High School Senior seeking College Advice

Hey everyone. I'm going into my senior year in high school and trying to build a final list of schools I'm going to apply to. I've been very interested in finance (specifically trading) for quite a few years so I'm focusing in on undergrad business schools. My criteria is rather simple, besides wanting to go to a school that's well known in the industry I'd also like it to be located within a major city.

I'm currently considering applying to the following schools:

New York University -- obviously seems to be one of the top schools for those wanting to pursue a career in finance, location is also amazing of course. However I'm not positive I'd get accepted (I've got decent stats 3.7gpa 32act and some other good test scores but nothing spectacular), plus (and probably the bigger concern) the schools comes with a major major price tag (something that definitely concerns me).

DePaul University -- love the city of Chicago and love the campus, but I understand the school obviously isn't really a destination for recruiters.

Georgetown University -- Again just like NYU I'm not sure that I'll get in but I'll probably apply, not too sure how it ranks in terms of recruiting but love the campus (and the basketball team).

University of Michigan -- I live in Michigan so I'd get a pretty amazing deal on tuition, from what I've heard it's ranked pretty well nationally and thus I'll probably apply (and get accepted) but the big drawback for me is that the city of Ann Arbor really isn't a "city" by my standards.

If you don't mind suggesting some other schools for me to consider I"d greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

 
Revolution:
Some ugrad business schools have programs for trading Texas A&M has the TRIP program which guarantees you 3 internships on an energy trade desk. There should be a few more similar to this

Wow that sounds pretty incredible, just wish A&M's campus wasn't in such a small town....

 

Don't go to DePaul unless your other options fall through. You want to make sure that you go to a school that gets on-campus recruiting. Any school that does have strong on-campus recruiting will be very hard to get into, although your stats don't see unreasonable for getting into all but the top schools.

Michigan Ross is a very good program for finance/trading. Northwestern is another good school if you like Chicago. USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal Berkeley are all in cities if you are interested in moving West. Emory in Atlanta, Wash U in St Louis, UPenn in Philly, Harvard/MIT/BC/BU in Boston, UT in Austin - all have some level of recruiting for finance. Take a look at the top 50 or so schools in the US News Report and compare them to what cities you like, and you will come up with a pretty decent list of places to target.

Take as much math as possible and maybe consider studying comp sci/engineering (or a double major with finance) if you want to become a trader.

 
TechBanking:
Don't go to DePaul unless your other options fall through. You want to make sure that you go to a school that gets on-campus recruiting. Any school that does have strong on-campus recruiting will be very hard to get into, although your stats don't see unreasonable for getting into all but the top schools.

Michigan Ross is a very good program for finance/trading. Northwestern is another good school if you like Chicago. USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal Berkeley are all in cities if you are interested in moving West. Emory in Atlanta, Wash U in St Louis, UPenn in Philly, Harvard/MIT/BC/BU in Boston, UT in Austin - all have some level of recruiting for finance. Take a look at the top 50 or so schools in the US News Report and compare them to what cities you like, and you will come up with a pretty decent list of places to target.

Take as much math as possible and maybe consider studying comp sci/engineering (or a double major with finance) if you want to become a trader.

Harvard, MIT UPenn, Stanford, are definitely going to be a reach for me... I've considered UChicago but the aspect of not having an undergrad business school kinda turned me away. As for the others, thanks for the suggestions. Also, thanks for your opinion on DePaul, I'll keep that open as a last resort option.

As for your advice about majors. Would it really give me enough edge (and be worth all the extra work/classes) to double major something with Finance?

 
Off the Charts:
TechBanking:
Don't go to DePaul unless your other options fall through. You want to make sure that you go to a school that gets on-campus recruiting. Any school that does have strong on-campus recruiting will be very hard to get into, although your stats don't see unreasonable for getting into all but the top schools.

Michigan Ross is a very good program for finance/trading. Northwestern is another good school if you like Chicago. USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal Berkeley are all in cities if you are interested in moving West. Emory in Atlanta, Wash U in St Louis, UPenn in Philly, Harvard/MIT/BC/BU in Boston, UT in Austin - all have some level of recruiting for finance. Take a look at the top 50 or so schools in the US News Report and compare them to what cities you like, and you will come up with a pretty decent list of places to target.

Take as much math as possible and maybe consider studying comp sci/engineering (or a double major with finance) if you want to become a trader.

Harvard, MIT UPenn, Stanford, are definitely going to be a reach for me... I've considered UChicago but the aspect of not having an undergrad business school kinda turned me away. As for the others, thanks for the suggestions. Also, thanks for your opinion on DePaul, I'll keep that open as a last resort option.

As for your advice about majors. Would it really give me enough edge (and be worth all the extra work/classes) to double major something with Finance?

U of Chicago is, more or less, as hard to get into as the others you mentioned. Their lack of a business school doesn't hurt their job placement because recruiters know that those kids have intellectual horsepower.

Quant abilities and programming are becoming more and more important in trading (depending on precisely what you want to do). To keep your options open, getting a double major in something technical + finance will provide you with the most opportunity. There are plenty of quant trader types on here that will hopefully chime in.

 
MagicKarp:
Michigan Ross is literally neck-and-neck with NYU Stern in terms of placement. It's just four years.

so I've heard. I mean I'm not going to count it out at all, just looking for some possible alternatives.

 
Off the Charts:
UFOinsider:
If you don't come from wealth, go to an Ivy league school, trust me on this

hmm that's an interesting statement, please do explain..

Your network is your biggest asset. Grades, experience, and all that good stuff ARE important, but getting an interview is a lot easier with a good network. I went to a state school and I routinely see the ivy kids getting first crack at everything: if your family/friends can't help you, go to an ivy.

This topic is discussed ad nausea throughout this page. An ivy is NOT a gaurantee, but it DOES make things easier. Prestige and all that crap are worthless, but getting an interview is the #1 priority.

Get busy living
 

Well the good thing about Gtown and Uchic is you can apply to them EA non-binding. You could always apply to NYU (stern I'm assuming) EDII as well (not sure what the dif in acceptance rates is - overall its somewhere in the lower 20%). That frees you up to use you're ED on a school that's a reach/high aim. Prob one of my biggest regrets of the college selection process is I never applied to any Ivy (I applied to Stern EDI and got in) simply because my guidance counselor made it seem like it was so impossible/never suggested it, but imo you could try for it depending on your stats and it's always worth a shot. Cornell's not too hard to get in ED and definitely the easiest Ivy to get in except for engineering related-majors while being a great school, -> I think their acceptance rate is in the %30's for ED and a lot of people with lower stats get in from what I've seen. Columbia might be worth a shot too, but very hard to get in. If Umich is in-state, that's honestly a great deal as well considering it's going to be cheap and great (Ross has pre-admit but it's harder). Good luck!

 

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