Wharton ED or Columbia SEAS ED????

andrewsun1994
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:22:17 +0000

Hi all, I’m considering applying either to UPenn Wharton Early decision or Columbia SEAS early decision. My goal in life is to work as an investment banker. No…I don’t really want the money, but I love the atmosphere of working on wallstreet. Wharton is obviously the best place for banking. But I go to Columbia every saturday for SHP and I’ve felt in love with its Operations Research: Financial Engineering program. Here are my stats and please give me some advice!!!
SAT: 2400 (first try; single sitting)
SAT II’s (havent taken any yet)
Rank: 4/350 in a pretty competitive public school in New Jersey
GPA weighted: 4.6
GPA unweighted: 4.0
AP’s: not listing but many (heard AP’s dont matter for admissions)
EC’s: President of Math club and very dedicated, math league perfect scores. Robotics Team programmer, builder, and scout. Won several state awards. And other misc. clubs with semi-involvement in community service. Columbia SHP 2 year participant(fairly selective I guess). Founder of school service business that provides study guides and tutoring service for students (designed and developed a pretty professional website that allows for discussions and purchase of guides). Earned some money from that so far (not alot of course!)
Awards: national Bio Contest second prize. A possible National Institutes of Health summer internship this summer(pi emailed me back saying he loved me). National Merit Semifinalist (yeah, pretty common). Some service awards. AIME qualifier. Overall not much i guess.
But I think my turning point would DEFINITELY be my essay. My essay, which I’m almost finished on, will be very unique and probably depict me as a unique and respectable character. I won’t say the details but I will say that the essay will have more weight than my 2400 and will be the tipping point for me.
Teacher recs: possibly one from Chem teacher who likes me, and one from English teacher who said to me that “you are the best student I’ve had in 21 years of teaching.”
And I’m an asian male from New Jersey
Which one will be a better fit and which one would I have a shot of getting in? I really want to get in so I dont have to apply to 15 school for RD Thanks so much guys.