Suggestions for colleges to apply to that arent reaches or safeties
Hi, can someone tell me what colleges for finance i am competetive for/suggestions for where i should apply to?
i'm a senior in high school right now and I have to start college applications soon and I'm having a hard time finding colleges that are in the middle of being a safety or a reach for me (target schools basically).
So far, the schools i'm looking at are usc, boston college, ut austin, fordham, tx am. But i think all of them are either safety's or reaches (feel free to correct me if you think they are not).
So basically, i'd like some suggestions for colleges that are good for finance where i have a fair/decent chance of getting in, unlike a reach school or a safety school.
Here's all my stats:
I'm a senior rn in texas, asian.
Gpa : 4.7 weighted, 3.7 unweighted
(not ranked, my school only ranks top 10 percent, i'm prolly like top 40)
Sat :1560, PSAT :1490, national merit semifinalist atm
Ec's :3 years of high school jv tennis, nationals bpa competitor (one year), 30 hours volunteering at a thrift store, got a job at Whataburger since june 2021.
Courseload : 4 ap classes taken in high school (lang, ab, lit, bc)
Ap exams : ap lang - got a 3 (will take lit and bc this year)
Classes taken(pap, honors, and advanced are the same thing) :
Freshman year
- Honors English 1
- Algebra 2
- Biology
- Honors world history
- Health and Pe
- French 1
- Principles of engineering
Sophomore Year
- PAP English 2
- PAP Pre-Calculus
- PAP Chemistry
- Human Geography
- French 2
- Physics 1
- Tennis
- Tennis
Junior Year
- Tennis
- Tennis
- AP Lang
- AP calc ab
- Accounting 1
- US History
- PAP French 3
- PAP computer science
Senior year
- Late arrival
- late arrival
- AP lit
- AP calc bc
- Advanced art
- Government and economics
- Earth and space science
- Money matters
Thanks.
You got a good shot at Stern in NYC. If you applied to Fordham’s Business school you’d get a lot of money and be able to compete with targets from there which is nice. Chicago is a decent shot too probably also notre dame. Fordham would be very good bang for your buck with those stats tho. Villanova and BC good bang for your buck too if you want solid business job placement. You can factor in the social life and other aspects you want from school but I mentioned some decent schools in some good cities with a good path
Stern's acceptance rate was 5.6% for the Class of 2025, so it might be a reach too
UT BHP - in state tuition too
you might be a match at Umich, Duke, UVA, Georgetown, Emory and NYU. SAT score is perfect only thing holding you back a little is GPA.
I think you will easily get into BC, Nova, Fordham Gabelli.
AP courseload is a little on the light side, but SAT is very very solid. GPA is fairly average but won't hurt you aside from at the top top schools. EC's are pretty weak though, and those are extremely important. No disrespect to you, but none of your ECs are 1. remarkable/highly competitive, 2. impactful/unique, or 3. indicative of a strong interest in finance/business/econ (minus BPA). Texas A&M is a safety because of various factors including your in-state status and UT is a solid target (would be reach if you weren't in Texas). USC and BC are reaches and Fordham is probably something in between safety and target.
Since you have good stats, but not so great ECs, the two best strategies are to 1. write an absolute banger of a Common App essay/supplementals and 2. apply to large state schools. For 1, a strong essay can push your application quite far and make a big difference. For 2, large state schools have a lot more applications to process so they put more weight on the quantitative aspects of an application (GPA & SAT) which is where you shine. On the flip side, smaller schools and private schools (especially LACs) will put a lot more emphasis on the type of person you are and thus will focus a lot on your ECs. The top publics (in no particular order) are definitely UCLA (considered not great for finance though), Berkeley, U Mich, UNC, UVA, UT Austin (lucky you), Georgia Tech, UF, UIUC, OSU, UMD, Penn State, Rutgers, and IU. Some schools are obviously better than others, but if you look through these schools and look at which ones you like and which ones fit your profile.
Missed UNC. Third best placement behind Michigan and UVA
Thought I typed it in, mb. Will definitely edit it and add it in.
Would you say the state schools like u mich, Berkeley, ut austin, are reaches? what abt the schools mentioned above like nyu, notrdame, duke, Georgetown, chicago, emory? Cuz as u mentioned, my number of ap's is on the light side, and my ec's and gpa are average. I j wanna make sure that im not applying to all reaches. Also, is uva and unc even worth considering cuz admission into the business school isnt guaranteed .Thanks
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