<p>I'm a freshman at University of Hawaii this year and was wondering what kind of chance I would have if i were to apply to an Ivy League school. The courses I am/will be taking this year are:</p>
<p>-Math 252A Calculus II Honors
-Math 253A Calculus III Honors
-Chem 181A General Chemistry Honors
-Physics 171: General Physics I
-Eng 200: Composition II
-Econ 300 Intermediate Macroeconomics
-Econ 301 Intermediate Microeconomics: Price Theory
-Econ 321 Introduction to Statistics
-Hist 151 World History (to 1500's)
-Japanese 202 </p>
<p>My high school gpa was 3.5/4.0
SAT I: 700 Math 630 CR 630 Writing
SAT II: 660 Math 670 Chem 650 Physics</p>
<p>-I also have a part time job as a tutor at a private tutoring establishment. I work 15 hours a week.
Assuming I can maintain a 4.0 GPA this year, will I be a competitive applicant given the competiveness of the IVy League's applicant pool? Thanks. I appreciate any input.</p>
<p>If you can get a 4.0, you'd be competitive. However, your SAT score is the drawback. Why don't you try raising it above 2100? </p>
<p>Also, your EC's pretty weak. Tutor alone is not enough. Potential Ivy Candidates start their intern as early as their freshman year, and they manage to get a position at a well known finance firm. However, this maybe a slight disadvantage to you due to the location. </p>
<p>there will be tons of candidates with a 4.0 GPA with many honors courses. </p>
<p>My advice to you is: DO MORE.
Take a few leadership position in student organizations, do volunteering, do community service, get a job or intern, and just get yourself BUSY.</p>
<p>i would say your chances are slim. best bet would probably be Cornell, even there, 3.5 from hs and 1330 SAT +630 writing is squeezing it tight.
and your SAT IIs are all in the 600s
and university of Howaii isn't that good is it? sorry i am unfamiliar with the american schools.
tutor is a weak EC, because everyone tutors (unless you tutor some hardcore Advanced Nuclear Physics...., i don't think it'll look impressive).
i know i sound very discouraging, but if you look at people on this board, you go to the ivy league school's website and look at their accepted students stats you know you are out of their league.
Maybe you can apply to those schools for graduate studies. Or heck, just send in some apps, and who knows, you might get lucky :D</p>
<p>The fact that you don't seem to care which school you transfer to (as long as its an Ivy) doesn't bode well for you. Prestige transfers don't work too well. You'd be better off trying to figure out WHY you want to transfer, then find a program (maybe Ivy, maybe not) that will help you decide where you'd be better off. Imagine you're an Ivy league adcom, you probably see thousands of apps from people who are obviously just trying to move up the prestige ladder. Why would you stand out?</p>
<p>well obviously he can make up some excuse for transferring. I think prestige is a very underrated reason for transferring, especially for an econ/business major.</p>
<p>I want to go to Harvard because it ranks #2 in U.S. Newsweek Ranking (it ranked #1 last year) and it's internationally the best known school so I'll be able to brag to my friends when I get accepted to Harvard. </p>
<p>haha I'd really like to see the expression on the face of whichever adcom that reads that.</p>
<p>I'm going to be a bit less strand und durm than the previous posters. You are by no means doomed to not getting in.</p>
<p>However, you will have an uphill battle. Your SAT score is somewhere in the 50th percentile range at best, and your math score may hurt you as a potential econ major. Econ is a very quantitative field, and that becomes more apparent the better the school!</p>
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Potential Ivy Candidates start their intern as early as their freshman year, and they manage to get a position at a well known finance firm.
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<p>I don't know how true this is. I managed to get good letters from a number of Ivies, and had no sterling internships at application time. However, a good internship can't hurt. But that doesn't mean it has to be from a "well-known finance firm," either. Quality internships come from all sorts of places! I see you're interested in Japanese. Consider doing work with a reputable Japanese-American interest group, or maybe Dan Inoue's office. Hawaii is small, but it is also a good place to get into some interesting commerce. Remember, just because it's McKinsey doesn't make it a great internship!</p>
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You'd be better off trying to figure out WHY you want to transfer
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<p>I agree with this statement. Don't transfer JUST for the sake of getting more prestige. Transfer because you see a good reason to move to a different school. Perhaps you feel that your program doesn't offer you the resources you need to be a ______. Or maybe something at Columbia just excites you so much that you can't sleep at night-- you literally dream of IAB.</p>
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3.5 from hs and 1330 SAT +630 writing is squeezing it tight.
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<p>The 3.5 will become increasingly less important as time goes on. Especially if he meets his goal of a 4.0 at UH.</p>
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Remember, just because it's McKinsey doesn't make it a great internship!
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<p>Yes it does! McKinsey is THE DREAM firm for ALL students who wants to pursue their career in Consulting. The fact that the candidate worked in McKinsey itself makes him highly competitive. Seriously, people needs to stop underestimating McKinsey. When you get an internship at McKinsey, you don't do things like copying and scanning and filing documents. You get to actually have real client interaction and learn the firm's approach in problem solving. In another word, you get to do the SAME work as any real associates who work there. </p>
<p>That's WAY WAY WYA WAY WAY valuable experience than listening to your prof's lecture all year.</p>
<p>What if that person has no interest in pursuing consulting? One size does not fit all! Someone interested in doing more theoretical economics might be better off interning for a think tank or even the government.</p>
<p>I'm not "underestimating" McKinsey. I'm just saying that it is not always the best fit.</p>
<p>Someone who's not interested in consulting would not apply to McKinsey in the first place. But for someone who wants to approach consulting, it is THE BEST.</p>
<p>Regarding my original statement which you quote (* Potential Ivy Candidates start their intern as early as their freshman year, and they manage to get a position at a well known finance firm. *), I was trying to tell the OP that many people who apply to Ivy are talented enough to land an intern at such firm. And assuming he's an econ, major, i was thinking that he would be interested in Finance Field.</p>
<p>Really, let's say you were the adcom and you are looking at two candidates. Both has very similar academic stat, but one has intern at.. oooh Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley, and the other one works for some small local Accounting firm. Which would you more likely to pick?</p>
<p>I was mermely emphasizing the importance of value of working in a big well-known firm.</p>
<p>Quick style note: It's landing an "internship." An intern is a person who participates in an internship. But anywho...</p>
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And assuming he's an econ, major, i was thinking that he would be interested in Finance Field.
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<p>Not necessarily. I do a lot of econ, but have very little interest in finance directly. Econ's a broad field, and many people enjoy working in other areas. On CC.com are people a bit overly focused on finance, finance, finance.</p>
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Which would you more likely to pick?
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<p>Probably the larger, better known firm. But that's not my point. Not every econ major wants to do work in finance!</p>
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I was mermely emphasizing the importance of value of working in a big well-known firm.
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<p>Duly noted. But we can't say that quite yet. We need to see what he's interested in, first.</p>