Colorado Technical University

What are my chances for admission into a good business school?

I apologize in advance for the long post. I am currently a high school junior, looking to major in business or economics. My school gives extra credit (5.0 scale) for advanced classes. Currently, i have a cumulative 4.00 GPA, 3.53 unweighted. After this semester, I will have a 4.1, 3.57 unweighted. My transcript show consistent improvement (3.5 freshman year, 3.9 sophomore year, 4.43 first semester of junior year, expected 4.6 this semester). I am active in my schools FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America, marketing) clubs. I plan to be an officer in both next year, possibly president of FBLA (our chapter is the largest and one of the best in the state). Last yearmy team recieved 7th in the state for the FBLA E-Business competition (should have been higher, our teacher submitted the wrong website) and have gotten first place in all competitions I have done for DECA. I am also involved in our Spanish Honor Society. I have yet to take the ACT/SAT, but i recieved a 29 on the PLAN (projected 30-33 on the ACT) and a 188 on the PSAT. As far as work experience, I have none. This summer I plan to hold a job as a student teller for a credit union. My school is also one of about 40 in the nation offering a High School of Business program. This program allows student to take college-geared courses in business and graduate high school with a diploma from a High School of Business. These courses involve taking a test at the end of each unit, with a 70/100 classifying as "with distinction." I have taken 4 of these classes, and have recieved with distinction in each. Of course, I would love to go to the Ivy League, but I fear that my credentials are not up to par. Schools like Wharton and Harvard are so selective, I am unsure of my chances. What do you think my chances would be of getting into a school like this? I do not have a great financial situation, and do not have a legacy at any school like thank youso, I am looking to recieve an MBA after my undergrad. Is it better to recieve my undergrad and MBA from different schools? Is there a lot of overlap between a Business Administration undergrad and an MBA? I am not looking to be babied. If you dont think I have a chance, please tell me. But please add an informed response about why. I thank you in advance for your informed response.

Public Comments

1. Penn is the only ivy league that offers an undergrad business degree. Even with a perfect 800 Sat Math or Cr, the chances of being admitted to an ivy league are remote unless the applicant has some attribute the Ivy League is seeking for its class- recruited athlete, wealthy legacy, diversity. Applicants with these attributes make up over half the class at certain ivy leagues. Recruited athletes alone take around 20% of the slots. The students competing for the openly competitive slots have to have near stellar academics to raise the overall averages of admitted students Sat Scores, Class Rank, Gpa etc but even with stellar academics that is not enough. Brown which is not as competitive as Harvard, Yale, Princeton or Columbia admitted 20% of applicants with a perfect 800 Sat Cr and 17% of applicants with a perfect 800 Sat Math. http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Admission/gettoknowus/factsandfigures.html It is usually considered better to go to graduate school at a different university, especially for students with undergraduate business degrees seeking an MBA. An undergrad business degree is not considered the best degree to have for applicants to top tier MBA programs due to the overlap referred to in the question. The undergrad business program at Wharton originated prior to the MBA. Not only the ivy league but also Stanford, Chicago, and Northwestern do not offer undergrad business degrees. At Berkeley like Wharton, the undergraduate business degree has been offered longer than the MBA. An Economics degree is the degree of choice for most Ivy League students planning to go for MBA's. Econ is the large picture and the MBA narrows the view down using concepts learned in Econ- Supply, Demand, Growth, Regression Analysis, Inflation, GDP, Monetary Theory, Tax Theory, International Trade, Balance of Payments etc Cornell Early Decision is the best chance at being admitted to an ivy league. The grades are not the issue given the rising trend. The test scores so far are not competitive for an ivy league. Ivy leagues probably are not going to give a lot of consideration to taking undergrad business classes in high school. They would prefer that a student was taking AP Lang, AP Lit, AP US History, AP Eur History, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Macro Econ, AP US Govt etc http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/preparing/index.html Most of the students I know who have been admitted to an ivy league, MIT or Stanford, who were not wealthy legacies, recruited athletes, or diverse, were enrolled in second year college Calculus at a college during junior or senior year and a few were taking college Physics at a college. One point to note when considering rankings of colleges is the US News rankings do not consider the quality of the faculty and utilize ranking factors that make it almost impossible for a public university to be ranked within the top 20. Their graduate ranking consider the quality of the faculty and are helpful since at most universities, the same faculty teach undergrads and grads. Other rankings to consider: http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2010.jsp http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/reputation-rankings.html The Psat Math tests Algebra 1 and Geometry. The Sat Math adds Algebra 2. The Sat also tests Trigonometry. The Sat should be taken the first time the Spring of the year taking Algebra 2. Good Luck!