Type of high school: Public, ranked #6 in MA by niche dot com
Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Male, Asian
Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.)
Play Tennis, Piano. Started up a landscaping business; Manage gift shop for the high school
Intended Major(s) Business, Economics
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.55
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.16 with AP, Honor
College GPA (for transfers):
Class Rank: N/A
ACT/SAT Scores: SAT 1250
Coursework (AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))
Awards
DECA state level
Extracurriculars (Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
Economic research paper, published in a known journal for high school research
DECA competition
Business investment club leader
Intern as Quality Assurance at a big software company
Volunteering at charity
Essays/LORs/Other (Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Cost Constraints / Budget
No constraint
Schools (List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)
Safety (certain admission and affordability) Bentley, Bryant, ASU
Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable) Uconn, Rutgers, PennState
Match: UMass Amherst, UWisconsin Madison, UMaryland, Indiana U, Boston U, Babson.
Reach: Boston College, UVA, Emory, WUSTL, UNC, Northwestern
Univ of Maryland is more of a reach, especially for a business major.
What percentile approx.might you be in?
It is more selective than ever due to increase in applications.
I think you are overestimating Bentley. Your SAT is below the 25th percentile. I’d call it a target but Bryant and ASU are safeties.
I’m guessing on the rest without full data - but PSU is a target but business may be a reach. Rutgers and UCONN hard targets/slight reaches.
For match, I agree with UMASS but Wisconsin, Maryland, BU, and Babson are all reaches - and heavy reaches at that. IU is a safety - but you will not get into Kelly School of Business. Your reaches are out of reach - all of them - but your “matches” make better reaches.
What sub area of business interests you?
Nonetheless, with this list, you’ll have some acceptances. Since you have ASU, you might look at U of Arizona Eller as well.
It’s for my son. The high-school does not provide class rank. We guess about 10%.
AP: Chemistry (the counselor said it’s the most difficult AP in the school, above Calculus BC and Physic Mechanics), English, History, with B, A-, A-
The highschool does not allow to take AP Math or statistics on junior year. Due to shortage of teachers, they give the seats to senior students
UMass - Isenberg has also been very competitive the past few years. You might need to add schools like South Carolina, UT Dallas, Iowa and Virginia Tech to your target list.
UMass do list GPA as very important in their CDS. Also you can see the GPA of the incoming class in the link below. Keep in mind the GPA calculation is done the way the Mass Dept of Higher Ed lists on their website and may not be the same GPA as your school calculates.
You have one Jesuit university on your list - BC - but its a pretty competitive one. How about some of the not-quite-so-reachy ones? (Especially given his preference for urban.) Fordham, Fairfield, St. Joseph’s, Providence, Loyola Maryland… and farther from home, Loyola Chicago, St. Louis U, Marquette, Creighton, Santa Clara.
College of Charleston’s business school has a Center for Entrepreneurship that could be worth a look. Excellent flexibility to choose among multiple focus areas in the business school, and a nice urban+coastal location.
Elon might be a good one to check out. Bucknell could be worth a look too. Both might not be urban enough for him, though. Maybe GWU or American in DC? Drexel in Philly, or Villanova in the Philly burbs? U of Denver, U of Miami, SMU?
Not to be harsh, but IMHO, the schools you list as matches are really reaches, and the ones you call reaches are probably out of reach.
How did he get the QA internship?
Is he taking calculus next year?
Yes next year he will take 5 APs - Calculus BC, Statistics, Physics, another English, psychology. And retake SAT too.
OK so we will remove several “Reach” but consider Virginia tech, Fordham.
How’s Purdue, Ohio State, Florida state?
The software QA: he got by relationship via my friend. He has several customers of his landscaping business who like him, and who can write recommendations too (just we know most schools do not take 3rd recommendation). He enjoyed and spent more time on ECs like this than studying, that’s why his low GPA
His second choice when applying is Econ, which is less competitive to get in than business. That’s why we consider some in the reach list for econ.
I understand the rationale. However, your son reads far more like a student who would enjoy the more applied focus of a true business program, as opposed to delving primarily into theoretical econ. The two experiences are quite different. There are so many good business programs that would be accessible to him; I would be wary of settling for a less-desired major, just in hopes of scoring an incrementally more prestigious admission.
That’s a rigorous senior year. I suspect the more competitive colleges will be reserving judgment until they see how his fall grades look, with that challenging schedule. I hope he can make a lot of progress on college apps/essays over the summer, because that can be like another rigorous course unto itself, in terms of workload, which could be tough to manage in tandem with his senior schedule.
Ohio State seems like a good option. https://keenan.osu.edu/
Purdue is a great school but might not appeal as much to a student who wants urban.
Has he considered Tulane as a reach? It’s highly selective (<12% acceptance rate) but the median stats aren’t through the roof (3.66/1405, with a high percentage applying test-optional; only a little over half are in the top 10% of their HS class). They care a lot about demonstrated interest, and often defer EA applicants and encourage them to switch to ED2 for the best chance of acceptance. It’s a good urban school in a fun city, and there are entrepreneurship opportunities https://freeman.tulane.edu/lepage and multiple major/minor/certificate choices in the business school. https://freeman.tulane.edu/undergraduate It’s a tough admit just because they reject so many, but your son would certainly be in the running with his profile.
I don’t believe Holy Cross offers business, and I would classify it as a reach. Not as reachy as BC, BU, Emory, Northwestern, etc., but still a reach. It had a 36% admission rate in the last Common Data Set, and while HC is test optional, more than 50% submitted test scores in the last available common data set and a 1250 is lower than the 25% score (1270). Worth a shot though if he likes the school, and if very interested EDing could greatly increase chances.
I love Virginia Tech - but urban, it is not. It’s in the middle of nowhere- although a great town. Purdue as well- great town - but not urban.
Ohio State and Florida State are great - but reaches…especially FSU. Purdue a slight reach but possible.
Nothing wrong with reaches when you have safeties.
There’s really no difference between an FSU/Ohio State and Arizona/Arizona State - so just because one is easier to get into, you’re not suffering in name or quality, etc.
If he wants urban, look at schools like Arkansas (up and coming), Tennessee, Kentucky, U of SC, Michigan State, SUNY Albany, Georgia State, etc.