Above-average Asian student (26S) from a competitive New England public school, crafting my college list with post-grad goals in investment banking (IB), management consulting (MBB), or private equity (PE). Below is my profile—I’d greatly appreciate your insights on school selection and Early Decision strategy.
Profile Highlights
Academics:
SAT: 1540 (790 Math, 750 EBRW)
GPA: weighted 4.09, Mixed bag—A+ in APUSH/Physics Honors, A in AP Chem, A-/B+ in foreign languages, B+/B in honors math (including AP Stat).
School Context: Highly competitive public HS; grades trend upward but with a dip in math.
Extracurriculars:
Varsity team captain, D3 recruitment-eligible (coach pre-read cleared, though athletic performance has slipped recently due to academic focus).
Post-Grad Goals & College Strategy
Target Industries: IB/MBB/PE (aware that Stern/Ross are likely out of reach).
Current Plan:
ED I: Middlebury
ED II: Debating between Hamilton, BC, Emory, Colgate, Colby, and Wesleyan.
RD: Villanova and SMU.
Questions for You:
Am I aiming too many reach schools?
Any other target/safety schools I should consider for RD to optimize outcomes?
Thank you for your time—I’d value any advice on refining my list or application strategy!
What is your unweighted Gpa? A weighted tells us nothing.
Give yourself a 4 for each A, 3 for B , etc and divide by # of classes (or credits if each class has a different amount).
What is your budget ? Can you afford $100k a year ? Find out from your parents what they are willing to spend ?
Yes you are missing schools but everyone will - there’s too many. And yea there are easier fo get into schools - like SMU (I see on your list) and Arizona State - that regularly place.
Tell us more about you.
But note that no matter where you go, the industry is a long shot.
What other APs do you have ? Will you take Calc AB or BC ?
Cost, unless you have unlimited funds, will be a huge determinant. ED is binding.
Thank you! My school does not report an unweighted GPA due to significant differences in course rigor. Based on the formula you have provided, the unweighted GPA would be 3.7, all honors but 3 APs (max school allows).
Financially, my family is well prepared to support college expenses. While merit scholarships would certainly be appreciated, we’re comfortable even without them.
Why Middlebury or the others - which are different ? Do you love them ? Have you been ?
You will be somewhere four years - day after day. You want to be somewhere you enjoy. You mentioned Stern and Ross. They are far different than the LACs you have also mentioned.
IU Kelley would likely be as good or better than any school on your list for your goals - which again - will be hard to achieve from anywhere.
You are auto admit there. So that could be a fallback for you. It’d be a step down from U Mich but still elite.
Really you should figure out what you want in a name, besides an IB target. Then find schools to meet that need, including the IB access. .
This list may help you but know there are examples of students who are in the industry from many other schools - but obviously it’s a bigger stretch.
This seems unfortunate, particularly for someone who can pull off a 790 on the math part of the regular SAT exam.
I am trying to understand what happened here. Did you jump ahead too quickly? Did you skip some level of math?
You definitely need to find one or two safeties to apply to.
If you are a Massachusetts resident, then U.Mass Amherst might be likely, but I do not know if it is a safety with a 3.7 unweighted GPA and I do not think that it is a target school for investment banking or management consulting. It does have a good math program. Perhaps since I was a math major in university I may be biased, but quantitative investing does make significant use of mathematics.
I think that Middlebury is a reach with an unweighted 3.7 GPA. Middlebury is need-blind for domestic applicants, which if you are full pay might not help you.
OP if you have any specific questions about the various IB career paths please let me know.
I actually attended a LAC very similar to several of the ones ant the top of your list and the specific schools you mention have very strong IB alumni networks. Hamilton and Middlebury are actually where the senior most leaders of GS attended for instance.
The thread below may be of interest and happy to help if I can.
I think it’s a great school for an IB aspiring student, so excellent choice in my experience. Seems to fit the students current list.
I am interested to hear from the student if they want a LAC college experience and if so what humanities are of interest. Alternatively do they want a foundational business experience like Stern or Fordham Gabelli.
Either works.
I would not however suggest going to an undergraduate school that has a dedicated business program but not pursue business curriculum if aspiring for IB. Most IB recruiting at target schools with business programs is focused on students of the business program and makes it very tough on others.
Middlebury has clearly signalled that it wants more full pay students. Given its budget shortfall, and the school’s solution of admitting more students, I frankly can’t see how the school could possibly be need blind. Those additional students all must be full pay if they are providing the revenue needed to balance the budget.
Let me state clearly that Middlebury is not in any danger of serious financial issues too though.
Of your potential ED II schools, Boston College and Hamilton appear in this analysis of top Wall Street and IB feeder schools (when adjusted for enrollment):
There are many “high level” people from many colleges - from the most mundane to the Richmond of the world.
I wouldn’t make a decision on life where a specific person went to school.
Best of luck in your pursuits.
In your case, I’d apply to Indiana Kelley because it’s a safety for you (auto admit) and per the Peak feeder list, it’s #22 (I think it was higher last year) - so if that matters to you, that at least gives you an assured landing spot although as a big public, it’s not a Middlebury, Colgate.
The other thing to look at is IBIS at Arizona State. See placements on the link. ASU is a safety for you but IBIS is not.
I think you are smart to be thinking ahead. It seems you want two things which in many ways overlap. You want to be at a target school for prestige based recruiting careers like IB and consulting, and you want “optionality” if your career preferences or the job market changes.
In both of these cases the prestige associated with the school, alumni network and broad international academic rigor recognition all matter significantly.
For instance, I know a Northeast kid who went to a large southern school and received a communications degree yet can’t find a job beyond scanning IDs at a gym. His brother who attended an Ivy is working for a consulting firm and doing well financially.
FYI if looking at feeder lists, details and accuracy matter. Several of the ones often quoted are clearly either dated or use poor methodology. These shortcomings range from using Credit Suisse (which no longer exists) as a data point, not including financial or capital markets (about 50% of client facing roles), not scrubbing LinkedIn data, not including the 20+ global (International) CIBs, etc.