I would like to attend a college in the Western half of the U.S. and earn an economics, finance, or degree that helps me start an investment banking career. What colleges should I pursue as a 3.6 GPA, 31 or 32 ACT, and solid extra curriculars?
UC Berkley, UCLA, USC, UCSD would all be options for you. Im not sure if you would get into all of them, but its worth a shot. I am currently a high school senior and Im also interested in investment banking, but unfortunately I have found that most Bulge Bracket Banks (Barclays, Goldman Sachs, etc.) mainly only recruit and accept applicants that are students at Ivies (there are a couple public schools they recruit at, but it is mainly top-tier private schools, specifically Ivies), but that doesn’t mean we wont ever be able to break in, its just going to take a lot more work for us since we will likely be coming from non-target schools.
U Chicago
Rice
Wash U
Stanford
UC schools
Michigan
I know you are not interested in schools on the east coast, but take a serious look at Baruch College. Lots of Ibankers get their start at Baruch, mainly because of proximity to Wall street and ease of getting internships. Getting into Baruch is a lot easier than many of the target schools
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/list-of-targets-and-semi-targets
Schools on the west coast are just Stanford and Berkeley. Mid-west include Chicago, Northwestern, Michigan.
What year are you? Assume the GPA is unweighted. What is your weighted GPA? UC GPA? If weighted 3.8 or above, you would be a direct admit to Indiana Kelley which is a solid choice. Most schools listed above will be tough with a 3.6. Know not in the west but may get you into a great program and investment banking.