International High School Graduate Says Hello To WSO + Questions

Hey everybody, it is a pleasure to join the community. I have been a longtime lurker of the forums, but never really posted anything or introduced myself. The forums seem to be filled with knowledgeable and experienced monkeys, and I felt it was a good idea to join you guys now, as college starts getting closer and questions start popping in my head. I am on a gap year now finishing languages (French and later German), but I know ED/EA is due on November, and that is especially important for admission chances in target schools.

To tell you a little about me, I think I like Finance. I like to read about interest rates, investment tools, economics (I guess it's different, but related), and also the math involved. I feel the only way to know if I really like it is to read and learn a bit more about finance. If I (continue to) like the topics, then surely I am on track. If it is not, then good because I discovered that before getting a 4 year degree. So, what do you guys recommend me reading/learning (books, magazines, podcasts, etc)?

Then, there is the question about college. I am now thinkigng about pursuing a career in finance, but I want to be sure, especially since the especific college I would attend to seems to be very important in this one field. What I mean is that people say college "is what you make it out of it", and (I think) it holds true in finance, with the caveat that it seems like your alma mater's prestige can have a big influence in your career; if it is not a top college, your progress can be severely hindered despite good effort during your 4 years there. To make into an analogy, it seems like you need to be golden, but the door from which you come out also needs to be golden if you want to go to the top. So, please enligthen me; is my understanding accurate in regards to college and financial careers? What can you expect if you go to a top vs average college?

Also, do you find this ranking accurate? It is taken from a Reddit comment from a few years back.

Targets: * UPenn (Wharton) * Ivy league majoring in Econ: (Cornell (AEM), Princeton, Columbia, Brown) probably taking precedence) * Top privates Northwestern, NYU (Stern), Duke * Top state schools Michigan (Ross),UC Berkeley (Haas)

Semi-targets:

* USC Marshall, UCLA, CMC (for West coast) * UT Austin McCombs, Emory Goizueta, Rice, Vandy (for Texas and the South) * BC, Baruch, Villanova, Lehigh, GW, and the top Lib Arts schools (for East coast) * Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, WUSTL (for Chicago and Midwest)

Thanks everybody