Match Me for a Junior that wants to find reaches and matches

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State: West Coast
  • Type of high school: Big (2500 students), Public, Title 1, Mid-competitive (I’m part of Magnet STEM), Big Feeder into UC Berkley, USC, and UCLA (Usually 15+ acceptances for each and only Magnet go for these schools)
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Male, Asian
  • Other special factors: None :slight_smile:

Intended Major(s) : Business, Finance

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.78 (UC + Includes Junior 1st Semester Grades)
  • Class Rank: around Top 10/600 (Most likely 7th)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: None (Projected a likely 34 or 35)

Coursework

Taken: AP World, AP MacroEcon, AP Psych
Taking: AP Lang, AP Envio, AP Human Geo, APUSH, AP Calc BC, AP CSP
Next year: AP Physics, AP Stats, AP Gov, AP Lit, AP African America Studies, AP MicroEcon, AP Art History

AP Scores: 5 on all taken

Awards

  1. Kaplan AAMS certified (Professional Financial Designation)
  2. UC GardenMaster - Professional Horiculturist done through UCs + I’m the youngest who has been able to become one (Mostly because of liability issues)
  3. Congressional Recognition Award (Related to #1 Ec)
  4. Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award (Related to #1 Ec)
  5. State winner for an ongoing BIG Innovation and STEM Comp + $12,500 won for school (Related to #2 Ec) (Run by a big tech company Top 10 biggest tech companies) I’m trying so hard not to doxx myself
  6. Finalist Top 5 Internationally ongoing (Big Innovation and Entrepreneurship Comp) Partly run by NASA ongoing (Related to #2 Ec)
  7. Other BIG International + National Business and STEM comps results don’t come back till later but I’m a finalist for most of them (We are expecting to win lots of them, but for this Match Me just assume we win none)
  8. SUPER selective program (100/10,000 or 1% acceptance rate) (Edited out for privacy by moderator at poster’s request)
  9. Some selective youth advocacy Fellowship (doxxing reasons) (350/3,200 or 11% acceptance rate)
  10. Some State Fellowship (gives $5,000) (35/400 or 8% acceptance rate)
  11. Small Side Fellowship (Don’t know the acceptance rate)
  12. AP Award

Most likley those other competition awards + Some other national enviro awards too, but for now just assume I don’t have them

Extracurriculars

  1. Financial Literacy Non-Profit (Founder) - 501c3, Raised $30,000, Working with Congressman, 500+ students taught, Curriculum is used throughout 4 high school classes (predominantly underserved and first fin lit class there), Written about in multiple news articles, Presented at UCI.
  2. Cool Environmental Technology + Competitions (Co-Founder) - $12,000 grant from school district, Technology uses machine learning and AI to help environment, Presented at NASA to environment tech and business professionals, (Awards in the section), Partnered with UC GardenMasters, Worked with Engineers from NASA JPL and Google
  3. UC GardenMaster + Founder of Environment NPO - 501c3, Youngest UC GardenMaster in my state, Taught 100+ kids through non-profit.
  4. Independent Research - Created Economic research paper which is in process of being published for peer-reviewed research journals and indexed in 3 databases. (Impact Factor of like 5 for most of them, so the journals are medium sized), worked with 2 people that are T20 MBA Graduates (they are also Economics Professional and Venture Capital Professional)
  5. Environment Councils - On a National Youth Council and an International one attended many environmental conferences. (Some were in D.C)
  6. Coach and Youth Board/Council for Huge NPO - Really big NPO and I’m a youth Coach as well as a member of the selective council representing all of socal.
  7. Other Councils - On multiple councils that represent my city and state. Multiple Conferences too, Promoting fin lit and environmental sustainability.
  8. Summer Program - Hasn’t happened yet, but I have already applied to multiple top programs for business. Hopefully I get into 1 of them. Prayge
  9. Nonprofit Internships - One of the is paid and a fin lit NPO, Other one is not paid and is a smaller environment NPO
  10. Varsity Golf team - Co-Captain (team is not really competitive + no awards maybe win regionals we were close last time)
  11. Supervisor for big Environment (tree planting) NPO
  12. Mentor volunteering for small NPO that helps kids with mental disabilities

Plans for summer + junior year:
Applying to selective Program by an Top Investment Banking Company (Pray i get in)
Summer Programs (EC #8)
Expanding NPO EC# 1 and 3
Continuing the ongoing Business and STEM Comps I am in
Nothing else I’m already juggling alot so i think I prob won’t do anything else unless i should

Essays/LORs/Other

Essay:
I’m a strong writer. (I think lol) Pretty sure essays will be fine

LORS:
AP CSP: 10/10 Actually one of the best teachers ever!!! She has helped on my number 1 and 2 EC and she has written a rec letter to all my summer programs. I have read them and they are all stellar.
AP Envio: 9/10 Curved literally every single test but 2. Helped me on my number 2 EC alot and I am good friends with her son and drive him to games. (he’s the other co-cap for the golf team)

