<p>@PurpleTitan My PSAT score was only a 202 so while I am a national merit scholar commended, my score is way too low to meet my state’s cutoff score (I think it’s a 221 this year). Also, I have heard that Ibankers work 80-100 hours…I just don’t really see the difference between that and medical school/residency in terms of hours and amount of work. </p>
<p>@Woandering Thanks! I’m mainly interested in staying on the east coast if possible but I will be sure to look into it. </p>
<p>@polypeptides: It’s not the hours. It’s about what you want to acheive. The people who go in to IBanking solely for the money are usually the unhappiest and burn out or are kicked out soon anyway (and it’s not like there’s much sympathy for weakness or mistakes in IBanking), so they don’t even get paid that much (unlike med school, the attrition rate in IBanking is quite high; they again, most of those folks go to b-school). The folks who can tolerate it really really love finance or actually enjoy the stress and sleep-deprivation and gain an almost masochistic pleasure from sacrificing to reach some goal (no matter how stupid or pointless). Otherwise, you’ll be questioning the purpose of your existence soon after you start.</p>
<p>You still haven’t articulated why your goals are what they are. What drives you? You mention that you’re passionate about volunteering, but . . . . why? Is it because you want to help people? Is it because you like to do things for free? Some other reason?</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan The primary reason I love to volunteer is because it teaches me to appreciate how little or how much I have and that regardless of how difficult you think your circumstances are, there are other people out there who have it much worse. Another reason is I get a sense of satisfaction just from seeing their reactions when they receive a hot meal, etc. However, watching my dad struggling to find a job has also taught me the importance of financial security. While yes, ibanking is not the more secure option out of the two, the potential for it is much greater compared to medicine imo. Furthermore, if I go into medicine it would mean that I would have to graduate with a boatload of debt and spend probably the next 20 years paying it off…and to answer your question: what drives me? My parents do. They have worked so hard and made so many sacrifices to come to this country so that I can have a better future and I feel indebted to them to pay them back somehow. Sorry if this is unclear it’s just I’m a bit conflicted as to whether to go into banking(or accounting as it seems the more feasible route for me right now) or medicine (it seems to be more financially stable or “safe”).</p>
<p>Oh and I forgot to mention that if I ultimately decide to pursue medical school the rational option is to go to UMCP or UMBC because it’s close to home and significantly cheaper than other schools. However, I am really interested in going OOS not because UMCP or UMBC are not good schools, nearly everyone from my school and the nearby school(s) end up going there and I feel like it’s just going to be high school all over again (I know it’s immature of me to say this but then again…) However, I don’t know too many private universities who will offer good aid for an OOS student or who will at least consider my situation before throwing it into the rejection pile. My main dilemma right now is whether to choose medicine or accounting/finance and the problem with accounting/finance is that I will have to go to a better school than UMCP and I want to keep my options open as to which schools I should apply to if that is the case. I’m looking at perhaps adding UT at Austin, Fordham, and Northeastern to my list? (Not sure if they would be reaches or matches though…)</p>
<p>@polypeptides:
“However, I am really interested in going OOS not because UMCP or UMBC are not good schools, nearly everyone from my school and the nearby school(s) end up going there and I feel like it’s just going to be high school all over again”</p>
<p>Not really, actually. They’re huge, so you probably won’t see many of your HS people much at all. But I understand since I felt the same way about my (well-respected for the field I was interested in) state flagship when I was in HS.</p>
<p>BTW, there’s no such thing as OOS for privates. Also, privates tend to offer much better merit aid than state schools to OOS students. Google “new york times merit aid colleges” to see which schools give the most merit aid to students. With your SAT score, you should be able to get full-tuition schollies (or close to them) at many schools (definitely several LACs).</p>
<p>Also, I know you’re young, but there really are more career and life paths than medicine and accounting & finance, you know. For example, nursing is quite stable. For you, I’d actually recommend teaching. Quite stable. It’s a humbling experience. Lots of time in the summer. If you’re driven, you will make use of that time by being entrepreneurial and explore different business ideas or other careers. </p>
