High School Senior Seeking College Options
California Senior with 1450 SAT, 4.4 GPA, 200+ Community service hours. Seeking a job as a financial analyst in California at a good firm out of College. Given that my family's financial situation is very tough, is it worth applying to top schools OOS and taking on 2x student debt, or settling for a local school like UCLA, Cal Poly, UCSB? Are the recruiting opportunities out of target schools in the east also apparent in the west coast recruiting? And if so is it worth the cost compared to opportunities from my local schools? Thank you.
Gotta pump that SAT up to 1500 at the absolute minimum. Cal Poly and UCSB are non-targets for banking but if you want accounting then it is possible. Try aiming for Berkeley or USC if cost is a big factor for you. UCLA is okay but it is a grind.
I would say definitely apply to some of the out of state top schools. College admissions is essentially luck now, so you never know what will happen. Without knowing exact details of your financial situation it is hard to completely judge, but most schools have pretty good financial aid packages which could help lessen the burden. If you do decide in state is best for financial reasons, I would echo what the person above said, shoot for USC or Berkeley as those will give you very good options after college. Best of luck.
Thanks for the advice. With finances out of the picture, what top schools do you think I should shoot for in admissions if I'm looking to work at a good firm in California?
I think I might be able to help. But need a bit more context. Is the GPA weighted or unweighted? What’s your schools GPA? If you know, what’s your class rank. Any other extracurriculars (lots of volunteer hours is generally a cliche extracurricular unless it can be bought into a story of some sort)? Also, is it possible to bring that SAT up? Finally, and if you don’t feel comfortable saying this (although it is anon) I totally get it, how much can you afford in total (this should include loans you’re comfortable taking)? Based on these factors, I can give you a list of schools and tier them off in a reach/target/safety format.
If you’re not satisfied with the answer I give you and you want more info, just say the word and I’ll PM you.
To be honest, I'm not too familiar with the connections between schools and Cali firms because I am from the east coast. But in general I feel like any Ivy, NYU, Michigan, Northwestern, those type of schools will set you up well. Living out in Cali will also help because even if you go to an east coast school, when recruiting you can craft your "why Cali" answer to say you want to be close to home or something.
Stanford
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