<p>What DreamSchlDropout said is very good advice. Even if you don’t have awards for it, the fact that you’ve dedicated yourself to studying the piano will be in your favor for admissions. Sending in a recording of your work may not be enough to put you in over other kids with equal stats and better ECs, but it should definitely help you stay in the running.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for their advice.</p>
<p>Getting a letter of recommendation and sending recordings seem like great suggestions. I’ll try to do that. Hopefully admissions can tell my talent on the piano.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus
I’m not looking specifically at investment banking as a career, I’m just looking at the schools investment banks recruit at to judge the quality of their finance program. By the way, is it easier to get in UC Berkeley Haas as an internal or external transfer?</p>
<p>@teenbodybuilder
So would you say it’s easier to get into UVa McIntire as an internal or external transfer?</p>
<p>So far I’m looking at applying to Georgetown McDonough and Michigan Ross. Maybe Berkeley and UVa if it’s a lot easier to get in their business schools as an internal junior transfer.</p>
<p>12 years of piano counts as a strong EC. I wouldn’t underestimate this. Many top rated schools, especially small to medium sized privates, look for arts participation as well as academic strength.</p>
<p>There may be other ways to demonstrate your passion and commitment than listing awards. Embed your dedication to music in your essays. Include an additional recommendation from a music instructor or mentor. Submit a performance supplement, even if you have no intention of majoring in music!</p>
<p>If you’d settle for economics in lieu of business per se, you should look at Williams. Excellent entree to finance, investment banking. Music extracurriculars are valued.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Note that some of the highly targeted schools do not have an undergraduate business or finance major, and the investment banks and consulting companies may be looking more at school prestige over major.</p>
<p>Also note that if you are interested in quantitative finance (based on how advanced you are in math), that may or may not be in the general business major, so you need to check each school if that is your interest. At Berkeley, the more quantitative courses are found in the economics department (136, 138, 234A, 234C, 235), with some graduate level industrial engineering courses as well (221, 222, 223, etc.).</p>
<p>Regarding your second question, you may want to ask on the Berkeley forum. But it is generally considered competitive, needing a high college GPA at application time, plus other factors.
<a href=“Admissions - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas”>Admissions - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas;
<a href=“Admissions - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas”>Admissions - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas;
<p>But note that <a href=“FAQ - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas”>FAQ - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas; does say that “The Haas Undergraduate Program rarely admits transfer students from 4-year institutions. Transfer admissions priority is given to students who are US citizens, California residents, and are transferring from a California community college. This is according to California’s Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California Office of the President and the UC Berkeley faculty.”</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for their replies. I everyone on this thread has given me a good idea of which schools to apply for. Thanks again!</p>
<p>On a sidenote: I followed NamelessStatistic’s suggestion on Canadian schools and I found out many of them actually weigh extracurriculars much less than grades. I would like to look more into this, so does anyone know which people/subforums I should ask?</p>
<p>I think I have a good idea of which colleges to apply to, thanks to everyone’s help.</p>
<p>Reach
*Georgetown McDonough</p>
<p>High Match
*Berkeley (junior transfer to Haas)
*Michigan Ross
*UVA (junior transfer to McIntire)</p>
<p>Match
*UCLA Econ/Bizecon
*McGill Bachelor of Commerce (top Canadian university that puts no weight on EC’s)</p>
<p>Low Match
*UCSD Econ
*UC Davis Econ
*UC Irvine Econ</p>
<p>Safety
*UCSC Econ</p>
<p>I just want one more college to apply early decision to, since none of the above offer it. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Don’t take yourself out of the game because of what you perceive to be weak ECs. You put forth you in the best possible light. Let them make the call, not you. So send in the app to Penn, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, etc.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Early decision is only appropriate for a school that is your clear first choice, and which you will not need to compare financial aid offers against those of other schools.</p>
<p>Since you do not have such a clear first choice now, early decision does not appear to be an appropriate choice for you. However, early action is perfectly fine (but note that HYPS early action is restrictive, in that if you apply early action there, you are not supposed to apply early action to other private schools or early decision anywhere).</p>
<p>Berkeley is probably not that high a match for frosh admissions for you (probably just a regular match if you write decent essays and do not have major defects in your application); later admission to Haas is based on your college record. UCLA also offers a math economics major if you prefer a more quantitative emphasis.</p>
<p>McGill has its own forum under “Colleges”. You can also go post questions under the “Canada” forum. </p>
<p>To clarify many Canadian schools, including McGill and the University of Toronto, which are the most internationally respected universities in the country, do NOT look at extracurricular for admissions, or essays, only grades and test scores. Admissions at both these universities is purely numeric. ECs only play a role in determining who gets accepted off the waitlist. </p>
<p>Some Canadian universities like the University of British Columbia do however weigh ECs during admission so if you are interested in schools outside of McGill and Toronto it would be best to check whether they are purely numbers driven or not.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for their help!</p>
<p>I created a new thread up north, so I think I’m done searching for US colleges in this thread. Thanks again!</p>
<p>Sorry, one last question: What school should I apply to as a safety?</p>
<p>I’d prefer a UC/CSU since I can pay in-state tuition. I was thinking along the lines of Cal Poly since its Common Data Set shows little preference to extracurriculars. It also seems to have a surprisingly strong finance program ($58,000 starting salary).</p>
<p>Cal Poly Common Data Set: [Common</a> Data Set - IP&A - Cal Poly](<a href=“http://www.calpoly.edu/~ipa/publications_reports/cds/index.html]Common”>http://www.calpoly.edu/~ipa/publications_reports/cds/index.html)</p>
<p>Cal Poly Graduate Status Report (Financial Management in 2012 is $58,000):
<a href=“https://www.careers.calpoly.edu/search.php[/url]”>https://www.careers.calpoly.edu/search.php</a></p>
<p>If not, probably another CSU or maybe a lower tier UC? However, the UC’s seem to put more weight on extracurriculars than the CSU’s (as shown by the Common Data Set).</p>
<p>I was thinking of CP SLO before you mentioned it. It would be good safety school for you.</p>