Find a college for a high school kid from Oklahoma trying to break into IB

Academics : 4.0 unweighted, 33 act, 3 in ap lang πŸ˜” 4 in ap pre calc, 5 in Apush (will take gov, lit, and stats) and a lot of community college classes (most business)

Only 6 APs total but it’s pretty rigorous considering my rural/fringe school only ap I’m not taking is Bio

Hooks: rural, first gen, immigrant

ECs (mid):
1.) Working at my parents business- do a lot of work from cashier to fry cook to waiter. Big time commitment (\~15 hours a week during school nights and \~50 a week during breaks)

2.) BPA- Do a lot of volunteering work that comes with the club, fundraising, and went to 2 competitions so far with both placing first in state in finance/business related. Went to nationals once (didn’t place so well \~top 30)

3.) Pokemon business- networked with a ton of people to allocate products, scaled to mid 5 figures. Do a lot of research (\~1 hour daily) to check market conditions and potential buys, over 50+ 5 star reviews across multiple platforms

4.) Investing- Introduced parents and friends to numerous types of accounts. Helped me and my parents maintain a 13% annualized growth. Hosted a school wide investment competition that saw about 50 people participate (unofficial, it was more like a word by mouth thing). Led to about 10 people making real stock accounts which I helped set up. Analyze market every day for at least an hour

5.) Set up a shop at my parents business sourcing products from China that coincides with trends (squishier as of now) earning extra low 4 figures.

6.) Asian plant farming?? I plant and take care of oriental vegetables and flowers that me and my families like to eat and look at (ong choy Ifykyk+ other plants)

7.) General family duties, taking care of sister and grandma, giving rides to school/dentist/hospital

8.) general volunteering at hospital, community market, school 100+ hours

Thanks for reading and please give suggestions on schools I can get into with my stats for IB!

Region
22 Comments
 

immigrant is not a hook sorry to say. If you want stay close to home get the ACT up to 35, and look at rice, vandy and washu which are lower? semi targets but still t20.  Rice has a great pipeline to houston IB

To my knowledge ivy leagues provide need based aid to all students so apply to some lower ivys like brown, cornell, and dartmouth. Didn't include state schools bc they give minimal financial support to out of state students. Sorry to say your ECs aren't outstanding so these will all be a reach, but vandy is more understanding, and often generous with aid to students like yourself. 

On the lower end you can look at schools like BC which has a decent pipeline to ib 

**One more thing: I felt the SATs were way easier than the ACTs (1570/35). So try taking the SAT instead if you haven't yet

 
Most Helpful

Different perspective on LACs than above. Went to a non-target, southern LAC (Richmond, Davidson, W&L, etc.) and recruited into IB. In my year, I'd guess ~20 people seriously went out for IB and 10-15 landed offers for SA and almost everyone else got FT offers. Obviously not as easy as going to a traditional target but the path is there if you work for it. Small school alumni networks are awesome - have never reached out to an alum and gotten a no for a coffee chat and landed several referrals for interviews just by reaching out.

That being said, you will 100% have an easier time recruiting at most of the schools mentioned by the commenter above as they're more traditional targets. However, don't pick a school just because it's an IB target. I promise you that being recruited from almost any name-brand institution is possible, even if it's non-target (and often a lot easier than people on this site make it sound). College is a really awesome four years of your life - don't spend it at a school you aren't excited about. 

 

You have a chance at top schools if you writes a killer essay--I've seen applicants in your circumstances (rural, first gen) with similar/worse stats and activities get into schools like Princeton. But don't let that be a reason to skimp out on testing, fs aim for 34-35+ to maximize odds. This is just a reminder to absolutely cook on the essay as this will be your make or break op.

Apply to IU Kelley as a safety. Another state school I would recc looking into that wasn't mentioned by the user above is UVA. You could also try ED to NYU stern if it's easily affordable for your family and you're 100% set on IB as they give a noticeable boost for ED applicants.

edit: don't be afraid to apply to 15-20+ schools, coming from someone that applied to 13 last cycle with "good" stats+ecs and got rejected from every usnews t30 school except Cornell. It really only takes one.

 
  1. Get test score up 
  2. Try to do something more unique as a leadership activity with a positive community impact (eg some of your activities are very common or altruistic but not leadership driven)
  3. Spam fee waivers and just shotgun apply to all the top schools, but for banking with your stats I’d zone in on Cornell, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Dartmouth, and IU Kelley 
 

It's a little late but,

  1. I've seen your profile over 100 times in LA and I don't really know what grade you are but im going to assume 11th. One of my greatest friends did the exact same things you did except they went into engineering, worked after school at his parents Pho shop, drove their grandparents around like a caregiver, and did keyclub, FBLA, and ran the finance club in high school.
  2. Try to get a 34/35 on the ACT
  3. I genuinely think that you'll have a better chance getting into some schools simply for the fact that you're in a rural area and at that point think of that less than what you actually want to do in IB. Top post is right if you want to do houston IB you better like o&g. but I'd recommend picking up a big school or whatever you can land that has the best name recognition and then fun second.
  4. Being from a rural area you should probably consider costs - realistically since you're thinking about IB now you're pretty ahead and I mean if you just grind at it you should land IB in general wherever you go given you don't burn out from here until recruitment.
  5. For your apps I think you should do something you actually care about some sort of passion project you are pretty business focused but I can't really understand why you do these things other than the fact that it makes you money. The angle on your essays kind of depends on your intentions and who you are but you're just all over the place and typical. What even drives you or makes you passionate about doing things.
  6. I would also study more, give me back a couple years I would have spent my high school actually studying things that I actually cared about would've helpd me figure out waht I wanted to do in college instead of defaulting what the next big thing is. If you REALLY like IB for some reason other than money by all means pursue it, but if not at least try and think wha other strenghts you have.
 

Thank you for this response! It’s really detailed

May I ask what type of school your friend went to? Was he a competitive student for top schools?

 

Instead of Finance they went to Engineering and went to Cal Poly. I should've clarified that when I said LA I meant California Los Angeles. and no he wasn't competitive enough waitlisted from all UC's.

I remember listening to a college coach talking about spikes in your application and since it's a little late to develop that now try and figure out how you can spin your stories and experiences to determine what spike you do have.

 

Ivies and elite Northeast liberal arts schools are trying really hard to recruit rural students. I would 100% apply for all the fly-out programs at places like Amherst, Williams, Dartmouth, etc., especially if you're at or near the top of your class. From your post it seems like you have a good upbeat personality so would definitely let that voice shine through in your applications. Good luck.

 

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