Chance/Match Me - Rising Senior, TX, 3.5 GPA, 1270 SAT, Good ECs, Business or Econ

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US domestic
  • State: TX
  • Type of high school: Public
  • Other special factors: N/A

Cost Constraints / Budget
No budget

Intended Major(s)
Business
Econ
Will apply econ for a better chance of admission

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.54
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.33 (6.0 scale)
  • Class Rank: School does not rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1270 SAT

List your HS coursework

  • English: Honors English 1, Honors English 2, English 3,
  • Math: Honors algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2, pre cal,
  • Science: honors bio, chemistry, physics,
  • History and social studies: Human Geo, Ap world (4), apush (4)
  • Language other than English: SPanish 1, spanish 2
  • Other academic courses: ap seminar (3), ap research (3)

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)

  • General education course work: N/A
  • Major preparation course work: N/A

Awards
17th Place out of 6,322 Teams — DECA Stock Market Game
AP® Scholar with Honor Award
AP Seminar and Research Certificate™

Extracurriculars
Founder - Pokemon Collectibles Business
Built and independently operated a collectibles business generating $70K+ revenue and about $30K profit in the first year.

Founder/Content Creator
Grew gaming short form content platforms to 140k+ followers and 50m+ total views.

Mentor - mentored a friend to help him start his own business in a similar niche helping him generate 20k+ revenue within a few months

Co founder - community giveback project
created a community service where we created our own pokemon packs and donated over 400+ packs to children

Schools
Texas A&M
ASU
OU
UTD

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No limit or no money?

Hard to chance for Texas public universities without a class rank.

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Do you have an elective that is an arts or career /technical education? If so (together with what you have stated above) you would meet the auto admit criteria for ASU so if it’s affordable you can consider it a safety. Even if you don’t have it, they can grant admission with a deficiency. You would be admitted direct to the business school if that is your preference. You should be eligible for some merit too, which you can check here: | Financial Aid & Scholarship Services

I am not familiar with the other colleges.

ASU has an easy application (no essays) and they are quick - I think my student had their offer something like 4 days after submitting (took another few weeks longer before they posted the scholarship amount). So I’d suggest applying once it’s open (it may be open already, if not it should be soon), because having an admit in your back pocket while you do the other applications is nice.

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no limit

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University of Georgia and Florida State University are a few OOS options to consider. University of Maryland & University of Pittsburgh are also good but much more competitive to win OOS merit aid (with your stats). Given your current background (top 0.5% for stock market game, operating your own business, mentoring friend to start own business), I’d think a B.S. or B.B.A., an undergraduate business degree, whether general or with a concentration in finance and/or marketing is where you’re headed. You can also pick up a minor in economics if you have time (if the school awards them).

Taking an AP Economics class is recommended (Micro or Macro should be fine). AP Statistics would be nice to take but okay if you can’t fit it in. Don’t substitute Precalculus for this. In all business programs, you’ll need to take statistics and some form of calculus “like business calc.”

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Welcome to College Confidential, @icedchai!

(emphasis added)

I would not recommend this pathway. If you want business, apply for business. If it’s harder to get in as a freshman to the business school than it is to get into the college of liberal arts (econ), then there are usually additional barriers to prevent an accepted student from switching to a business major when they were accepted as arts & sciences. And at the majority of colleges in the U.S., you would be well-qualified for an acceptance into the business school.

Will you be taking a fourth year of English? That’s a requirement for most colleges.

It is often recommended to have more than just two years of a foreign language. If you’re concerned about the strength of your high school record, this would be a good spot to bolster your application by taking a third year of Spanish, if your high school offers it. If it doesn’t, then that won’t count against you.

Thanks for clarifying that you have no limit on your college budget. Since you attend a public high school in Texas, they should share with you what your class rank is. As @ucbalumnus indicated, that’s an important factor in chancing students for the Texas publics.

@SJ2727 has already given you information on Arizona State. In terms of U. of Oklahoma (assuming that’s the OU you’re referencing), here are their admission details they provide:

In addition to requiring four years of English, they also indicate that your grades in comparison to the applicants from your school that apply to OU will have an impact. Does your school have Scoir, Maya, Naviance, or a similar service? It will show how previous graduates from your school have done at the colleges where they have applied, indicating (usually) their test score, GPA, and then whether or not they were accepted to the university. That is often a great way of assessing your chances, as the individual high school context often plays a role in college decisions.

