Please Help, No others for guidance in admissions.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello,
Location: southern California School: Public, high ranking 10/10 on college lists
I'm a rising senior applying next year, and I really need help on realistic decisions for schools. My father, a surgeon, passed away my freshman year and my mom isn't really school oriented, so I need advice for my chances at some schools I'm looking at.
I am dead set on investment banking, private equity, and hedge funds for I truly have a passion for finance and love the industry.... From what I understand, prestige is everything in the finance world. I hope to attend a top target university for banks, but I am a little unsure of if I'm "elite" enough...
Freshman GPA: UW/W: 4.0 classes: Eng Honors, Bio, Alg 2 Trig, Spanish 2 Honors, and elective bullshit requirement class.
Sophomore: Gpa UW: 4.0 W: 4.2 : Pre Calc, Eng 2 Honors, Chemistry, Spanish 3 Honors, Weightlifting, World history
Junior GPA: UW: 4.0 W: 4.6 : AP Calc AB, AP Chemistry, AP Language, Physics, US History
Senior Schedule: AP Macroeconomics, AP Stats, AP Env. Science, Modern Literature, Elective bullshit requirement, and ROP Entrepreneurship </p>

<p>1st sitting ACT Scores: cumulative: 32, Writing: 10/12, 34, Reading: 34, Math: 31, Science: 28(low I know)
SAT 2: Math Level 2: 730</p>

<p>I wish I took AP US and World history, I feel like it weighs down my GPA...so far my cumulative 9-11 is 4.35 but I've never gotten a B. I have excellent letters of rec from my English teacher who has a phD from USC, and my counselor whose known me forever and is a strong writer.</p>

<p>As far as Extracurriculars, they're weak. I've been in CSF all 4 years, however no other clubs. This year I'm starting 2 clubs at my school, each already with 100 members, called Financial Leaders of America and the Environment Club.
My freshman and sophomore summer I volunteered a ton and have 250 hours from that. I plan to get an additional 150-200 hours this year. </p>

<p>My essays are extremely strong, they briefly mention my father's passing but are entirely about my character and how motivated and outspoken I am. </p>

<p>As far as now, I attended an Experimental Economics Workshop at Chapman University that I got accepted into, not paid into. Right now I have a paid internship at a huge mortgage investment firm that has a firm in Wall Street all summer, 5 days a week. I hope this internship will demonstrate my passion for investing and finance and somehow be my hook. </p>

<p>Colleges I hope to apply to : All the Ivies, but thinking of ED/EA at Harvard, UPenn, or Princeton, UChicago, Northwestern
More Realistic Schools: UC Berkeley (id love to attend), UMichigan, NYU, Georgetown University/Carnegie Mellon University.... and lastly, USC (though I'd HATE to go here)</p>

<p>Thank you for actually reading this, and let me know if I'm shooting way too high or if you think I have a realistic chance at any of these schools. I really could use the help....I plan to retake the subject and ACT soon</p>

2

<p>my boss, who is very well known in the banking industry, offered to write me a letter of recommendation, which II’d love. Are you allowed to send these to private schools and top schools??? </p>

3

<p>Duke is also on my list, though I’d hate to go to a place like Durham. </p>

4

<p>Your ACT score is a little low for the Ivies. Other than that, you are definitely qualified for any of those schools.
Although, just some advice, don’t apply to a school you don’t want to go to. Whether it be a safety, match, or reach, it is not worth the money or time to apply somewhere you don’t want to go. Therefore, I’d advise against applying to Duke or USC if you really don’t want to go there. There are enough schools out there for you to only apply to places you like. </p>

5

<p>Prestige is not everything in the finance world. You make it to the top in the finance and business industry by making connections through internships. In fact, most people in positions to hire people for permanent jobs do not care undergraduate degrees. You will actually find that in life, your undergraduate degree doesn’t get you as far as you would think…</p>

<p>I think for your desired career, you need to look at the ranked list of schools that jobs love to recruit from. You would be surprised to know that there are very few Ivies on that list and none of them are even number one. Schools like Arizona State University, Penn State, and the University of Florida all rank above Ivy League schools.</p>

<p>The value of an Ivy League degree has steadily decreased over time because of the high quality education you can receive from a public college that isn’t as selective. </p>

