Help a confused junior come up with an initial college list!





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College Discussion Forums: College Search and Selection: October 2003 Archive: Help a confused junior come up with an initial college list!
By Z00b (Z00b) on Sunday, October 19, 2003 - 01:12 am: Edit

Hello all, I've been hanging around these boards, mostly in SAT/Tests prep section, but have started the process of looking into colleges and universities. Here are some stats about me:

Race: Asian/Pacific Islander (Indian from India, actually)

Recs: Will have excellent recs from Chem and History teachers, maybe English.

Essay: Plan to make it good. Who doesn't.

Work/Summer:
Paid internship at a software company in collaboration with Texas Instruments, specializing in data collection. Was organized through selective (16% admit rate) high school apprenticeship program. I did software testing, Multimedia creation, and web-programming.

Little League Umpire for 2 years.

Am hoping to work with my uncle at his small I-banking firm in Singapore this summer. He works regularly with the "big boys" Morgan Stanley, etc.

Rank: 1 of ~475, about 15 share this rank

GPA: 4.0 U.W., we do not weight. Average suburban high school, ~60% of kids go to 4-year college. We do not do AP, instead we are IB certified.
I just started the IB program, and will be a full diploma candidate (1 of about 25) I will be taking

Spanish SL
English HL
History (American) HL
Chem HL
Math Studies SL (depends on what I learn from talking to IB coordinator, maybe math HL)
Physics SL (maybe hl) or Psych SL

Predicting 35+ points at least.

I'm planning on self-studying AP Macro and/or Micro economics.

Current Schedule: (block)

IB History (2 credit, everyday all year)
IB Chem II
IB Spanish IV
IB/PSU Calculus(every other day all year calc I and II credit at local uni)
Newspaper (every other day all year)
Theory of Knowledge (after school philosophy class)
Next semester:
IB English 11
Computer Science II or ind study time for econ.

Senior: (predicted, hopefully will get in spite of looming "budget cuts")

IB English 12
IB World History
IB Bio I
IB Physics I & II
Calc III at local uni
Newspaper
Maybe IB Psych or Another Independent study, maybe one of the Govt's, Computer Science, or the other econ

All of the above is quite uncertain, as my school likes to cut programs at random.

PSAT: took today, hoping to get 225+ for NM

SAT: I'm predicting ~1500 (hopefully, been going from 1490-1550 on practice tests)
Verbal will most likely be higher than Math.

SAT II's: Chem, Writing, US Hist< i'm guessing mid-high 700's. Math IIC will be a struggle, but again will work for mid 700's

ECS:

Speech/Debate since frosh year, Started to get good last year. I've been winning/placing at state/regional level tourneys occasionally, dominating local tourneys. Strongest events are extemp, congress, impromptu, and public (parliamentary) debate.
I will most probably have 1000 NFL points for a Quad Ruby, and will have qualifications for NFL All-American.

I've been an officer two years, will most likely be president/captain next year.

FBLA -- Officer 2 years current VP, Won/Placed 2-5 at state last year. Qualified for nationals, chose not to go. Will likely be president next year. Studying AP Econ will give me a major edge this year.

Newspaper -- A love I first found soph. year. Quickly became photography editor. This year, am working on taking the paper to the web and am usually one of the reporters working on most significant stories. Will probably Editor-in-Chief or at least section editor.

Investing -- No, not future Ibankers of America or something, I just like to follow the market and (try to) make sound investment decisions. I've recently become enamored with stock options, and probably spend at least 10 hours a week researching and trading stocks and options.

Table Tennis Club -- Just for fun, no competitions really, I'm the president, probably one of the best in the school (not that it counts for much)

Creative Writing Club -- Editor/Collaborator. Put out a magazine three times per year.

IB CAS -- At least 150 hours of service, action, creativity.

NHS -- probably useless, but I actually do stuff. At least 60-75 hours a year.

School Announcer -- "Perform" announcements twice a week.

American Legion Boy's State -- Am really looking forward to this. Will likely be the highlight of my summer. Although I'm not in yet, my school has been a favorite in the past, and I am easily one of the top 2-3 "politics kids" at the school.

I play the bass guitar and the clarinet, albeit not very well. Starting a band with a few friends for fun.

------------------------------------------------
Phew, sorry for that, I didn't want to do an unjustice to the last four years of my life!

I'm really interested in schools that offer strong Business/economics (paricularly, finance) programs, but are still large enough to allow me to persue other possible interests, The most prominent being some form of engineering.

So far, here's what I've come up with. Financial Aid is not a huge concern, but If I can get a great education and college experience without spending a fortune, I would be delighted. Here's the list:

Reach:
MIT -- Sloan
Penn -- Wharton (Maybe M&T? I'm not sure)
London School of Economics -- This is where the IB diploma comes in handy :-)

NYU - Stern (supposed to be number two for ugrad business, and location would seem to provide for great internship opportunities.)

Match:
UC Berkeley - Not sure if I'd want to go here,
USC -- Marshall -- seems to be popular at my school
UMich -- Good depth and breadth of programs

Safety:
Local State U (Oregon State) -- guaranteed admission and sophomore standing with 30 point IB diploma.

That's pretty much all for now. If you've read this far, I congratulate you on you compassion for a junior who is utterly confused about the entire admissions process. Thank you.

By Z00b (Z00b) on Sunday, October 19, 2003 - 02:04 am: Edit

Rats, A 30 minute editing rule.

I forgot to mention I've also been involved with the High Five Academic Challenge Team. It's basically a locally (I've heard national on satellite) broadcasted quiz show. Our team placed 3rd of 60 school teams, and have qualified for the Playoffs again later this year.

Also, I do mock trial. Last year was the team's first. We are looking to do better this year.

I've heard Dartmouth offers the type of engineering program (not extremely specialized) that I would be interested in combining with a Business type degree. Does anyone know about this?

Thanks again.

By Z00b (Z00b) on Monday, October 20, 2003 - 04:41 pm: Edit

Anyone there? This forum always seems so lively.

By Moi533 (Moi533) on Sunday, October 26, 2003 - 07:19 pm: Edit

I doubt if you will have any problem in being accepted at any school to which you apply. So . . . focus on a school in a climate you will like and a campus where you feel you have most in common with other students. Definitely you need to pick a school with high academic standards and the variety of subjects and activities you have already enjoyed.
All the best.


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