<p>I am extremely passionate about Finance and Econ. I am particularly interested in financial derivatives and options theories, and am a paid contributor for one of the largest finance websites on the internet. The articles I write for the most part are at a higher level and feel represent my knowledge and views well. So far my work has gotten a little over 100,000 page views.
A good friend of mine who I consider to be my mentor for pretty much everything academic is currently a Sophomore at Princeton, he is a bio major but knows many econ majors. One day he was talking to one of his econ major friends and he showed him my some of my articles. His friend seems to be quite impressed and said that he thinks I belong at Princeton. So his econ major friend showed some of my articles to his professors and they too were quite impressed. Over the next week I am planning on emailing a few of the professors who like my work about what I am interested in and working on, and ask them about their research. I plan on visiting Princeton later this spring and hopefully meeting with some of the professors.</p>
<p>I am a little hesitant as I feel drastically under qualified for Princeton. I have 2240 (1510 CR+M) SAT score and a mediocre HS transcript (3.4UW), aside from my finance writing EC I am president of 3 Clubs (all bizz related), Varsity Golf Captain, and a few other ec’s. </p>
<p>My question is will my meeting and hopefully impressing these professors be able to help me overcome my mediocre academic stats? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I think you would have had a great chance based on amazing EC’s but that 3.4 gpa is soooo low. What is it weighted? How many APs did you take? Class rank? Most rigorous schedule?</p>
<p>I don’t think you have a low shot, but really try to bring up your GPA. Everything else sounds great, imo. It’s also up to essays, so remember to really knock those out of the park (assuming you’re a junior)
Your EC is great though, especially since you’re passionate about it.</p>
<p>About my GPA… It is an upward trend and Jr. Year I am looking at a 3.75 UW. I am in the most rigorous classes my school offers except for foreign languages. Not that it matters but Spanish is a large factor in why my GPA is so low as I get a B in it every year. For the most part everything else is looking good Jr year, my only other B is in AP Bio which is notoriously hard at my school.</p>
<p>You may want to mention that trend in additional info in your common app. Idk if you can mention the Bio and Spanish stuff without them thinking you’re making excuses, though.
Not that you are, it’s just that if you don’t word it correctly, it’ll really sound like it.</p>
<p>If you don’t mind me asking, which professors were impressed? Sounds like a very good EC to me, but I’m a bit skeptical that you know enough about finance to be a paid contributor for seekingalpha or something (I’d def never read those articles again if they pay high school kids to write articles, that’s for sure). I’m a senior in the econ department, worked in investment banking, and have taken many finance courses, and although I believe my understanding of the markets has improved drastically I don’t think I would be qualified to write articles on anything.</p>
<p>It’s an EC but not sure whether it will save you. Do Princeton professors teach options theories? I know at another Ivy in NYC where I took some courses in Operations Research did cover some of these topics but only theoretically. The reason I wrote that because I have a thick handbook on options theories that I purchased a while back(30+ years) plus for trading options so I’m familiar with this stuff.</p>
<p>The number of online views (sometimes, these are just “looks,”) isn’t as important as the quality of your work and the strong, positive feedback you receive, some rep you are building. </p>
<p>Yes, it can help if a prof or two go to bat for you. But, adcoms who review holistically will see your full record and be looking at your entire app package for overall “fit,” not just whether you have this one strength- esp in light of the gpa.</p>
<p>If your gpa is truly dragged down only by Spanish and AP Bio, everything else needs to be tight. It’s not only that you took, eg, the most rigorous classes at your school- have you taken college classes? Advanced economics? Have you got some awards and participated in a range of hs and community activities that show you can climb out of your own econ and biz-related comfort zone? Are your AP scores top? </p>
<p>Don’t take this as discouragement. See it as encouragement to get moving.</p>
<p>No offense, but if the site in question is SeekingAlpha, color me unimpressed. Perhaps your articles belong to the .01% of SeekingAlpha content that is not utter crap, but it really is highly unlikely that any amateur - let alone a teen-aged amateur - would have enough knowledge of derivatives to make a significant contribution to the field.</p>
<p>Also, if your passion is investing, surely you know that your return on investment will be much higher if you forgo Princeton for a state school, work part time for a brokerage, and start investing the $40k or more you’d save each year in the tuition differential. You’re wasting your money on a degree from Princeton.</p>
<p>Ivygolfer, you mention being varsity captain of your golf team. Are you proficient enough to play at the NCAA D1 level? Do you compete and perform well at the state/national level?If so this may also be an important addition to your resume.</p>