Currently I am entering my senior year of high school and I am a prospective finance/business major for college. The colleges I am aiming for are the normal top 25 colleges like UPenn Wharton, Cornell, Johns Hopkins with major interests in USC, UCLA, and UCB. The one part of my application that I need work on to make me look unique is the extra curricular portion. I do the basics: varsity soccer, I have a summer job, and participate frequently throughout my school in areas like NHS and volunteer work but what I am looking for is a unique edge I could work on now and be able to put on my application by app deadline. I have a passion for wall street and finance, but i equally have a passion for computer programming, which is something I am learning at the moment. Would it be better to focus on creating an app for the iPhone and writing about that in my apps, or potentially doing something related to finance/business. If you recommend the finance/business route what do you recommend for me to do (internships,trade, etc.)? Anyways, I am looking to the people of college confidential to help me out with their own advice and personal experiences. If you have any recommendations please voice them in the forum, anything helps. Thank you.
Are you going to play soccer in college?
An athlete is a major plus in both getting into a school but also in getting a job on Wall St
You might look at some of the Nescac schools as they too are targets for New York firms and the level of their sports is second to none as a d3 conference.
Good luck
@fleishmo6 thanks for the advice, I actually just emailed the Williams coach so I hope it goes well.
Reach out to the Midd coach also. Many of their students get internships and work in finance in new york
I know for Wharton many of the incoming class has no finance/business experience at all but they all have one thing in common- outstanding leadership in their area of passion or community. You don’t have to do something big specific to business (although it certainly doesn’t hurt)…
In reading your comment above the thought jumped out to me how cool it would be to create an I phone app that teaches kids about finance, credit, banking, and money management -if you could make it a game that would be even more enticing to kids I think. IMO I would definitely combine your passion for computer science programming and business then try to donate it or get it utilized in your community i.e. schools, boys girls clubs PAL or something like that… make a concrete difference in your community with your passion…
BUT HURRY! You don’t have much time left…
Check out “How to be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport.
“The basic message of the book is this: Don’t wear yourself out taking as many classes as you can and being involved in every club and sport. Instead, leave yourself enough free time to explore your interests. Cultivate one interest and make it into something special that will make you stand out among the other applicants and get you into the toughest schools, even if your grades and scores aren’t stellar. Newport calls this the “relaxed superstar approach,” and he shows you how to really do this, breaking the process down into three principles, explained and illustrated with real life examples of students who got into top schools: (1) underscheduling—making sure you have copious amounts of free time to pursue interesting things, (2) focusing on one or two pursuits instead of trying to be a “jack of all trades,” and (3) innovation—developing an interesting and important activity or project in your area of interest. This fruit yielded by this strategy, an interesting life and real, meaningful achievements, is sure to help not only with college admissions, but getting a job, starting a business, or whatever your goals.”
http://www.examiner.com/review/be-a-relaxed-high-school-superstar
Are you applying Early Decision or Early Action at any of the schools? If so, you will need to have essays written by September or October–hardly giving you time to create an new app, market it, and have some social impact with it.
Concentrating on writing thoughtful and engaging essays might be most productive at this point.