<p>BTW, I understand your desire for financial stability. I’m Asian-American myself, have supported my parents since my first year out of college, and to me, money was never earned to buy cars or fancy clothes; it was to provide a cushion for when s*** starts falling (which almost every Asian family has experienced over the past 3-4 generations or so). However, there are many ways to reach that goal. Your life doesn’t end at college and your career isn’t set for life after college (in fact, most people will go through 5-6 career changes in their life). A girl from my HS always wanted to be a doctor. She went to JHU. Went for a MPH from UNC after that (so probably didn’t get in to any med school; or any decent med school). After that Master’s, she started at the lowest tier in administration at a hospital chain. Now she’s the president of a hospital chain (before the age of 40!) and making more money that almost all the doctors who report to her.</p>
<p>So in short, don’t take on debt for undergrad (or much debt at all; I don’t think you’ll have to with your SAT score). Assuming that a quant field is out of the question (which you seem to reject; otherwise, I think CS opens a lot of opportunities), the safe route is to become a teacher and then explore. You can always go to business school (going full-time is a risk without heavy scholarships; however, Chicago Booth and Northwestern Kellogg offer terrific PT MBA programs that will give you opportunities). I know you don’t believe it at your age (I didn’t when I was your age), but if you’re smart, passionate about building something, hard-working, scrappy, yet nice to people, the money will come.</p>
<p>Oh, and Harvard Extension School is an option as well. It’s definitely not Harvard College (people will remind you of that, but that might toughen you up) and you will not get the typical undergraduate experience, but it’s super cheap and you get access to some top faculty. </p>
<p>Furthermore, UT-Austin offers better for opportunities in finance, but you won’t get much money there. I don’t see the point of Fordham or Northeastern (they’d need to give you much money to be worthwhile).</p>
<p>USC actually offers quite a few scholarships to applicants with high test scores (and the soft stuff, like volunteering). So does Emory. Miami, Case-Western, and Tulane do as well (and many LACs like Denison). Closer to home, both GWU and American (and the afore-mentioned Richmond) give out some substantial merit scholarships (also W&L). Lafayette also gives schollies.</p>
<p>You keep aiming lower than I think you should (and for OOS publics, which are really not much better than UMCP and would cost more), for some reason. Tell your parents that the app fees and time spent on apps this summer are an investment. Fit is important. Try to visit these colleges (at least the ones close to home).</p>
<p>I almost forgot: Babson also has schollies, and if you want to give back to your parents, the best way to hit it big (so long as you’re driven) isn’t to be a wage slave to someone else, but to make it on your own as an entrepreneur. Especially since automation will throw a ton of fields in to upheaval. Nurses will always be needed, and I doubt parents will want their kids taught by robots any time soon, but accounting (and law, and a whole host of fields) could be decimated.</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan Wow, thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed response, it was definitely worth reading. It might just be because of where I live but nearly everyone applies to the same schools. For instance, MIT, ivies, Stanford, JHU, Northeastern, Northwestern, UVA, UMichigan, UNC just to list a few. Also, a part of it can be attributed to the asian culture where prestige is quite important. Everyone wants their child to either go into engineering, become a doctor or an ibanker because these jobs tend to have high salaries and I guess are considered to be more “prestigious”? I’ve never really cared that much for prestige (but my parents do) as there’s always more than one way to attain one’s desired goal but I certainly don’t want to go to community college either. I looked at the link you posted and it was really helpful, so thanks 
I will definitely spend more time this summer researching some private universities as I think they will be more likely to look at my application more closely than a state school would. </p>
<p>If you are interested in banking and want to stay close to home, Georgetown sounds like a great option. McDonough gets its students on Wall Street. They also have the NHS if you want to go that route. It’s probably a low reach with your GPA- but I would say you definitely have a solid shot</p>