Realistic Undergrad Schools

What is your race?

Schools that place you into BB/EBs are top schools in the US generally, or top programs from general non-targets (Kelly IBW). Just google target schools and those are the schools you wanna get into. Figure out where you wanna work (NYC, SF/LA, Chicago, Houston), what schools best place into those areas.

As for getting into those schools, no one can say anything unless you posted all your ECs, Essays, courseload, and even then who knows. Try r/applyingtocollege and r/chanceme once you’ve figured out what schools you want.

No one knows how competitive your GPA is, you should be comparing it to the kids at your school.

Whats ur gpa on a 4.0 scale

Rutgers is ur best bet, Jaime Dimon (CEO of JP Morgan) is an alumnus of this fantastic school. Even though a lot of movies make fun of Rutgers when talking about prestige, they are lying!

Large state schools such as (in order) UVA, UMich, UNC, UGA, IU-Kelley, UF are all schools you would be competitive for, and have robust pipelines into IBs.

Also, if you can get into Georgetown (it will be a reach) they punch above their weight in placements (compared to schools with similar academic profiles such as Emory, Vandy, WashU, USC)

It's been a while since I've had to think about college, so I can't really tell you how you stack up. For what it's worth, I did manage to go fancy schools. It sounds like you  may want to work on wall street, but aren't sure if you can get into a target school. One school that always punches above its weight on wall street is NYU. NYU is a great school that has all kinds of interesting programs, including a great mathematical finance program and MBA program. And it's in NYC, which means you have 4 years where you can walk over and meet with wall street people to network. It also has great programs in other areas in case you decide wall street isn't for you, which is very possible, people change a lot in college. And it looks like a fun place to do undergrad. But to be fair I did not go there.

Berkeley could be good! 

Emory 

retake that 1420 and get an actual score

You should look through the Common Data Set (Google: "[college name] common data set" and look at section C) for colleges that you are interested in applying to so you can get a realistic sense of where your scores fit into things. Here is Georgetown's, for example. They will also tell you how much they weigh different factors in your application. 

You should apply to Big 10 on the public-side and lower-Claremont, lower-NESCAC, and Patriot League schools on the private-side. Also, take into account factors like your extracurriculars/hook, your high school's ranking and relationship with schools, etc and even factors like your family's income level.  

Do yourself a favor and lie about your race. I’ll get MS for it but when a system is ethically dubious there is nothing unethical about rejecting it. Wish I had done it for my banking process and got a better BB, but I bought into the “ethics” garbage, don’t make my mistake.

IU Kelley

Definitely look at UMich Ross, UVA, USC, and UNC CH. If you think you can't get into those, then think of Penn State and join either the NLF / LLC. Another great option would be Indiana University and joining IBW there. Also consider Rutgers, Fordham, Villanova, and Emory. All of these schools place into IB, with all these schools constantly expanding their alumni network on the street. Not sure how the rest of your admission profile looks (EC, quality of essay, strength of referral letters, etc) but always give it a shot to go for schools that are reaches like perhaps UMich Ross in your case.

If you’re a smart student with great work ethic, it doesn’t matter what school you go to. In fact, say you get into a superb school but you end up lazy, then you’re gonna have a hard time getting an offer anywhere on the street since you’re competing with other students who will always be beating you from that school.

At the end of the day, go to a school where you think you can see yourself enjoying college. Not everything is about IB. Trust me, you'll regret going to college just for the sake of breaking into banking. Let loose and have fun.

Regardless, I commend you for thinking about your career aspirations so early in life and trying to plan it out accordingly. Kudos!

These would be good options: UNC, UVA, Vandy, Emory, Texas, Indiana, Boston, Georgetown, Rutgers, and Wake Forest. Got into the majority of these schools with a lower GPA and SAT.

I was in a similar situation as OP in high school. I would highly recommend shooting for a less selective semi-target (IU, Fordham, Rutgers, etc.), working hard to get a 4.0 your freshman year, and then transferring to a target. I did this, and I found transferring to be much easier than applying out of high school.

I struck out on most schools out of high school, yet I got into almost every school I applied to for transferring. The transfer application pool seems to be much less competitive, and your college GPA is the most important factor. Also, I found college classes to be much easier than high school classes, especially as a finance/business major.

Additionally, some schools are surprisingly unselective regarding transfer applicants. For example, I believe UVA has a 40% transfer acceptance rate, partially because it doesn't have an in-state quota for transfers. You also have multiple opportunities to transfer (freshman spring, sophomore fall & spring).

Lastly, I know many people who managed to get great IB jobs from those semi-targets listed, so even if you can't transfer, anything is possible! Even if you end up at a MM bank/back office BB role, you can always lateral/internally transfer to BB/EB investment banking. My point here is that you have many fallbacks even if you end up at a semi-target/non-target.

Feel free to PM me with questions, and good luck!

hot take but it doesn't matter what school you go to. as long as there's a decent pipeline and you work hard and join clubs u should be fine 

You still have time to pull up that test score. Some of the people giving you advice right now haven’t recently applied to colleges but look at C/o 2025/26 LinkedIns and most of them are 33 ACT/1500SAT+. With your GPA (assuming its not over inflated) these scores are more than attainable. After that, yes look into big state schools with established pipelines like UVA/Mich/UNC/UT and make sure your ECs/Essays reflect a good addition to the student body. Privates are worth a shot only if you have an angle (ie, legacy, amazing story/essays, athlete, URM). Otherwise they’re crazy expensive usually and can be alienating if you havent been setting yourself up to get into one this whole time in HS.

FWIW, I didn't take the SAT or ACT until my senior year. First sitting (September of senior yr) i took the ACT, got a 27 (I've always been a slow test taker). Spent the next month (30 days) studying, next sitting I got a 35. Learn the tricks, get your test score up, be a more competitive applicant

they need to come up with a new test if 1420 isnt a decent enough score to give you a shot at the gtowns, emorys, BCs. that used to be a solid score. SAT must now be a how much money can you throw at a tutor whose solved the exam.