Are you looking for additional suggestions of colleges to consider or is your list of four the only ones you’re interested in? If you’re interested in matching, I would take a good look at the U. of Arkansas. You would qualify for a scholarship (a 70% reduction in the out-of-state portion of fees, as your GPA is above a 3.2 and you’re from a neighboring state, source). And there’s no separate application for the Walton business school, so once you’re accepted to the university, you’re also accepted to the business school.

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i just listed out my classes from freshman-junior yr, english 4 and other classes I’ll take this yr.

My school doesn’t tell us our ranks unless you’re top 10%, and I would be fine with studying either business or econ, the main factor would be applying econ for texas schools for a higher chance to get in mainly just because they’re much cheaper

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I don’t know what instate costs are for Texas, but do check the ASU merit calculator I linked above to see what it shows you - for my kid, the merit pulled the cost down to basically equivalent to instate. They give it for various campuses, you would be looking at the Tempe one.

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What classes will you be taking senior year?

My guess is that UT-Dallas is somewhere between a toss-up and a likely.

My guess is that Texas A&M is a low probability admit for Mays, lower probability for arts & sciences. These are the chances of admission I use for those terms:

  • Extremely Likely: 80-99+%
  • Likely: 60-79%
  • Toss-Up: 40-59%
  • Lower Probability: 20-39%
  • Low Probability: Less than 20%

Econ and business are not the same. The coursework has significant differences. Read through course descriptions, look at the syllabi, maybe watch a video (I imagine there are some) about the differences between economics and business. Talk to some econ and business professors. Once you’ve done that, see if you really feel that you would be fine studying either or if you actually have a preference. If there’s a preference, put your preferred major as your first choice.

There are options that are going to come in at the same price or very similar as your in-state publics with you being able to study your preferred major.

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I understand your concern right now deciding between economics and business. Most often, business schools will charge higher differential tuition to its students, both undergraduate and graduate, than an arts & sciences department. The tuition difference could matter at colleges that don’t offer you any merit scholarships. You, your parents, or both could mistakenly believe that both discliplines are the same, even though it is entirely possible to end up with the same kind of job after college.

Taking macro & micro is almost always required for business, but going into further depth, like taking a few more electives or expanding to a minor or double major isn’t necessary. It will depend on what direction you eventually take. It could very well be the case that you end up not interested in pursuing business for ugrad & opt for an economics degree instead. And undergraduate degrees in economics also come in different flavors, B.A., B.S., sometimes housed under Arts & Sciences, or under Social Sciences, or under Business Administration/Management, making them somewhat different.

Economics is a social science that is at once very broad in its subject
matter and unified in its approach to understanding the social world.

Economics is not business. Business classes teach professional skills that
are useful for starting and operating companies. Business strategy and
financial management classes often exploit insights from economics in
providing better advice to businesses, much the way clinical psychologists
apply the relevant research from academic psychology to help them treat
their patients. Economics and business are related, but business is
professional training ultimately aimed at making profits, while economics
is a science that pursues an improved understanding of our social world.
(quoted from Undergraduate Economics at Harvard)

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Yes, I know they’re very different. I would be fine with studying either one.

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Statistics, apes, ap econ, ap gov,

Yes I know they’re different and I’m fine with either.

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Your planned AP schedule looks like a good one! I believe that Texas is one of the states that has made it mandatory for all public colleges to award credit for all AP scores of “3” or higher. You might be able to graduate early in just 3 years and save money, depending on the educational institution, so definitely keep this in mind. You may need to retake the SAT for a 1300 or 1350 if there are any merit scholarships that require a higher score, but again, this depends on the colleges you end up applying to. It may not be necessary.

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I’ll note that if OP is seriously considering ASU, a higher SAT score will get more merit (exactly how much depends what a final score might be, but example 100 points higher would be another $2k a year. OP can play around with the merit calculator to see what the different outcomes are.)

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Don’t all Texas schools rank ?

I don’t see A&M. The rest yes.

Are you trying to do IB ? If so, you might look at Alabama Culverhouse and the IB Academy. ASU has IBIS - but you won’t get in. You won’t need Econ except maybe at A&M but why study something that doesn’t interest you?

Given money is no issue, check out Elon and U Denver for business. College of Charleston too.

I don’t see you getting into UGA - hence the BAMA rec nor FSU but you could try. I don’t see UMD either but it’s easier than the other two.

Not sure you want more recs but you have at least a few acceptance on your list of four. If you like the state of Arizona, U of A would be a nice add - Eller is a good school. And Colorado State fits your profile.

Given your entrepreneurial bent, why not Babson as a reach and #1 U Houston as a likely although you need to get into the entrepreneurship program on top of admission to the school. C of C, mentioned above, also has many entrepreneurship resources.

Good luck.