Michigan. I would ED Stern if you can afford to.</p>

6

<p>Thanks Hmom. I don’t know if this makes any difference, but the people who rank above me either got much lower sat scores than me or are not applying to ivy leagues. Also, their EC’s aren’t as good as mine (I didn’t list all of mine). The reason I am not in the top 10% is because I am not in the honors classes for the judaic subjects.</p>

7

<p>I’d say you have a decent chance at all of those schools. UPenn and Columbia might be a reach, but they are for almost everyone. Your standardized test scores are pretty good. Although its only a EC, the EMT work is very impressive and you should try and reveal that in your application. Like me, your rank might hurt you although it really depends on how competitive your school is overall. Try and find the schools that are great for business and meet your personal criteria. Btw wrestlers are awesome.</p>

8

<p>It’s not just the rank., an under 700 in CR makes any ivy tough and your other scores are also modest by thier standards for a kid from NJ where they have so much choice.</p>

9

<p>Also, what are my chances at Georgetown?</p>

10

<p>Your goal should be try to get into a school that fits your interest and career goals first. Most MBA has undergrad degrees in economics, other social science programs, or engineering. Whatever you study is not very relevant for your MBA so long as you challenge yourself and has great leadership and communication skills. Top MBA program such as UChicago Booth (#1 in BusinessWeek ranking for the past 4 years, #1 in Economists world wide MBA ranking), Harvard, or Stanford pay more attention to your leadership and academic performance that your undergrad major.</p>