I’m a 16 year old interested in finance/business. What should I do to get ahead of the curb?

I'm a sophomore in high school and want to know what I should be doing right now to make myself stand out. I've got a 3.85 unweighted gpa, I'm involved in varsity sports. Im not involved in any clubs or other extracurriculars. Im mostly interested in a career in IB or HF.

 

Good grades, good SAT/ACT, explore your passions through extracurriculars, and go to the best school you can get into.

If you're still a sophomore, there's no need to limit your horizons with schools like UW--that's not to say they're bad, but if you put in hard work starting from now, you'll have a solid shot at the top targets.

 

How did you arrive at IB or HF. They are completely different. Don’t just go to where money is. You’ll literally be miserable, that’s why everyone in banking gets “burnt out” they never had passion to begin with.

 
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If you're a pretty social guy/like the state school atmosphere then I suggest you work your ass off with some EC leadership, 3.9+ GPA, and a 1450 SAT/33+ ACT and apply ED (the white dude's saving grace in my experience if you are non diverse) to Duke, Dartmouth, or UVA. Otherwise do REA to Notre Dame. Regular decision really is a bloodbath unless you go to Brunswick, Dalton, Phillips Academy, or any other well-connected prep school. Unless you go to one of these schools or have an Olympiad type achievement, don't waste your early card on Harvard/Yale/Stanford etc. because I regrettably did this in the 2021 admissions cycle (the one that set this trend of insanely low acceptance rates). Also definitely stay involved in sports, work out, and be social because most kids that are drawn to IB have this "put together" look where they basically excel in almost anything in life they want, be it school, social life, or fitness as opposed to tech kids who don't seem to need the substance quite as much. Just my two cents.

 

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