Cost Constraints / Budget
Not too sure. Parents have been saving alot of money for me and said no constraints, but I really don’t want to negativley impact their financail well being :frowning:

Schools

  • Safety: CSUs, UC Merced or Riverside (Cause of the guaranteed UC thing)
  • Likely uc santa cruz, UC Davis,
  • Match UC Irvine, UCSB, UCSD,
  • Reach UCLA, UC Berkeley, NYU, UT Austin, UPenn, USC, MIT (Maybe lol)

Please give me suggestions for more match schools (kinda lost here). Also more suggestions on reach schools. How many reaches should I go for? Do I have a chance at my reaches or matches? If I don’t have a chance what actionable steps can I take now to increase my chances?

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You’ll need a test for MIT so if you’re not taking, then take it off the list.

A lot will depend on your cost/budget. For example, you’ll be able, with a 4.0, to go to Arizona for less than a UC,etc. Does that matter?

You might also consider some hail mary financials if smaller is ok - ie SMU or Wash & Lee, etc.

You’ll have to figure out your UC GPAs, etc. and others can help you.

You’ll certainly find some UC and CSU acceptances.

For business, have you looked at an SDSU? Depending on money and with a test, you can likely get into an Indiana - if you were looking for pedigree - but it will be a higher cost.

Good luck.

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YES I forgot to put that I will be testing. (will edit) I have taken practice tests for the ACT and scored around 34.

I will find out my budget and I was planning on applying to SDSU! Thank you for the recommendations I’ll keep them all written down!

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The Hail Mary’s are for full rides.

With scores like a 34, a school like Alabama will be dirt cheap - as well as other publics in the South and Midwest.

Many schools will be within reason - at the same time the UCs, short of Irvine and Riverside I believe, do not have b schools - so they wouldn’t make sense if you wanted to study finance.

Best of luck.

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Thank you for the info!!!

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Others would know better than I what your chances are for UC Berkeley and UCLA. They are of course excellent. Since you are in-state, the ratio between how good they are and how inexpensive they would be for you looks pretty good to me if you are accepted to either.

Since you have MIT on the list, I am wondering why not Stanford? They are both of course high reaches, but not completely impossible given your excellent stats.

You are in a WICHE/WUE state (WUE is the undergraduate part of WICHE), which might suggest some relatively affordable matches or safeties. I am not familiar with the undergraduate part however.

You have a rather long list of ECs. I am wondering how you can do this many things well.

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OMG I forgot Stanford. 100% going to apply there. Thank you for the info on WUE I’ll look into it. For ECs I think its mainly scheduling. I have a full calendar and I looovvee writing things down. (Doing it right now with colleges). Honestly for ECs it kinda snowballed for me ever since I started my NPO, which led me to meet with many of my great friends who work with me on many of my ECs (especially #2 cause I have no idea how to build stuff). I think its also cause I really love the stuff I’m doing so I don’t really feel burnt out at all! Thanks for the insight!!!

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You have a very impressive resume.

If you are looking for schools that will provide a lot of $$, I’d look at University of Arizona and Alabama.

Some great target/likely schools that would likely provide $$ could be SMU, Miami, George Washington, Syracuse, Chapman, Case Western, American, Elon.

You may also want to add USC and University of Washington to your reach list.

You are going to have a lot of great options!

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You have a strong profile and will be competitive for many schools. What are you wanting out of your college experience? Preferred size, regions, climate, importance of sport spirit, Greek life, any special interests you want to pursue while there, etc.

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How sure are you about business? As someone else mentioned, most of the schools on your list do not have a business school so what is your backup plan if finance isn’t offered? Econ? What are your career goals?

We can provide better suggestions once we know more about your goals, preference for campus vibe and college experience, as well as budget (i.e., up to $80k/year? up to the cost of a UC?)

I’m surprised not to see IU Kelley on your list (unless you aren’t interested in the midwest).

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Congratulations on being an accomplished student and competitive applicant.

Only 3 UC’s have Business schools: UCB, UCI and UCR. UCB starting Fall 2024 will offer a direct admit into the HAAS Business school. Details forthcoming.

ELC eligible means the UCM is the default campus. UCR has not been the ELC default campus for awhile.

UCR admits into a Pre-Business major and the program is 2 years.

Students who enter UCR as freshmen initially enroll and are advised in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in a Pre-Business status. The College breadth requirements and the prerequisites for a Business Administration major are completed during the freshman and sophomore years. An application to Business Administration is submitted at the end of the sophomore year. Upon acceptance, students become Business Administration majors and are then advised in the School of Business, Undergraduate Business Program Administration.

UCI Business administration major is highly competitive and impacted. The 2022 admit rate for Bus Admin was 8.8% which would not make it a Match school. Business Econ had a 17.5% admit rate so a good backup alternative major.

