Top Econ Colleges (Columbia, Penn, Harvard)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone, I’m new to this whole college process and was wondering if you all could help me out. </p>

<p>I’m pretty sure the odds are stacked against me: I’m an Indian male in NJ planning on pursuing a career in finance (possibly investment banking), but it’s pretty clear my parents want me to pursue medicine.</p>

<p>I’m looking to major in economics, so I’d like a college with a strong economics program, but also one with a decent premed preparation (just in case I guess…)</p>

<p>So far I’ve narrowed my college list to (vaguely in order of preference at the moment):</p>

<li>Columbia (visited, loved everything about it) </li>
<li>Penn (visited, liked…just didn’t have the NY atmosphere)</li>
<li>Harvard (visited, strong reputation, but not NY)</li>
<li>U Chicago (haven’t yet visited, but I’ve heard good things)</li>
<li>Stanford (no visit)</li>
<li>Yale (not to sure about this, I’ve visited, but it didn’t feel quite safe, but I know an admissions officer here)</li>
<li>Northwestern (no visit)</li>
<li>Georgetown (visited, kind of liked)</li>
<li>UC Berkeley (no visit)</li>
<li>Rutgers (safety)</li>
<li>U N. Carolina</li>
</ol>

<p>So anyway, I know its a little early and a lot of my scores aren’t in but:</p>

<p>Profile: Indian Male Junior at one of the most competitive schools in NJ (I believe we’ve been in the top 5 rankings for the past few years)</p>

<p>School:
Cumulative GPA: 3.875/4.0 (unweighted, we don’t rank)</p>

<p>Test Scores:
SAT I (April) - 2310
math - 800
verbal - 750
writing - 760 essay 9</p>

<p>SAT IIs (to be taken in June) -
Level II - 800 expected
Chemistry - 700-800 expected
Physics or Biology</p>

<h2>APs</h2>

<p>AP Calculus AB - 5 expected
AP Chemistry - 3 to 5 expected (hopefully a 5!)
AP Microeconomics - 4 to 5 expected</p>

<p>Next Year:
I’m taking AP Bio along with AP Physics C, and hopefully AP Stats, along with single-variable calculus </p>

<p>Recommendations - Pretty solid
Essay - should be good, haven’t written yet
ECs: this is where I die
-I’m an active member of my school’s model un team, most recently I won an Oustanding delegate award (2nd place) at Yale, and it is pretty likely that I will have a top level leadership position next year for our in house model un conference
-I joined our student run Amnesty International chapter this year, and am currently planning (with another student) a film festival to be held later this year
-I’ve had a part time job at the local library for 2 years, and am very active in the library program (I help out a lot there, helped develop a digital photography course for younger kids)
-I’ve played recreational soccer every year except this year (ankle injury) since kindergarden (I enjoy playing sports, but simply do not have the build to be competitive in anything like the varsity level)</p>

<p>but thats about it…I’ve had to spend most of my time since 7th grade watching my younger brother because of family troubles. At one point my father was unemployed for 2 1/2 years. I’ve had to watch my brother while my mother put herself through college at night so that she could get a job that paid enough to provide for us. It’s only been this year that I’ve had time to explore ECs (I joined Amnesty).</p>

<p>That’s about it really, I’d just like to know where I stand, or if my expectations are too high. My knowledge of colleges is rather limited, so if you guys could also recommend some other colleges to look at, I’d appreciate it. Also, I realize that most of the colleges on my list are probably reaches, but my parents are the Ivy or Bust type.</p>

<p>Whew, this post seems a little long…thanks for bearing with me and thanks in advance for any advice you all can provide.</p>

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<p>best of luck. all those schools are tough. chicago rocks though. go there even though theyll work you to death</p>

3

<p>i'm willing to bet you'll get into at least a few of those...obviously you never know with HYS
i think your list looks pretty good like that..maybe add 2 more safties and get rid of a couple schools you didn't feel right at...</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the feedback. Does anyone have any advice on how I can improve my chances, especially to Columbia?</p>

