Non Cracked Out Kid Trying His Best [Reach Heavy] [NC resident, 3.9 GPA, 1540 SAT, finance or economics]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Calling @hebegebe

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That 5% direct admit may be a bit exaggerated but it’s true that until this year, almost all students who wanted to get into Smeal had to go through DUS (the “pivot to anything” pre-major); either they applied to Smeal and were denied but offered “reconsideration”, ie., a second chance, through DUS. Or, of course there were all the applicants who applied DUS right off the bat - DUS to Smeal Premajors and Smeal Premajors had the exact same classes and exact same requirements to fulfill.
Then add students from the branch campuses, especially Altoona and Harrisburg, who would transition to University Park Smeal after completing the same pre-reqs.
As a result, only a handful of exceptionally strong students “got into Smeal” out of HS, which was mostly bragging rights since they had to take the exact same classes as everyone in DUS->Smeal.

All this has changed for Fall 2026. Now, almost all Smeal would-be majors will be admitted to Smeal out of HS; they will be allowed to choose the Smeal majors that their grades in the Premajors pre-reqs+overall GPA allow them to pick. DUS students who took these pre-reqs will take whatever Smeal majors still have space (which can be very strong: accounting, supply chain management..But not popular.) The capacity issue has been with Finance in particular so for that major the main/only shot now is out of HS.

If @Wilrf7 wants a strategy, Smeal can be a safety or near safety as long as they apply Summer only (NOT Fall or Summer). It means they COMMIT to attending the LEAP Summer session, which adds to total costs. It’s not possible to switch back to Fall. LEAP is a special program that covers pre-reqs in small cohorts of 24 - you live with your “pride” (like lion :lion: prides..) and take 2 classes together in the mornings and your RA shows you the ropes of university studies in the afternoon, takes you on field trips, etc. It’s a bridge program like summer camp and college rolled into one.
Fewer students apply to Summer directly so in the Fall it’s easier and since they don’t have to evaluate your application for Fall first you hear faster. With the decision made early, it’s easy to know where you stand - if, denied, you need another safety or if that admission is a satisfying fallback should Duke and co not come through.
Honors is Schreyer (consider the application due Nov 1) and Sapphire for students admitted to Smeal.

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There are three distinct roles available for undergrads in NYC and Chicago quant companies:

  • Quant trading: For quant trading, you don’t need to be at the IMO level, but being at the USAMO level (or doing something considered equivalent, like published math research) certainly helps to get your resume noticed. To put things into perspective, I know a very bright 4.0 student in Yale CS who couldn’t get a single quant trading interview because there was nothing in his resume that suggested really strong math talent.
  • Software engineering: This doesn’t require any special math background, but requires exceptional CS skills. Think leetcode medium to hard.
  • Quantitative developer: A small set of developers who know enough math to be able to create tools for quant traders, and be able to take their insights and implement them to help them trade quicker.

There are also quant companies in the Boston area that don’t require the same level of math skills, but require a much better understanding of financial markets. In contrast, the well-known NYC and Chicago quant firms will readily hire people with no understanding of financial markets, believing that smart people can learn them.

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Add Duke to Super Reach.
Lower Georgetown to a Reach.
Wake is a Target/Reach Tweener.
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, South Carolina are Safety/Target Tweeners.

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Hmm. There were some compelling arguments that the quants whizzkids were a key issue in the 2008 financial crisis, with the same idea behind their hiring but as it turned out, their securitization models were completely wrong on the fundamental issue of correlation across regions in housing default. Don’t ask me to find the specific original paper now, but it was compellingly argued by for example Stanford finance prof Darrell Duffie and I believe that is why he is referenced in this contemporaneous article Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street | WIRED

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There was no problem understanding the math. The housing crisis was created by intentionally ignoring the math, by players who profited by ignoring it.

And in any case, this diversion not relevant in a thread dedicated to helping a student.

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Duke is definitely a super reach, however, I just wanted to distinguish between it and the other super reach schools