UCB’s HAAS business school profile since there is no Freshman data due to proposed policy change.

You need to calculate your UC GPA’s at end of Junior year. HS transcripts rarely reflect the actual UC GPA calculations.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Below are the 2022 admit rates for the different UC campuses. Note the admission rates are overall and not major/division specific.
2022 Admit rates based on the Capped weighted UC GPA.

Campus 4.00+ 3.70-3.99 3.30-3.69 3.00-3.29
Berkeley 17% 3% 1% 0%
Davis 58% 20% 5% 2%
Irvine 35% 10% 3% 0%
Los Angeles 13% 2% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 97% 95% 85%
Riverside 95% 83% 42% 17%
San Diego 37% 8% 1% 0%
Santa Barbara 41% 8% 3% 0%
Santa Cruz 69% 45% 16% 4%

UC 2022 admit rates for CA residents:
UCB: 14.5%
UCLA: 9.2%
UCSD: 23.8%
UCSB: 26.7%
UCI: 18.2%
UCD: 32.3%
UCSC: 43.2%
UCR: 66%
UCM: 100%

For Safeties, you really need only 1-2 but they should be schools you would be willing to attend and are affordable. Cal Poly SLO, SDSU and CSULB have the best ranked Business programs from the Cal states. For an absolute safety, your local CSU will give you priority as long as the major is not impacted.

SDSU/CSULB: Likely
Cal Poly SLO: Target

UCM: Safety
UCSC/UCR: Likely
UCD: Target
UCI/UCSB/UCSD: High Target/Low Reach
UCB/UCLA: Reach

Best of luck and update your UC GPA’s after Junior year.

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If you want a quant-heavy finance program (as your interest in MIT implies), consider Carnegie Mellon, which has a top-5 undergrad business program and a strong quant/tech emphasis. UMichigan is another top program that’s worth considering. On the west coast, UW-Foster could be a good addition to your list.

Closer to home, consider the Claremont Consortium - Claremont McKenna in particular.

IU-Kelley is the oft-recommended top-tier business program that can be considered a safety for top students. Another possibility to consider is the Riekes School at UNL, which is a highly selective cohort honors program with a Business/CS/Design core - within that you can select any related major, including Finance. https://raikes.unl.edu/

You seem like a very strong candidate; if you build a balanced list, you’ll end up with good options!

Keep in mind that some schools (UPenn and CMC, for example) fill a high percentage of their class in the Early Decision cycle, making RD far more competitive.

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Thank you!!! Those all sound fantastic and I’ll start looking into them them right away!

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Hmm I’m not to sure on some of these but I don’t think I have a preference for size of the school. I would love the climate to be warm. I’m not a huge fan of the cold, but I can bear it. I don’t know much about Greek Life and I’m not to sure if I would join frats but I’m open to new experiences! I really like the college to not be in the middle of nowhere, I would love to go out of state and stay in cali. I would like the colleges to not have an extreme conservative mindset. Let me know if you have any other qs

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I would love go to IU Kelley and the mid west. (I love traveling and exploring in new places). Parents can pay 80k a year. I would love is the college wasn’t super nerdy but not too hard on the party side either. I would love to do Econ but my main plan was probably something related to investing or banking as a career. Let me know if you need more info!

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Omg! Thank you for the info! Thank you for looking into those safeties!

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Wow! That’s a great list! Thank you for your input on the reaches and matches. I’ll write them all down and look into them!

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Because you have such a strong profile, I personally think that your list will be primarily composed of schools with a lower probability of acceptance (aka reaches) and then schools that are likely or extremely likely to accept you. I could see you being accepted at just about any university in the country. Some schools, however, are extremely competitive to get into because there are far more strong candidates than there are spots. Thus, a school that has a low probability of granting acceptance is not due to any weakness of your application, but just the size constraints of those programs.

With that said, these are some schools that may interest you. I focused largely on areas that also have good finance opportunities nearby (i.e. Boston, Chicago, New York, Omaha, Philadelphia, etc). I am assuming an ACT score of 34 with my fallible guesses of what your chances of admission may be. And just realizing that I totally neglected to think about the WARM part of your preferences, I bolded the schools that would not be in locations generally described as cold. Oops!

Extremely Likely

  • Bentley (MA)
  • Creighton (NE)
  • DePaul (IL)
  • Loyola Chicago (IL)
  • Saint Joseph’s (PA )
  • Suffolk (MA)
  • U. of Nebraska – Lincoln
  • U. of San Francisco (CA)

Likely

  • CUNY Baruch (apply for the Macaulay Honors College, which might not be a likely acceptance, but you’d be a strong contender)
  • Fairfield (CT)
  • Fordham (NY)
  • Santa Clara (CA)
  • Southern Methodist (TX)
    Texas Christian

Lower Probability

  • Boston College (MA)
  • Villanova (PA )
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