<p>btw I go to a public school, if that matters</p>

5

<p>write an awe-inspiring essay for Columbia -- their adcom seems to like those...</p>

6

<p>I've heard that NYU's Stern school has a very good program, but they are very stingy with financial aid, which might be a problem. Does anyone have any information about their aid packages?</p>

<p>Also, I'm kind of torn between Columbia and Penn. While Columbia is in New York and its close to my family, many people have told me that in order to be a serious contender in finance, one should go to either Harvard or Wharton. I looked up the rankings for economics departments, and Columbia is in the top 10. So does it really matter?</p>

7

<p>Hi, wow, you're like me : )</p>

<p>I'm going to Columbia fall this year, planning to major in economics-mathematics. I'm a Chinese (ethnicity) Australian (nationality) female, currently in Sydney. And your ECs don't look SO bad. I mean the ECs I listed on my app were piano, drawing, writing, physics tutoring (all with no honors, leadership positions, anything like that)... so, you never know. Well done for the UN conference award by the way : )</p>

<p>The only way to look at it is as though it were a lottery. Like I'm sure 70% of applicants applying to the kind of schools you've listed are already over-qualified. How do they manage to select such a small group from such a large pool of wonderful candidates? Who knows. No one's worked it out. So effectively, it boils down to luck. My suggestion is to apply to more schools if you can.</p>

<p>I wouldn't worry too much about your ECs. I don't know where byul got his information that CC adcoms like awe-inspiring essays from, but he may be right. Try and aim for something unique, something attractive. By that I don't mean come up with a topic that no one's thought of before, but rather try to leave an impression on the adcoms so that at the end of a day's work they can think back and go 'oh yeah, I remember that Indian NJ guy, he was so and so and so'. </p>

<p>Have you checked out the individual forums? You could maybe take a brief look through the RD and ED official decisions threads - that might give you an overall idea of the caliber and diversity of the people admitted.</p>

<p>Concerning your Penn vs Columbia dilemma, I don't think it really matters. I mean, yes, Harvard or Wharton are very likely to be viewed more favourably than Columbia, but by how much? The effort that you yourself put into your education is probably going to have a MUCH greater effect than the university you went to, when we're talking Harvard/Penn/Columbia/etc.</p>

8

<p>tinboy, what type of drawing EC's did you do? Sounds interesting..</p>

9

<p>I wrote "drawing". That's it... kind of funny, isn't it?</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I wrote "drawing". That's it... kind of funny, isn't it?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Wow, thats original. I was under the impression that you need to document all your interests in a club, or else they don't matter. I guess thats not true. :) Good job on your acceptance! I too want to make it to Columbia. :D</p>

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<p>tinboy: when you wrote drawing, did you also send along some of your drawings with your application? I have some photography that I dabble in..</p>

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<p>No, I did not. I didn't send in anything that wasn't required (except for the optional photograph for Columbia).</p>

13

<p>Does anyone know if its better to take SAT II Physics or SAT II Biology? I'm not sure which to take..I've gotten As in both classes at school, so I'm fairly confident that I'll get a good score, I'm just not sure which is better for an app.</p>

14

<p>I really don't think there's a considerable difference. Choose whichever test you feel more prepared for.</p>

15

<p>you could ED for columbia... but is the opportunity cost too high? (i HEART econ as well) ;-)</p>

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<p>buffithemaster: would I be selling myself short if I ED for columbia?</p>

17

<p>why isnt Duke on your list? </p>

<p>Duke is probably one of the top schools for finance/i-banking. it's heavily recruited by both banks in the north and south. our econ department is pretty strong too.</p>

<p>i think goldman sachs (the harvard/duke :D of banks) is dukes biggest employer after teach for america.</p>

18

<p>to clarify- we dont have a finance program.. what i meant to say is that we send ridiculos number of people to the finance industry.</p>

19

<p>I hadn't really thought of Duke, I've heard its more med oriented..I'll be sure to look into it</p>

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<p>buffithemaster: would I be selling myself short if I ED for columbia?</p>

<p>that's not for me to answer ;-). personally, i don't think so (its not like columbia is a shabby institution).</p>