A big thing for me is also investment banking placement. Most of these schools are top placers for investment banks. Regarding D3 baseball, I would only play at a few schools, only if the academics are there and I have been talking to coaches. I wan’t to keep my options opened so as a backup plan I will be applying unhooked. Can you guys chance me for all the schools on my list. Thanks for all the help.
I would like to major in Finance and accounting because it is a great combination for investment banking placement. Additionally accounting has a vert stable job market.
With the exception of NYU Stern, Wharton and Ross, none of the top tier feeder schools have finance or accounting as majors. Goldman is going to hire the “best available athletes” from the Harvard’s and Amherst’s of the world and would not care that they have no background in finance or accounting. They are just looking for rigor in quantitative classes. When I was part of hiring for a bulge bracket, I was probably more inclined to hire the engineer or physics major from MIT than the finance major from Wharton. We’re going to teach you the finance stuff that is relevant to your job. We can’t teach your ability to analyze numbers.
A big list to narrow down now is fine, but you should work to narrow down your list between now and next year. I would have no more than 6-8 reaches (that includes many of your targets which are reaches), a couple of safeties and a couple of true targets. For the reaches, your essays will matter, and AO’s spot cookie cutters pretty easily. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking selective school admissions is like the lottery. Yes, applying to several is wise, but not at the cost of diluting the customization of your essays.
7 Likes
Excellent post. I’ve written before about the amazing geology major I hired for a quant oriented I banking role. He had never taken a single finance/business class. But he had developed a predictive model for volcanic activity and the MDs went nuts when they heard about it. Modeling, manipulating huge datasets, figuring out algorithms which screen out “noise”….these are in demand skills whether you’re studying physics, aerospace engineering, etc.
It seems like you are already thinking way ahead into your future career, with a strong focus on business. This is not a bad thing, but you also have to allow the college experience (beyond IB placement stats) to shape and build the person that you will be. Your current approach seems to be: “Look how amazing I am, who wants me?” Maybe, it should be “Which school is the best fit for me, considering all aspects, and what do I have to offer to that school specifically?” You have a year to figure this out, but you will have a much better result if you follow the latter approach.
I’m assuming you’ll be applying to the business schools where applicable. UVA and UNC used to have a secondary admission process to their B-schools. I’m assuming they still do. Why put yourself through that if you have direct admission to other programs?
I generally do not buy into the fact that schools with low admissions percentages are reaches for everyone. IMO you probably need more discrete levels. Obviously, if you have an ED, that might change things for that school.
True Reaches - Duke + Ivy’s (less Cornell)
Low Reaches - Cornell, NYU, Mich, UVA, UNC, Georgetown, ND
High Targets - BC, Midd, UTA, BC
Targets - Villanova
Safetys - Fine as is
I don’t think there is really anybody who all 8 Ivy League schools are a good fit for. Dartmouth to Columbia to Cornell to Brown are drastically different college experiences. From setting (rural to urban), curriculum, size, and school culture, the Ivys range a lot. The Ivy League is literally just a sports league, that is what the schools have in common that bonded them together - a philosophy on college sports. It is usually a waste of time to apply to all 8. An easy way to start culling the list is to actually research the 8 Ivies as schools and be honest with yourself about which ones appeal to you as a place to study, learn, and live for four years and which ones do not. Then cut the ones that do not resonate from your list. You should easily be able to eliminate at least 2-3 (maybe more) if you are honest with yourself about what you want from college other than an IB job.
1 Like
What about UChicago? A mathematically talented student like yourself from a top private seems like the type of student they tend to admit.