I am going to be doing college applications in a few months and would greatly appreciate any help editing my college list. I definitely want to work in finance but am not sure yet if I want to go into IB, AM, or Consulting (that is what college internships are for right?).
Background: White male from Massachusetts. Upper middle class (cost is not a factor). 3.73 (UW) and 4.21 (W) gpa but should be around 3.85 (UW) and 4.29 (W) as my school has a different weighting system than others. 1420 SAT (710 math, 710 English). Will have completed 7 APs by end of senior year (Almost all other courses taken are honors). 4 years of track (by end of senior year), 2 years of soccer (I am definitely not going to be a recruited athlete). Founded stock market club, vp of investment club, class president freshman year, NHS member. I have done 50 hours of volunteering (will be 100 hours by end of summer). If it helps I also did some job shadowing at Sun Life (asset management branch) and Fidelity.
Agree on your list being a good list. UT Austin might be a hair too reachy for finance. If you mean what you say about econ maybe fine and you could add non-Stern at NYU. I would also consider Babson and U Miami.
Also agree your list looks good. Since you are applying to BC ED1 you might want to add Fordham (Gabelli) as another safety. While not the level of Kelley, Gabelli is in NYC,still well ranked and Catholic if that is important to you.
I agree this list looks really thoughtful and appropriate given what you described. Well done.
I would also suggest looking at Fordham. And I would also think about trimming one or two reaches. But if you have taken a good look at each of those colleges and like them all well enough for specific reasons, then that is fine too.
Assuming IU doesn’t change the direct admit criteria, that’s a safety for OP (also assuming affordability, but OP said that’s not an issue.) That’s the beauty of having a sure thing safety, it can cut down one’s list.
If OP wanted to make sure they had a choice in the end, they might add another highly likely school, but IMO they will see some other admits on the list.
I also note Kelley is a crazy good undergraduate business program to have an auto-admit channel. So all the more reason for the OP to see it as setting a pretty high bar to get on the list (again assuming affordably and fit, but that assumption seems valid in this case).
It goes back to what @Mwfan1921 said - if and you haven’t said so - you’d choose IU Kelley over say Wake Econ or FSU - why apply ? If you prefer FSU over IU, it’s different.
Of course, one can’t be assured a certain career by a school but odds of getting where you want from IU are greater than the others - at least statistically.
UGA might be reachy but overall your list is fine. You might consider Arizona State and the IBIS program, if for some reason you don’t love IU but want anothet OOS big public.
Thank you all so much for responding! I agree that UT might be too much of a reach. I saw the comment about NYU and after a quick search saw that their CAS acceptance rate was 4%. Are there any less reach schools that I could replace UT with?
It’s ok if something is far reachy. Worst case you get shot down. Cant get in if you don’t try.
I could say UIUC or Wisconsin are less reachy - but then it’s back to - would you choose them over IU ? UMD is another. UVA perhaps but would you go to a school with secondary admission ? Since you have awake, how about Richmond or W&M.
IU is the threshold. Go visit it early to see if you like it and see how everything compares. If you love it, your search would be easy.
Double check your folks - you say money is no issue but if UMASS saves them $100k plus over others, do they still feel that way ?.
NYU is need aware, so the admit rate for full pay students is likely higher than the overall admit rate. If you like NYU, I wouldn’t hesitate to put in an app. Maybe visit along with Fordham?
Thank you again for the feedback. I am not totally sure that I would prefer UIUC and UWisconsin over IU. My parents do know how much UMass would safe and are still fine with me going for a more expensive option. I do like the idea of UVA and am fine with non direct admission. I have been thinking of W&M and Richmond and am not really sure about them. I will probably visit the two NY schools this summer so NYU and Fordham are definitely potential options. For senior year I am taking BC Calc and am finishing pre-calculus and AP Stats this year (Those are the only two math APs my school offers). Also do you guys have any suggestions for where I could apply ED2 (I know it’s a serious commitment and am totally fine with using it for any of my reaches as I would be ecstatic to go to any of them)?
You can ED2 to any school on your list that offers it - but that presumes you like them more than the publics. Of course, you don’t know if you’d like UIUC or Wisconsin more than IU - you need to get out and check them out. You asked for a bit safer than UT - that’s the only reason I suggested.
Since you like BC, have you considered Villanova?
If you liked, it has ED2 and might be a step down from BC selectivity wise but still a top school. I’m not sure it gets you anything more than, SMU, as an example.
No one needs to ED at all - it’s a choice. And for many who are not 100% decided, not a good one.
Hopefully you can go on some visits sooner than later.
You made the comment about settling for Econ so I assume finance is the desired major ? You should definitely look at curriculums. They are little alike. One may appeal to you while the other may not - you want to study what interests you and there’s no reason you can’t.
That you did some shadowing tells me you likely have some sort of industry relationships - even if not strictly IB. Those relationships might be most important of all.
I agree with the addition of Fordham to your list as other posters noted.
I would also suggest you look at Fairfield University. It would likely be a target school for you, and you might get a merit scholarship with your stats. It’s a gorgeous campus in a great town about an hour by train to NYC with a well-regarded business school.