<p>Hello, this is my first time on CC and I am just here to look for some opinions on what schools I should apply for. I have relatively strong grades, but a lack of EC. I know this is my fault. Do I have a chance to get into a top 10 school? Top 20? Top 50? University of Phoenix?</p>
<p>Objective: [ul]
[<em>]SAT I (breakdown): Did Not Take
[</em>]ACT: 35
[<em>]SAT II: 800 Math II, 780 Chemistry
[</em>]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[<em>]Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Not Available
[</em>]AP (place score in parenthesis): Seven 5's, One 4
[<em>]IB (place score in parenthesis): Did Not Take
[</em>]Senior Year Course Load: Six AP's and Differential Equations
[<em>]Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None [/ul]
Subjective: [ul]
[li]Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Few clubs and founder/president of two (hour per week of each), 12 years of piano (over 3000 hours) but no awards or other distinctions (piano teacher claims competitions and exams are useless)[/li][</em>]Job/Work Experience: None
[<em>]Volunteer/Community service: None
[</em>]Summer Activities: Community College Classes (does that even count?) [/ul]</p>
<p>Other: [ul]
[<em>]State (if domestic applicant): CA
[</em>]Country (if international applicant): US
[<em>]School Type: Large Public
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>]Gender: M
[</em>]Income Bracket: >$200,000
[li]Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None [/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Reflection: [ul]
[<em>]Strengths: Curricularrs
[</em>]Weaknesses: Extracurriculars [/ul]</p>
<p>Your GPA and ACT is excellent! But your EC and community is very very weak…that none really shows that you really focused a lot on GPA and during that time, you got so lost in it that you just didn’t see anything past that…you are a hard worker though, but i think it would really help you if you learn to balance everything in life… for colleges…it is really hard to predict but I think that if you explain why you lacked what you did in your essays…that might really help you! You definitely have the grades for even an Ivy League school! good luck! just find that balance, because you will need it for the rest of your life</p>
<p>yes, you do. Picking the right ones is key. I can tell you what to rule out (many LACs, generally) more easily than rule in (perhaps Chicago, MIT, CalTech). It would also be helpful to know your interests and prospective major.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions jkeil911. I am planning on majoring in business and this field is tightly tied with school prestige. So I am planning on applying to a well-known school, and if not accepted, transferring into one after two years.</p>
<p>USC, NYU, and Vandy seem to be going for students with very high test scores. You might have a chance at Penn ED. Possibly Michigan Ross auto-admit, though I don’t know how the factor in ECs. Indiana would be a good safety.</p>
<p>OP is from California, the obvious starting place is Berkeley and UCLA. Our California experts will have to chime in, but with OP’s test scores, curriculum and GPA, those might be close to safeties, plus from what I recall around here, UCs don’t care much about ECs.</p>
<p>If UCB and UCLA are your starting point and your safeties, that really means you’re going to concentrate only on the top, top schools and given the instate tuition, they may be hard to beat.</p>
<p>I would not call Berkeley or UCLA a safety for anyone, but they are probably low matches if you can write a decent essay.</p>
<p>Adding several of less selective UCs probably makes for a virtual safety – none is 100% certain (they may be 95+% chance with your stats), but it is unlikely that all of them will reject unless there is a glaring defect in the application that they will all care about.</p>
<p>However, only Berkeley, Irvine, and Riverside among the UCs offer business administration as an undergraduate major. At Berkeley, one does not enter the business school/major as a frosh; one has to apply in one’s second year after taking the prerequisites and doing well in them (and with extracurriculars and essays considered).</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that the UCs don’t put as much weight on ECs, so those would be logical places to apply. Some colleges perceived as being ‘lower elites’ would probably be more willing to overlook poor ECs for good scores. Your chances at HYP or colleges of that ilk would probably be lower, since they have so many high scorers to choose from that they rely on ECs and other factors to decide.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the replies. I really appreciate them.</p>
<p>My career goal is something related to finance. Not necessarily investment banking, but that would be a good place to start as to what schools are the most lucrative for finance-related careers. Here is the general consensus on Wall Street Oasis of the investment banking target schools:</p>
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</p>
<p>UC Berkeley Haas would be the obvious choice, but are there any other schools I have a chance for? I would be guessing UVA McIntire and Michigan Ross since my parents might be able to pay full out of state tuition. Maybe NYU Stern or a low Ivy if I got lucky?</p>
<p>If all of them are reaches/high matches for me, would it make sense to go to a less expensive UC for two years and then transfer into one of the schools above? I heard high school extracurriculars don’t matter as much for transfer students.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice mom2collegekids. How does this sound?</p>
<p>Reach: [ul]
[li]Georgetown McDonough [/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>High Match: [ul]
[<em>]Berkeley Haas
[</em>]UVA McIntire
[li]Michigan Ross [/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Safety: [ul]
[*]Any UC, then try to transfer to any of the above schools [/ul]</p>
<p>Regardless of your ECs, of course you have a chance at any of the schools above Berkeley due to your courses, grades, and test scores. You’ll just find a way to make yourself interesting to schools and not seem like your typical Asian drone. </p>
<p>Do not be fooled by what you see on CC, the people with the incredible ECs are atypical, plenty of people like you get in to the Ivies with exactly what you have, you just need to make yourself desirable.</p>
<p>Remember also that you don’t get into Berkeley Haas at the frosh level. You would normally enter in another division (e.g. College of Letters and Science) and apply for Haas during your second year. The other way in is to apply as a transfer student after attending another school (usually a community college, since most Berkeley transfer intake is from community colleges).</p>
<p>12 years of piano is a strong EC if you have something to show for it. Submit a recording of yourself playing to any school that will accept it. Even if your teacher is against competitions and awards, if you have applied yourself to your study of the instrument, your talent should be able to make a case for why you have put your focus there instead of being a BWRK (bright well-rounded kid).</p>
<p>For UVA, only juniors can get into McIntire. Roughly 50% of the students who apply get in. You can do two years at a UC and transfer to McIntire if you take the pre-reqs. Offer rate last year was a 17% for transfers, with an average college GPA of 3.8 and 1270/1600 SAT. You’re mainly competing with CC kids, over 50% are from CC.</p>
<p>Though, I don’t think UVA is any better than Berkeley.</p>
<p>You could always send an application to a university that doesn’t look at ECs for admission. For example the University of Toronto and McGill University admissions are purely numeric and since your grades and scores are astounding, both of them would be absolute safeties.</p>
for colleges…it is really hard to predict but I think that if you explain why you lacked what you did in your essays…that might really help you! You definitely have the grades for even an Ivy League school! good luck!