Mr. Taranto: Advice Please...?

Question

I greatly admire you and know you are probably extremely busy but I would like to ask for some advice. I am about to enroll as a freshmen in high school. In middle school, I've been extremely successful. In my eighth grade year, I've received the highest grade average in all my classes, well except art. During the summer, I'm doing intensive study, trying to prepare and be ahead in high school. I plan on attempting to receive the highest grade possible. I would love to be valedictorian, but I know there will be a lot of competition. I'm planning on taking all honor classes, taking Spanish and Debate for four years, and try to do as much community service as possible. I plan on volunteering at a hospital for all of high school. Also, I'm reading many business books, such as Smith's Wealth of Nation. My dream is Harvard, because I'm Asian, it'll be extremely difficult for me. I would love to attend Wharton, too. I'm thinking about a double major in Business and Law....

I am not afraid of hard work. I'm willing to do anyting to secure (well actually improve) my chances in getting into a prestigious business school. Do you have any advice for me? Any recommendations? Is there any preparation I can do now to better prepare me for business school? Thank you so much for your time. I am greatly appreciative. Thank you!

Answer 1

It sounds like you have a good plan and don't really need my advice. I didn't have that kind of plan. My parents did not go to college, so never pushed me. I was bored in high school, so didn't study. I was never challenged until college -- which is when I started to do well.

Keep yourself challenged. You need to do well if you want to get into Harvard or Penn. Doing well may not be enough to get into those schools -- but if you do well in high school, you will certainly get into some good college.

You will also have to modify your goals slightly. Law is a graduate degree in the US (it is an undergraduate degree in countries like the UK) -- so you can't have it as a major. Also, Harvard does not offer business classes to undergraduates, so you will have to major in economics or some other field if you go there.

The best undergraduate business schools are Wharton (Pennsylvania), Sloan (MIT), UC-Berkeley, University of Michigan and University of Virginia.