<p>Yeah, the title says it all ladies and gentlemens!</p>
<p>Im a guy from Sweden with low GPA (~2.6/4.0), but high SAT’s (like 2350). Good EC’s and such.</p>
<p>I have been successful in trading commodities, so my bank account have grown 300% in the last 2 years.</p>
<p>So, to my question:</p>
<p>Does Yale take that into consideration at all? And if they do, how much will i benefit from it?
What i want to say is that i was not slacking while i got those poor grades. I just hated my school so i started to educate myself (My father died right after i changed school so i had a bad start and the teachers treated me like an idiot for never being in school and didn’t perform well. I was15-16 at the time). </p>
<p>Now i have read all the books about trading and economics at the public library and also everyone at the university library (I have not only read about econ, also alot psycology, learned to speak fluid spanish and i play guitar at an high level)</p>
<p>Can they overlook my bad grades and see that i educated my self?</p>
<p>Im 19 by the way. I would be extremly grateful for all your input and perspectives! :)</p>
<p>So, you are 19 and you’re from Europe, looking at applying to Yale as an undergrad? If I do my math correctly, you graduated from high school last year, which means Yale will want to know how exactly you spent this gap year. Doing business is OK, going to another university is not. If you started college somewhere else you should look at Yale’s transfer programs and they are not the easiest thing to get into.</p>
<p>Also, an increase of 300% could be quite impressive or not at all depending on the initial sum. When I first saw these numbers the question that popped in my mind was “300% of what?”. You see, tripling 10 dollars doesn’t say much about any business skills, while tripling a thousand dollars is a different story.</p>
<p>Do not expect Yale to be too lenient towards bad grades. Yale is used to getting top students. You’d better be really convincing when explaining your situation if you want to be competitive. There are kids who go through similar hardships but still maintain their good GPA and thrive in their ECs. So it’s all relative. </p>
<p>I do realize that this was by far not the most encouraging post you could get, but I hope you won’t give up applying. I just wanted to show you the real picture instead of giving you false fancy impression. Go and apply! It’s going to be hard, very hard indeed, but it’s all worth it. After all, if it was easy, it wouldn’t be Yale, right? Should you need any help from a fellow European, don’t hesitate to contact me (I’m a rising sophomore at Yale)</p>
<p>You’re successful at trading but not in what Yale looks for: proven academic achievement in terms of both GPA and test scores. That, plus the fact that you’ll be applying within the super-competitive International pool makes you an extremely extremely unlikely candidate. Good luck on your trading account however.</p>
<p>Thanks for your opinions and inputs cherrypancakes and T26E4! :)</p>
<p>@cherrypancakes:
I finished high school 1 month ago (won awards, “The best peformance of the year” and some others, held econ classes to my age-group), so i have not been taking courses at any university. I got to borrow books there without going there!
But now i will take a gap year to be a english teacher (hoping to be able to teach the kids some music and econ also!) in Ecuador. </p>
<p>I started out with 3000 dollars, though i have worked from time to time (mostly music concerts) so i have reinvested alot of that money to. Now i got about 35.000 dollars.</p>
<p>Your right that it wasn’t the most encouraging post. But it was honest. And i appreciate that! I asked because i had no clue if i had a chance or not, now i know that i don’t!</p>
<p>@T26E4:
From what i have read about Scandinavians/swedes at the international pool is that we are more “sought after” then asians for example (the diversity aspect). Don’t have the numbers right now but theres not that many swedes that applies (everything is relative). Most stay in Europe because they save alot of money that way. Now im not saying your wrong, im just saying that i think i have a better chance than the “ordinary applicant”.</p>
<p>You aren’t completely out of the running, but bad grades do hurt. Yale is looking for people who can succeed in the classroom setting, and poor grades don’t really bolster your case there. Also, Swedes aren’t nearly as overrepresented as Asian international students, but Yale takes maybe 1 or 2 students from the entire country each year – so that makes it extremely competitive. It’s definitely harder to get in as an international student, no matter where you hail from. If I were you, I’d apply to Yale along with a bunch of schools that are much more likely. You’re unlikely to get in this time around, but if you enroll in a different school, get great grades there, and continue your success in trading, you could be a really compelling transfer candidate. </p>
<p>Also, have you considered looking at universities with distinct business schools? All Yalies take classes in all subjects, so admissions is much more likely to penalize you heavily for bad grades in liberal arts subjects. I’m no expert, but universities with separate undergrad business schools (and therefore more limited requirements outside of finance classes) might be more swayed by your trading acumen. Just a thought.</p>
<p>About my grades… i tried to translate them from the Swedish scale to the US scale. Probobly quite misleading. So this is my Swedish grades: 16/20. </p>
<p>about choosing a school with a distinct business school… I haven’t even thought about that! That’s a very good input and now i have some hope after all… I mean, i hope that some school is willing to accept a guy that is genuinly intrested in business and has shown that he actually can do it (trading). </p>
<p>Now i have a different approach when im looking for schools! Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Can someone perhaps give some examples of a school that is a school with a “distinct business” profile? (perhaps way to off topic, but it’s up to the admins to decide)</p>
<p>The quintessential example of a school with a distinct undergrad business school would be the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Other good undergraduate b-school options would be the Kellogg School at Northwestern, the Ross School of Business at Michigan, Notre Dame Mendoza, McIntire at UVA, and MIT Sloan.</p>
<p>Emory, WashU, Georgetown, UNC-Chapel Hill, NYU, Lehigh and Indiana all have good undergrad business schools, too, in addition to the ones BigAarst listed. Also check out Babson College, which is an undergraduate school dedicated entirely to business, and is quite well-regarded.</p>
<p>Just to add to the list, Boston College also has a pretty well respected business program (and is probably easier to be admitted to than say MIT, Georgetown, UPenn, or Northwestern).</p>
<p>Thank you BigAarst, mochamaven and #1 Person! Very good info :)</p>
<p>I have checked out the schools, and a problem that i discovered is that most of them are liberal arts or have a Core Curriculum… I think thats a huge disadvantage for me. First: I know what i want to do. I do not want to have to take courses i dont want.
Second: I think that i will have a better chance at schools without Core/Lib.Arts in terms of what to school is looking for in an applicant. </p>
<p>Many of those who are into finance/i-banking career paths do have the reputation of being smart but not very much into any academic stuff in the school setting (unlike the premeds.)</p>
<p>Some even said being too book-smart is generally not appreciated by those in that industry, but this is just what I heard from somebody and it could be a myth. Another myth is they like those who are good at poker games. (Maybe they prefer somebody who could spend very little time on studying but still maintain a respectable but not stellar grades?)</p>
<p>“I do not want to have to take courses i dont want.”</p>
<p>Yale wants students who are willing to explore and are hungry for knowledge from many directions. Yale is firmly in the liberal arts camp. You don’t seem to want what Yale has to offer.</p>
I asked because i had no clue if i had a chance or not, now i know that i don’t!</p>