Rejected from all schools but one...
I've been a solid student for my high school career. I have a bunch of extracurricular achievements, I have a good SAT score, and I get decent grades.I have always had an interest in business and finance. As such, my goal was to go into consulting or investment banking. I am currently a senior in high school and I've been hearing back from schools this week, but I'm still waiting on two schools, W&L and Syracuse. However, I have been rejected from all schools so far, except for my last choice: The University of Arizona. Despite not getting into a top school, my ambition is unrelenting. I still want to do everything I can to get myself the best future.
A brief LinkedIn search shows few alumni at reputable firms. Obviously, this will be an uphill battle. What actions should I take in order in order to maximize my success? I am doing an internship this summer at a commercial real estate company. After that, I'm doing a gap year in a foreign country. The next summer, I have an internship lined up at a family office. Would it be a good idea to apply for college again on my gap year? If not, should I try to transfer after a year?
Does anyone here have experience transferring to a target school? Any advice?
I think transferring is definitely worth the effort. I managed to break into EB from a nontarget but it was an absolutely massive pain to get interviews.
Transferring is my plan. However, I resent the idea of going to a school with one foot out the door. I believe that can only end badly, with me not performing as well as I can.
Hey man, applications can be a crapshoot and realistically there was probably one factor that threw off admission officers. Likely the essay. I would say in the next year, keep your grades as high as you can. In the transfer portal, freshman year GPA matters a ton. The temptation, especially at a school like UofA will be to go bananas, party it up, rush a frat, etc...I'm not saying don't do that, but don't let that impede your grades and your extra curricular activities. You want to come out of your first year shining as a diamond that was passed up upon by accident rather than a project or a chance they should take.
Also recognize that if money is no object, your odds at getting into a top institution will be may be easier transferring in than just getting in 1st time around because your stats don't impact their holy grail: admission stats. They want to show low acceptance rates and the highest of numbers to maintain prestige.
Long story short, it's definitely possible but it's not gonna be easy to do so from UofA. So do your best and keep your head up. You're not even 20 yet and life is a long long journey. Don't ever count yourself out.
This probably isn't the advice you were looking for or even expecting but with my college graduation coming up soon and my full time gig just over the horizon I felt maybe it could be useful to give my two cents. Focus on living life. It's cliche I know… but I promise it really doesn't matter what you plan for or what school you end up at. I go to an extreme non target that has a couple dozen people that are a good network into IB, but because I decided to say fuck it and cold email hundreds of people, I eventually ended up with a good PE gig that I'm happy about. My thoughts here might be a bit jumbled but in summary, don't plan your life out years ahead like this. So much can change in this world and within yourself. It's just not worth the headache and stress so early on when, really, hardly anyone your age is expected to know what they want to do. I promise, it'll all work out in the end. It always does. Just do yourself a favor and savor the ride, wherever it may take you.
I agree with this for the most part, but one thing is that it’s fine to have a plan for years out ahead. Just don’t expect it to happen how you imagined, learn to adapt and take it from there.
If you are okay with living in California, I highly recommend going to a junior college / community college there and transferring to UC Berkeley which is a target school. It's much, much easier to go from junior college -> UC Berkeley compared with high school senior -> UC Berkeley.
I went to a selective private high school, but there were a handful of lazy dipshits with mediocre GPA and tests scores who pursued this route when they finally realized they were headed towards a bleak future. I even know someone who went to a 4-year school that was not even in the top 100 US News rankings, dropped out after one semester to go to a junior college (Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA, in case you are curious), and then transferred to UC Berkeley as a junior.
Personally, I think this would be your best bang for your buck.
I'm doing that and I'll be interning at JPM IB this summer :)
PM me!
What other schools did you apply to, if you are comfortable with sharing?
A lot of prestigious east coast private schools. I got a 1500 on my sat, but I got a perfect math score. I think the biggest problem was my essays. They were good but I don't have anything to separate me from the rest of the kids from high ranked suburban high schools with good grades and test scores.
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