I applied to Villanova early action and I was deferred. I want to major in finance and then go on into investment banking after my undergrad so I applied to the VSB. However, I noted that it is extremely hard to get into the business program at Villanova and it is already a reach school for me as it is (3.04 GPA, 1170 SAT, 25 ACT, legacy status, strong extracurriculars, strong essays). For investment banking, a finance or economics degree is usually the standard and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences provides an economics major. Would it be best for me to try and switch to the CLAS to have a better chance of getting accepted or should I stick to the VSB?
It might slightly increase your admissions chances by switching to CLAS, but I do not think you should do that if you are solely focused on investment banking as a career. CLAS Economics is a great major to lead into a lot of different business and finance positions, including various positions at investment banks, but pretty much everyone who ends up doing specifically investment banking from Villanova was a finance major. Also IB positions are incredibly competitive to get, so you should stay open minded about business jobs.
@villanovagirl I mean I mainly want to get into venture capital but it’s extremely difficult to break out of undergrad so I wanted to go into IB first. Yeah I am open about other financial related positions though. Do you think I could potentially get in with my stats? It’s a reach ik but have you encountered anyone at Villanova with similar stats as mine?
@thebellcurve I agree with @villanovafangirl. Always apply to the school that matches your interests best. You can of course change your app to CLAS and major in economics but most likely will need to get a masters in addition to your undergrad degree. Sometimes it’s better to go to a school that accepts you to the program you want. Your success will be much greater and you won’t be spending 200k plus on a four year degree that you really didn’t want from the beginning. It’s tough to balance your desire to attend a certain school with the practicality and focus on what your career goals are. Don’t lose sight of the goal. There are many different ways of getting there.