Need Help Narrowing Down College List and Finding Matches & Safeties

Hey CC! Senior year is right around the corner and I was looking for some advice on my college selection and chances. I am looking to go to school for math (preferably to a school that has a strong Economics/Finance major and good Wall Street placement). I can afford $30-40k/year and have a family income of 100k/year (one parent is currently out of work, otherwise it would be up around 200k). Just a preference thing; I love the city but being near one is not a must. Here is my list of colleges (I realize it is very top-heavy with no matches or safeties and that there are a lot of schools, so if you have any suggestions please let me know!) and my stats:

Reaches: Harvard, UPenn, MIT (applying EA, I’m in love with MIT), Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Stanford, CMU, UCB, UChic
High Matches; UCLA, USC, NYU

Objective:
ACT (breakdown): 35 - 36E 35M 34R 36S 8W (took once)
SAT II (subject, score): waiting for scores, most likely 780-800 Math 2 and 780-800 Physics. If lower than 780, I may retake.
Unweighted GPA: 99.2
Weighted GPA: 104.2
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/602
AP (place score in parentheses): Statistics (Self Study) 5, Waiting on Physics 1, Calc BC, Lang, & APUSH (Should be 4s and 5s)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Econ, AP Physics C, Gym, AP Lit, AP Psych, Business Law, AP French, Photography. Self-Studying Multivar Calc, Linear Alg, & Diff Eq
Awards: Widener High School Leadership Award, 2 time first in the state at DECA (Professional Selling), Top 10 Test at International Level, 2 time FBLA National Leadership Conference Qualifier (Financial Math and Banking & Financial Systems), 1500/1520 PSAT so most likely NM Semi.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
DECA (9-12, Treasurer 11th, VP of Leadership 12th)
FBLA (9-12, VP of Education 11th, President 12th)
Business Education Honor Society (Treasurer 11th, waiting for positions for 12th)
Mu Alpha Theta (11-12, President 12)
Freshmen Transition (Executive Board)
Junior Achievement 10-12
Peer Outreach 9-12
Math League 9-12
NHS & French NHS 11-12

Job/Work Experience:
Own my own social media agency (11-12, have worked with around 10-11 businesses on both local and national levels)
Cashier at local restaurant (9-12)
Clinic Soccer Ref (9-10)
Volunteer/Community Service: Probably around 600 hours, misc stuff
Summer Experience: MIT Launch Sophomore Year, Wharton LBW Junior Year

Essays:

Most likely going to write about failure in business and how it caused me to make both a business and a personal change that was successful, failure in DECA that resulted in a personal change (thinking I would breeze through competition, losing, and consequently developing a strong work ethic that helped me to place internationally for my test score), or my hobby of producing electronic music in my free time.

Other

U.S. State/Territory or Country: NJ
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Strengths: Strong in math, have taken 3 courses at local CC to help me get ahead. Strong in business, owning my own start up.

Being Out of state for UCLA does not make it a High Match school especially with a less than 20% acceptance rate overall, regardless of your qualifications. Also OOS applicants receive little to no financial aid so if you can pay $60K/year to attend, then definitely apply since you are a competitive applicant.

OK, you’re doing great, and you’ve got the stats to get a look. I’m writing here to say PLEASE have matches and safeties that you will be happy to attend. What can your parents afford to pay? I see that you previously asked this question and got good feedback. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1966881-help-me-narrow-down-my-college-search.html#latest

This criterion is most likely to be found at reach (for everyone) schools.

https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/wso-rankings-for-investment-banks-university-power-rankings-part-10-of-10

Among schools that could be low match or safety for you, Rutgers seems to do decently well in this listing. It should also be within your budget even without scholarships (but you may get one to reduce the cost).

@suzy100 Thanks for the feedback! We can afford around 30-40k a year; however, I would prefer to pay less to attend a safety/low match.

Based off 2017 admissions from my son’s class, I would guess Rutgers would get you into the Honors College and probably a free ride (I’m from NJ, I know Rutgers doesn’t appeal to a lot of the top students here, but FREE is always worth a look!). Villanova - would have to be considered a reach off this years results but seems to fit your criteria. How about Fordham as a safety? My son’s best friend with similar stats, from NJ, similar income bracket, same major/career intent was offered $35k there. It was a throw away app for him, but after being waitlisted/rejected from some schools he didn’t expect, they went to the accepted student day and they were impressed. He ended up at Northeastern, which they picked because of the co-op program.

@NJWrestlingmom Thanks for the advice! Will definitely look into Rutgers and Fordham!

I don’t know Case Western’s academic programs specifically, but students who like Carnegie Mellon often find Case as a suitable match, plus Case does give merit aid and is in a city.

Indiana University and Purdue in Indiana are worth looking at and if you were inclined to go the B school route, IU has the Kelley School of Business with a highly ranked investment banking program, and your stats would almost certainly be a direct admit to Kelley, and Honors, with merit award – those applications must be complete before Nov 1 to be eligible. IU is rolling admission, so a Sept 1 completed application often hears back within 4-6 weeks, could be a nice safety, with merit, to have in the bag before Nov 1. Wisconsin and Minnesota might be worth a look if you have $40k available from parents, plus a student loan of $5500 – UW tuition is around $35k, and room and board is around $10k, most students move off campus after freshman year which usually winds up being cheaper than on campus housing. Minnesota’s tuition is lower than UW, more in the $25k range. Check the fees for public universities, as there are often surcharges for specific programs (engineering etc). I’m not familiar with the programs, but automatic merit at Alabama is the go-to program for high stat kids looking for full tuition awards and Honors programs.

https://www1.lehigh.edu/
lehigh university

Tulane might offer you a decent merit-aid package. I second Fordham/Gabelli or American, where you might also get nice merit packages.

Direct Admit Kelley (apply in October and show interest by writing to Admissions about the Honors college). Miami Ohio Honors with a double major in math or stats or some sort of data science + finance. Fordham and Villanova are other good suggestions.
You’ll find (strangely?) strong WS placement from Hamilton, Middlebury, Colgate. Williams combines high level math with excellent WS placement. SHOW INTEREST starting now (fill out the request info form, contact the Math dept, contact admissions about WS internships…)
UC’s are impossible due to their policy of zero financial aid.

@MYOS1634, agree that Hamilton is very wired to WS (current Co-COO at GS amongst many others) as both Economics and Math programs are very strong with 10% graduating as Math majors which is only rivaled by a couple in the LAC arena, including Williams and Bowdoin.

I hope you will find this program from the Outcomes section of colgate.edu useful:

http://colgate.edu/alumni/professional-networks/finance-and-banking-network

Go 'gate!

OP, there’s a tool on LinkedIn that allows a member to search people by the school they attended - good resource. You can also google the same way and you’ll get plenty of insight.

https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/infographics/top-wall-street-feeder-schools
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/infographics/top-ceo-producer-schools/
http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/colleges-with-excellent-mathematics-programs/195/

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

WRT the Ideas.repse…org ranking
N.B.

@CrewDad, stop, College Transitions is pulling the lists out of their elbow

No need to look at lists from college counseling service promos or from blogs, best to search via LinkedIn as one can get a real sense as to where WS employees went to college - it’s all there.

@Chembiodad totally agree. Middlebury, Amherst, and Wellesley (all LACs) all rank among the top 20 schools in the US (including Universities) for Investment Banking.