<p>Hi i'm a sophomore in high school, and I want to go into the business field. I really screwed up my first two years (2.3 GPA), but going towards my junior and senior years i'm going to be more serious. I'm steering toward a 3.5 GPA this quarter and i'm hoping to maintain the same level that i've been working at this quarter towards the following years. I want to get into a decent college... Maybe a top 50 school. Do you think it's a plausible idea that I can get into maybe top state schools like U.C. Berkeley, Lehigh, Boston College or Wake Forest U with maybe a total gpa of around 3.1ish and SAT scores around 1900-2000? I'm going to major in economics, trying to get an MBA at a top business school and eventually get a Doctorate in Business Administration at either Boston or Harvard (outlandish, i'm aware). And if I can't get into these "top schools", what are some other alternatives for universities that have highly reputable reputations in economics? And no suggestions about other career paths besides finance please, my father is a hedge fund manager and I have to do finance/business.</p>
<p>You can answer your question for yourself by looking at the common data set for colleges or universities that interest you.</p>
<p>A common data set is a document that most colleges and universities publish annually. They’re all in the same format; that’s why they’re called common data sets. Section C of the common data set gives information about freshman admission for the class that has just enrolled. It will tell you, for example, what percentage of the currently enrolled freshmen had GPA of 3.75 or higher, 3.5-3.74, 3.25-3.49, and so on; what fraction were in the top 10%, top 25% or top half of their high school class; what range the middle 50% of the class had for their SAT or ACT scores; and so on.</p>
<p>Some web sites aggregate data from lots of colleges’ common data sets. I think this one does; so does the web site of the College Board. So you can also look for that information there.</p>
<p>To find the common data sets of colleges and universities that might interest you, Google the name of the institution, together with the phrase “common data set.”</p>
<p>I think you’re going to find that the colleges you’re thinking of are incredibly long shots with the grades you’re describing, but you can use some of those college-searching aggregator sites to confirm that information for yourself, and also to help you find some target schools that will appeal to you.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Realistically these colleges are high reaches for anyone, especially for you :(</p>
<p>Stop steering for a 3.5 and start steering for a 4.0. If you are going to run a hedge fund, you have to be the best. 3.5 GPA is not the best. </p>
<p>Stop steering for a 2000. If you do 2000 SAT you’ll look for 600 GMAT. 600 GMAT will not get you into HBS.</p>
<p>If you HAVE to do finance and business, and you HAVE to go to schools like Harvard, then you HAVE to start doing better in school.</p>
<p>Don’t think about PhD until you get your master’s, don’t think about your master’s until your in undergrad, and please stop thinking about going to Berkeley, Boston, or other top schools until you can get past your terrible 2.3 GPA.</p>
<p>Don’t think about what schools have good reputations for YOU. Think about what you are going to offer the best schools. What do you offer?</p>
<p>Do that, then worry about getting into the Penns, Chicago’s, and Stanford’s of the world.</p>
<p>Craig</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your insight. You helped a lot Craig.</p>