Chance Me! NJ junior wanting to go into Investment Banking

Chance Me / Match Me
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awards/ecs broad for privacy

if u know me, shoot me a msg on linkedin :slight_smile:

Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • NJ
  • Semi-feeder private hs (really famous for sports); 10+ ivies every year
  • No hook

Cost Constraints / Budget

applying for fin aid; middle class

Intended Major(s)

Finance/Econ

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 96.45/100 uw (4.0 uw for UC gpa)
  • Weighted HS GPA: 104.26/100 W (will go up to around 106)
  • Class Rank: top 10/200
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1520 (730/790) → retaking for march

List your HS coursework

  • AP Bio, AP Euro, AP Calc BC, AP Lang, AP USH, AP CSP, AP Micro (so far)
  • will take 7+ APs senior year

Awards

1.) Business Essay Comp 1/6000+ ($3050 scholarship)

1.) Business essay comp 3/1000+ ($850 scholarship)

1.) UN SDG challenge Winner for econ/sustainability 1/250+

  • note applied to Diamond, Blue Ocean, gyec, various stock pitch competitions, Alexander Hamilton Scholars, horatio alger, etc (waiting for these)

Extracurriculars

1.) Nail salon janitor

2.) CEO/Co-Founder of Real Estate AI Startup

  • 350k+ USD funded led by Microsoft @ high 6 figure val;accepted into well known startup accelerator program (1-3% acceptance rate); pitched to Seton Hall Uni and Stevens institute of tech; etc

3.) Clothing Brand CEO/Founder

  • 5-figure gross profit

4.) Research @ UPenn Wharton under Prof(waiting publication)

5.) Research @ NYU Stern under associate prof (waiting publication)

6.) Research @ Oxford Said biz school under oxford MBA (working on paper)

7.) FBLA club President/Co-Founder

8.) BPA club President/Founder

9.) Analyst Investment banking intern @ boutique firm in nyc

10.) Incoming Venture Capital analyst Intern (Paid)

  • for the summer

other ecs:

1.) working on scholarship app to push to app store

  • working with 2 duke grads

2.) legislative intern under nj state senator

3.) legislative intern under nj assemblyman

  • wrote research paper on this, presented to other state senators/assemblyman

Schools
any target schools for Investment banking really

ED choices (Wharton, Cornell Dyson, Columbia)

RD:

Harvard
Stanford
Yale
Princeton
University of Chicago
Duke
Northwestern
Dartmouth
Brown
UC Berkeley Haas
UCLA
NYU (Stern)
University of Michigan (Ross)
University of Virginia (McIntire)
Georgetown
UNC Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)

safeties:

Fordham Gabelli

Rutgers NB biz

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I can’t chance you but I will say there is NOTHING you can’t do. Very impressive - cofounder on clothing, Funded by Microsoft startup.

I wonder if UCB and UM belong - you didn’t state a budget but the cost is going to be 80s on both, certainly UCB. We have seen instances of Michigan aid.

I’m wondering if given your entrepreneurship bent if Babson, which is aligned with NYU on the per capita feeder list, might be a good addition.

Best of luck.

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This analysis may offer you further ideas and help you refine your current choices:

Top Feeders to Wall Street

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Thank you for your feedback! Family makes around 100k net profit.

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Thank you!

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Just a reminder that UVA and UNC are not direct admit although there is an opportunity for direct at UNC. But if you didn’t get it, would you still be interested - knowing you had to transfer in?

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I am trying to understand this sentence. Does this mean that your family has a small business, and is taking home about $100,000 per year from the small business?

If so, then you might need to think about the cost of education. Some universities do cost quite close to $100,000 per year now, and the cost of attendance has a pretty strong uptrend over the years.

The various Universities of California, such as UCB and UCLA (which I see on your list) are likely to be unaffordable unless you have quite a bit of money set aside somewhere to pay for your education.

Have you had your parents run the NPC on some of the private universities on your list?

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Correct. Family owns a small nail salon taking home 100k net.

My parents have not attended college in the US so im essentially figuring this out all on my own. At this point with about less than a year left, im looking at any target schools for IB with generous aid.

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Anything to get into a target school. Transfer or not, it does not matter for me.

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Congratulations on your achievements. You will be a competitive applicant at any school.

You and your parents have to set a budget and then run the NPC at each school on your list. If the NPC doesn’t ask details about any small businesses owned, it may be inaccurate for you.

Here is Princeton’s NPC below. As a current junior, use 2025 income and current assets. Net Price Calculator | Princeton Admission

I would cull your list. UCB and UCLA won’t give you any need based aid, so take them off the list. I would lean towards taking Michigan off the list too, because it’s highly unlikely you would get enough aid to make it affordable. Really think about taking secondary admission risk…that means admission to the B school is holistic and not completely in your control. You can have straight A’s in the required courses and still not be admitted. Lastly, make sure Rutgers and Fordham will be affordable. If not, they are not safeties.

Because of your IB internship, you are in the unique position to get feedback about which schools the company recruits from. I wouldn’t be surprised if Baruch is on the list. But if you have done a good job in your internship, I expect they will consider you regardless where you go to college.

I second the idea of adding Babson. You might also consider Lehigh. Good luck.

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Washington and Lee University might be worth researching. It is completely different from the other schools you list, so may well not be a fit. However it does have a business school and does place well with investment banking. Most importantly, it also has the Johnson Scholarship, where 10% of each class gets a totally free ride with everything covered, plus getting a stipend (I think it is $10,000). Besides strong academics, they look for leadership. If the school is a fit, it’s a phenomenal opportunity.

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I think you want to figure out budget, unfortunately middle class families in NJ tend to not get a lot of financial aid, if any.

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You are a great applicant. I would want to better understand some of your business/start-up accomplishments, but not needed right now. Thinking about how you present those will really matter. Some of what you wrote will be questioned and challenged whether accurate or not. You will have some good options IMO. Too large a drop-off between your safeties and your RD list so consider some in the middle, not that your safeties are bad at all. Good luck and congrats!

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Thank you! Just added Babson to my list.

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