Match me. What schools should I apply for in the fall? What can I do to optimize my application? [PA resident, 3.82 UW, Finance]

True. Thanks for your input, I never considered this. I just thought all bankers were chasing pay and prestige. Regardless tho, I am definetly pursuing a finance degree and im deadset on that. Either that or accounting or a business degree.

Where can I see this new thread?

Look at the top of the screen under the title. It is now in the Chance Me / Match Me forum, which can be found in the Categories on your home page.

Regarding your interest in Investment Banking
 you should not be looking at college choices based on some idea of a career you know nothing about. This thread may be of interest to you, but I suggest you start doing a lot more research yourself.

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Oh ok I get it now.

I mean I’m not really interested in IB itself, I am interested in finance and IB just happened to be the highest paid finance job so I chose that. But thanks for your input.

The strongest applications to the Mega-rejection type colleges are the “authentic” ones. If you love music, then that’s authentic. Trying to become a banker wannabee- not authentic, if the interest is in making money and having a "prestigious’ job.

Most universities- even NYU/Stern and Wharton- do not see themselves as glorified and extremely expensive apprenticeship programs for Wall Street and Capitalism. Read their websites. Yale- began as a training school for the clergy, and Latin AND Greek AND Biblical Hebrew were required so their graduates could read holy texts in the original. You can’t major in Accounting or Finance at Yale. Yes- students get hired for I-banking roles from Yale, but they majored in geology or econ or math first. They weren’t getting their ticket punched in finance- because that’s not Yale’s mission.

So optimize your application by slowing down, don’t put the cart before the horse. Learn about every college you think you MIGHT be interested in. Reject the ones that won’t work for you (or where you can’t get admitted). Focus on the why- why are you interested in a particular subject? What excites you about studying (fill in the blank).

You’ll be a stronger candidate if you know your “why” and if you can authentically present yourself. College is more than a four year grind to a job which will require 80 hours a week of intense sweat and effort. Learn about that “more” and you’ll be in a much stronger place to apply.

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When will you take the SAT or ACT? That will be a key part of chancing you, particularly for the schools that are no longer test optional (i.e. many of the schools that @Publisher’s list had as the top “feeders” to IB).

Looking at your profile, I can tell that you are very capable and a strong student. The vast majority of colleges in the U.S. would love to have you enroll.

Based upon your AP scores and the subjects taken (or not taken
like no AP sciences), and the sequencing of your math classes, along with the remainder of your profile, I suspect that most schools with an acceptance rate below 15% are going to be very low probability schools for you (i.e. less than 5% chance for admission). So not entirely impossible, but I would not apply to too many schools in that category and to only your very favorites that you think are a great fit for you.

If you’re intent on finance, preferably in a city with the aspiration of entering investment banking, then you may want to take a look at these schools:

  • Fordham
  • CUNY Baruch (a commuter school, but definitely has I-banking connections)
  • Providence
  • Fairfield
  • Southern Methodist
  • Indiana - Kelley
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Babson College (about 2,400 students) in Boston is 100% business & economics school. Well respected. Places well on a per capita basis.

Research the Babson College website as well as websites for other schools of interest.

Consider Washington & Lee (LAC) and University of Richmond.

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I see. This was a new take that I didnt even consider before. Listen I love music and teaching, but the career pathway is just not prestigious enough. Like my parents would not support me in that regard at all. Maybe its because im asian, but im sort of expected to get a STEM degree and get a prestigious job with high pay, and finance is just a major that i dont loathe doing like science or language which is why i chose it.

I will take it over the summer. I can def get a 1500 at least, maybe a 1550 or higher.

Ok thanks for your advice.

You can’t. That ship has sailed because the class must follow BC and you only have 1 year of HS left, not 2 - however, you can take BC in 12th grade after reviewing seriously over the summer, that will be fine. The evolution (precalc, calc AB, stats, calc BC) is a legit progression that wont raise eyebrows the way not taking BC would.
How well are you doing in AP Stats?

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I see. Im doing alright in stats, but for the first semester of junior year I had pretty bad mental health issues. Despite this and legit like not studying and doing anything I still had a B somehow. Last quarter I had an A, and the final quarter is still in progress.

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This 100%!

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Colleges want to see success in learning new languages taught at school, many 3 to 4 years, native languages not included.

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I took spanish and im in four honors right now but I absolutely hate it.

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Please please practice and don’t say things like “I am sure I can score better than 99% students” because that assessment makes you sound like you don’t actually understand what the test entails and how rare 1500 is.
If you get it, fantastic :tada: you’re good to go no need to retake. But that’d be the rare student.
There’s a test in June, registration deadline May 8, you should register and practice beforehand. This way you can retake the test in August and if necessary in September, on time for the ED1 deadline.

Look into Boston College in case you’d be interested in ED’ing there.
Does your school library have a Princeton Review’s Best Colleges (2023, 2024..?)

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My fault sorry if i came off as egotisitcal. What I meant to say what ill do anything to ensure I get at least a 1500. I already registered for the June one. I don’t think I’m getting a good score on that one because there isn’t that much time to study.

Im taking a SAT camp over the summer and I’m gonna grind a bunch of practice tests.

I don’t think they do but I could check. Isnt there an online version of that? its like US news or something

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Better yet, post it here (with a reference not an 
 “assistant”
. )in the forum. Many would like to see that article. A citation without a reference can be limited in its utility.

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You may be allowed to take Korean conversation (typically 4/5th level) for your language requirement in college.
(If you’ve reached Spanish 4 you can stop taking it next year with no consequence for your university admissions but reaching level. 4 is highly recommended for highly selective universities.)
Or you could start another language. Most colleges will have several languages beside Spanish (though few offer Korean through a level sufficient to be interesting to you.)

You could also join the Korean Flagship at U Hawai, major in Finance or Accounting, spend senior year at Korea University, and be sought after for all sorts of jobs.

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They ended up posting it here in the thread but it got buried under messages. It reads:

I was given the study by an assistant yesterday. Does not have a link. Titled: Top Feeders To Wall Street & IB

For overall numbers at 12 or 13 top firms:

  1. NYU (would be primarily Stern as NYU falls to #21 on a per capita basis)
  2. U Michigan
  3. Cornell
  4. Columbia
  5. UCal-Berkely
  6. Georgetown
  7. Harvard
  8. USC
  9. U Penn
  10. U Chicago
  11. CUNY Baruch
  12. Northwestern
  13. Boston College
  14. Yale
  15. Notre Dame
  16. Princeton
  17. Duke
  18. U Texas at Austin
  19. U Virginia
  20. Dartmouth College
  21. Fordham
  22. Penn State
  23. UCLA
  24. Vanderbilt
  25. Stanford
  26. Brown
  27. BYU
  28. Drexel
  29. UNC
  30. Villanova

But, LinkedIn does not specify what function these folks are doing at each bank. (WSO website discusses front office, back office, etc.)

Usnews world reports is a magazine that ranks universities. They change their criteria from time to time so the rankings change and people have to buy the magazine again
 so you have to look for ranking groups of 20-25(1-20, 21-40, etc.). They have national universities and national LACs for their most prestigious categories but Regional Universities are pretty good if ranked in the top 10-15.

Princeton Reviews Best Colleges is a book with descriptions from the top 10% colleges in the country - vibe included.

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