What business schools should i apply to?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So I am currently a Junior in High School and I want to know my chances of getting into a good school if I plan on being an investment banker.</p>

<p>GPA: 95.2
ACT: 29/30 (based on practice tests)</p>

<p>I'm not taking a button of AP's like all the smarty's. I just stay in honors and i only really take AP's I'm interested in. I'm a kid all about business to I mainly plan on taking AP Micro, AP Macro, AP stat, and AP Gov or Psych (haven't decided yet).</p>

<p>I'm pretty outgoing I think haha. I like taking classes that don't ruin my life for a variety of reasons. First, I like doing after school activities. After my first club freshman year I got a superficial feeling about choosing academics primarily over extracurriculars, just the way I am I guess. Second, I don't like not having time to read.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Student Council (Treasurer)
Key Club (Treasurer/ President)
Habitat for Humanity (Treasurer/ Co-Founder)
Treasurers Association ( President/ Founder)
DECA (President)
Cultural Diversity (Public Correspondent)
Voyager School Newspaper (Finance columnist)
Mock Trial (Captain/ Lead Attorney)
Environmental Club ( Project Head)
Financial Initiative (Head)
Marching Band (1st in State lead cymbal)
Indoor Drumling (1st Cymbal/ 2nd in state)
Author (Got a book on teen finance published my soph year)
Write articles on financial books online for fun
Vice President of website created to help teens invest</p>

<p>Summer Programs:</p>

<p>Business Camp Columbia University (Only Freshman to place in Nation acting as CTO and CFO)
Business Camp Vanderbilt University (2nd in Nation #soclose Acting as CFO)
Business Camp Rutgers University (1st Place)
Business Camp Upenn Wharton (GS)
NJ Governors Program</p>

<p>Colleges probably don't care but I take my studies outside of school more seriously. I can't stop reading books on finance and accounting, it's basically an addiction. I usually read 3 a week and analyze companies in my free time and track progress.</p>

<p>While I feel I'd be able to work my way up at any school. Do business school good at I- Banking lean towards "Wild Cards" as I think of myself.</p>

<p>What colleges should I even apply to?</p>

<p>****Also, I was wondering if an Accounting 3 independent study would look good or dumb on a college resume.</p>

2

<p>How are you a wild card? You have a 95 GPA and a ~30 ACT. If you could get your ACT score up by 2-3 points then it’d be in that middle 50% range at the very tippy top schools.</p>

<p>I’m assuming that you’re interested in majoring in business or economics. Anyway, if you’re interested in investment banking you should probably aim for those top 20-30 colleges at which the top firms do heavy recruiting, like Penn (Wharton), Columbia, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, etc. (Of course, only Penn will have a straight business major, but the others have an economics major - and besides, I work with undergrads at Columbia and I’ve seen people from all KINDS of majors go into the finance/banking/consulting trifecta here.)</p>

<p>Less competitive but still great/excellent places where good business recruiting happens will be Emory, Duke, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Rice.</p>

<p>Where are you in-state? And do you have any financial restrictions? Is your family likely to get financial aid, and how much are they willing to pay?</p>

<p>While the top schools are probably the best place to break into top i-banking firms, you can still go into banking from other places especially if you go to a mid-ranked state university’s business school. You just have to do a little more of the legwork yourself to find internships and opportunities, but many great firms still recruit at these schools. Of course top public business schools like Michigan, UVa, UCLA, Berkeley, Penn State, etc. still have, you know, top Wall Street firms come there. But there are always kids from places like UGA, Alabama, Arizona, Purdue, Missouri, etc., who end up at top banking firms on Wall Street and/or top regional firms.</p>

<p>It really just depends on your financial situation, what else you want in a college, and what kind of i-banking you want to do (whether it’s Wall Street or bust or whether you’d be most happy in a hometown firm or a boutique place).</p>