It can be frustrating when schools make you wait till it is your time, although it is probably the right thing for you and them. I would start by reading about each of the US News top 50 UG business colleges (ignore the order because it is not your order). Get a feel for what you like. Look at the environment and locations. Read about each. Since a bunch are within a drive from you, visit BU, BC, Babson, Northeastern, Bentley, U Mass, and MIT. Find OOS schools from the top 50 list and read about those as well. You should be able to get to 10-12, and then backfill with a handful of colleges with econ (and no business) and you will have your 17.
Your likelihood of admission is a bit premature right now, but assume the top 20 are reaches.
How many APâs are offered by your school? According to your plan, youâd only be taking two. You should take full advantage of what your school offers before dual enrolling. You are clearly a math wiz, but for selective schools, it may be a weakness if you donât take AP Lit, AP Lang, and an AP Science (Chem/Physics/Bio) if your school offers them.
Iâm also a fan of the undergraduate business program profiles at Poets & Quants:
There are lots of cool details available in those profiles, and as you read through them you might start getting some sense of what sort of program features might be more or less important to you.
Iâd add Rice. Their Business School is old & well established on the graduate level but the undergrad division is only a few years new.
Villanova would seem to offer a lot of what youâre looking for and would not be quite as hard for admission as the daunting list youâve presented. Active alumni network in the finanance and IB community.
I would say all eight Ivy schools, Duke, Georgetown, UMICH, NYU, ND, Boston College, Emory and Vanderbilt are a reach.
All those schools have acceptance rates close to our below 10%. They all have 5x the applicants they need who are similar or more compelling than you and 10x the number of solid applicants they need to fill the spots available. Too many qualified applicants chasing too few spots.
I would add more schools with acceptance rates in the 20-30%+ range in addition to the ones you have like Wake Forest and SMU.
Remember, this is not just driven by what is on paper, on our application. It is not that black and white, not that binary, not that âmerit basedâ. Lots of factors can end-up making a difference - what you want to study, where you live, how many other students in your school are applying to that college, your economic situation, your social/demographic background, legacy status,âŠand many other factors none of which you likely have much/any control over.
Lehigh University in Pennsylvania has a specialized major that matches your interests.
Applying to 17 universities is fine if you have done sufficient research to determine that all match your interests.
In my view, you are wise to begin your college search now & to be prepared when meeting your prep school college counselor. Trust your gut & do not be dissuaded by any advisor.
Then why meet with an advisor if you only expect them to provide positive affirmation of your choices - because you intend to ignore anything that doesnât align with those?
What does this have to do with gut? A prep school advisor can save a kid a whole lotta aggravation. Some schools just ainât gonna happen. Parents are PAYING for this expertise, why go with gut when you have experience sitting on front of you?