I REALLY WANT TO MAKE NYU STERN ED - IT'S MY DREAM - SO HELP??

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m in love with the New York City setting, and the fact that Stern is one of the best business schools in the country is also super attractive. I really want to be in business in the future, and NYU has been my dream since the beginning.

Rank: 4 out of 900
GPA (w) [9-11]: 4.55
GPA (w) [10-11]: 4.62
GPA (uw) [9-11]: 3.83
GPA (uw) [10-11]: 3.77
Race: Asian
Gender: Male
Planned Concentration: Marketing, Economic Theory
State: California
Languages Known: English, Vietnamese, Spanish

Grades: (1st Semester/2nd Semester)

Freshman Year:
English Honors I: A/A
Algebra 2/Trig: A/A
Accelerated Biology: A/A
Spanish 2: A/A
Advanced Music Honors: A/A

Sophomore Year:
English Honors II: A/A
Precalculus Honors: A/A
Chemistry: A/A
Spanish 3: A/A
AP European History: A/A
Advanced Music Honors: A/A

Junior Year:
AP English Language: A/A
AP Calculus BC: B/B
AP Biology: B/C
AP Spanish 4: B/A
AP US History: A/A
Advanced Music Honors: A/A

Summer College Courses:
Microeconomics: A
Intro to Sociology: A

Senior Year Courseload:
AP English Literature
AP Statistics
AP Physics C: Mechanics
AP Environmental Science
AP Computer Science
AP Macroeconomics/AP Government
Advanced Music Honors

SAT Score:
Critical Reading: 630
Mathematics: 750
Writing: 800
SAT II Math Level 2: 780

Taken each AP Exam of every AP Class I’ve taken (3 on European History)
But I’m pretty sure exam scores should be: AP English Language (5), AP Calculus BC (4), AP Biology (3), AP US History (4), AP Spanish (4). Awaiting ACT Score (likely 32+).

Extracurriculars/Volunteer Work:
Marching Band (9th grade - ongoing)

  • Saxophone Section Leader (12th)
    School Concert Wind Ensemble (9th grade - ongoing)
  • Principal Oboist (10th grade - ongoing)
  • Soloist (10th grade - ongoing)
    District Honor Band (11th)
  • Second Chair Oboist
  • Soloist
    Asian Culture Club (11th grade - ongoing)
  • President, Founder (11th grade - ongoing)
  • Currently raising funds for schools in Cambodia
    Vietnamese Student Union (9th grade - ongoing)
  • President (12th)
  • Activities Chair (11th)
    Asian Culture Festival Contest Team (10th grade - ongoing)
  • Director (12th) - deals a lot with Finance, Marketing, Sponsorship, Publicity
  • Volunteer Coordinator (11th)
  • Event Lead (10th)
    Asian Culture Festival Marketing Team (11th)
  • Social Media Team Member
  • Translation Team Member
  • High School Publicity Lead
    Film Festival (11th - ongoing)
  • Public Relations, Guest Relations (11th)
  • Had the opportunity to interview a film producer
    County-Wide Vietnamese High School Alliance (9th - ongoing)
  • Internal Affairs (12th)
  • Treasurer (11th)
    Cancer Research Foundation (10th - ongoing)
    National Honor Society (11th grade - ongoing)
    Freshman Tour Guide (Summer after 10th, Summer after 11th)
    Vietnamese School Teacher Aide (11th - ongoing)
    Vietnamese School Flag Ceremony Performer (9th - ongoing)
    Assistant Basketball Coach for Recreational Center for Children (summer after 10th)

Awards:
Highest Prestige Award for Instrumental Music - Nominee
Asian Culture Festival - Certificate of Appreciation
Vietnamese School - 3rd Place of Graduating Class (9th grade)
Congressman Certificate of Recognition for Vietnamese Student Union Volunteer Work

2

A declining GPA is bad. IF you get a 32 ACT Stern will still be a reach.

Are your parents able to be full pay? $65,000/year times 4?

3

I think you have a good shot to be admitted but there likely won’t be any aid so paying for it is the bigger issue.

4

Hmm… But my weighted GPA increased? And my classes were harder, and I was a lot more immersed in activities. @TomSrOfBoston

My parents can afford around 30-35K a year. I did the NYU financial aid calculator and they said my net price would be about 32K a year.

5

So your SATs 1380 are well below Stern’s median which is 1470 but then again they reject kids with 1550+ and 4.0s so who really knows. You might have a shot. Just try your best to improve stats before application submission and if set on the school and if you know you can afford it then apply ED and hope for the best

For ACTs you should really aim for 33+

6

Hmm… Your extracurriculars are really good, especially for business and marketing. To the people saying that the SAT really matters, A LOT of other people get accepted with SATs below that range, and there are people with SATs above that range getting rejected. I personally think there’s a bigger influence with the activities and experience. Your Social Science and English grades are strong so that’ll probably help. Since you’re NOT a biology major, I don’t think it’ll play that big a deal (I mean, it will hurt but not as much as you may think, I don’t think it’s a make or break).

7

Ugh I can’t believe it… ACT Score came back and it was a 31 (32 in every category but Science 26). My dreams are really being crushed at this point…

8

You can still retake SAT and ACT in Sep, even for ED you will have scores back. Focus on improving the scores by using the summer to practice. Also, try to use your summer to find a volunteer position or even a job opportunity, even starting your own would be a good idea. your EC’s are great but heavily focused on Asian culture, while there is nothing wrong with it, it lacks diversity if you can demonstrate your abilities outside the comfort zone of your own culture it may be beneficial.

9

Stern really only focuses on CR+M, but the 800 in writing will definitley look good. In your case, I would definitely do ED just because the 1380 is decently below the mean and median scores. Everything else on your application looks great.

Awesome GPA, SAT 2’s and extra curricular. I assume your GPA (UW) went down slightly because of increased rigor. That is completely fine.

Good luck!