<p>You have literally no reason to apply to every Ivy League school. You are gonna be swarmed writing tons of supplements and you are gonna be paying a ton of money for applications. You may not know this, but it is unrealistic to have both Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Harvard on the same list. Columbia and Harvard are practically polar opposites to schools like Dartmouth and Cornell. The campus life means a lot when you are in college. College is about the experience and learning and growing and finding yourself. There is no surprise that a large majority of students at the Ivy League schools actually really dislike being there. Even the brightest students tend to feel less than and feel overwhelmed. The Ivy League is not for everyone and in fact, it isn’t for most people. You should invest in the Princeton Review top schools book. Read about how students describe their experiences at the schools on your list, and then figure out what you like and dislike. </p>

<p>Good Luck.</p>

6

<p>Also OP, don’t ask big names to write your letters of recommendation. All it does is make colleges think that you are privileged and have access to people in high positions. You are better off asking someone who knows you very well and has taught you in the classroom. Letters from people who are famous tend to be very generic and a college isn’t going to be wowed by a big name. Stick to your junior year teachers. </p>

7

<p>No offense, but none of the top firms such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, etc. recruit at the schools mentioned. Those are for ■■■■■■■ and have extremely high acceptance rates. Most of the top firms on Wall Street only recruit from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Duke, MIT, Stanford, and of course Wharton/UPenn… So my question is, what are my chances of getting into any of THOSE places. Thank you for the advice. </p>

8

<p>and money is not the issue, I plan to apply to 25-35 schools. I’m worried some won’t take me because they want some “diverse” kid… I’m white. I come from SoCal, not some rural area. Colleges nowadays seem to like immigrants whose parents can’t speak english and have no degrees for their schools, something about equality?? ya that sounds equal… </p>

9

<p>With that attitude? Very low. </p>

10

<p>If you think that Asian students are getting in with lesser qualifications, then perhaps you should take a gap year and get out more, because they are now the group who are discriminated against most harshly . . . by far.</p>

11

<p>As others have said, your test scores are low for getting into a program/ school where the students are very competitive. I would be careful about applying to too many highly selective schools since you can’t give each school the attention you would when you start juggling so many, and mistakes are more likely to be made. A lot of those schools are going to want alumni interviews, some you may need to visit to have a good chance of entry. So 25 schools are too many IMO.</p>

<p>What you need are a few very good safety schools that you know will take you. Something with rolling admissions is often a good idea so you have one bird in the hand. It can be very stressful not knowing till spring whether you have any acceptances. </p>

12

<p>Well OP, obviously you don’t need guidance if you know everything there is to know about college admissions.</p>

<p>Do you wanna know where the chairman of Bank of America went to college?</p>

<p>He went to the University of Tennessee.</p>

<p>Do you want to know where the CEO of Morgan Stanley got his undergrad degree? </p>

<p>He got it at the University of Melbourne.</p>

<p>And besides, no one gets a job in investment banking without getting their MBA. The graduate school degree is what matters the most when applying to these firms. Don’t let prestige guide you, especially for undergrad. Because you could very well get rejected from every single Ivy League school. And then where will you be? At community college? You need to do more research.</p>

13

<p>@jsteeezzz‌ Have you ever actually been to Durham? There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. In fact, it’s among the most improved cities in the nation. You’d be well advised to not judge Durham based on outdated stereotypes :)</p>

14

<p>Given your scenario as described above, the only truly exceptional thing you have going for you is your relationship with someone who is very well known in the financial industry. If he is an industry leader then one call from him can make all the difference in you getting in to the school of your choice. Work that relationship.</p>

15

<p>Wow, just wow! I hope you are a ■■■■■ - if not you sound quite unpleasant and immature, using words like “those are for ■■■■■■■” and your obvious disdain for minorities and diversity. You have a lot to learn. </p>

<p>And as for chances - if this attitude creeps into any of your essays or application - you won’t get into any of the schools on your list no matter what grades or scores you have.</p>

16

<p>Well for investment banking you do not need an MBA right away. Investment banks recruit from the most prestigious schools as well as top state schools. There are a lot of people on wall street from UVA and UMIch. You do not get an MBA until working in the industry for 2-3years.</p>

<p>Now on your admission. Your stats are lower for the ivy league and since money should not be an issue you should EA to one of the prestigious schools and also ED to one school. Bear in mind that if you get into both schools you have to go to the ED school. I do think you should try to get a recommendation from your boss as that can help. If you are actually being productive in a job that would be for people much older than you, that recommendation could really help.</p>

<p>You do probably need a better, more bumble attitude. There is nothing wrong with not going to lower ranked schools but insulting them takes it to far. Overall, even if you raise your scores, it will still be tough to fain admission.</p>