Can someone please assist me with my extracurricular choices?

Hi,

I’m a Year 12 New Zealand student planning on which extracurricular’s I should undertake in order to get admitted to an ivy league university. I am looking at obtaining an undergrad in economics / business. I am on target to repeat my previous year’s academic performance; I achieved Level 1 and all subjects within with excellence endorsements, and will most likely do so again this year.

Firstly, I have been learning technical analysis for the past year, and more recently - fundamental analysis for the past few months. I will most likely invest my own money into the market by the end of the year which I aim to make a real return on. Furthermore, I am in the planning stages of creating my own community initiative / organisation dedicated to teaching others the methods and tools of market analysis. The initiative will most likely consist of a series of courses online, as well as a community forum which I will be personally invested in.

Would these extracurricular’s be sufficient in order to be considered a high caliber candidate at a top university in the States, assuming I make real returns on my trades, and I acquire a community of a few hundred active participants? If I am missing a key extracurricular, I would much appreciate if you could please guide me in the correct direction.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Kindest regards,
Louis.

Hey Louis!

Lovely to hear about your passion to pursue business in the Ivy League.

By themselves this is not likely to be suffient. Lots of students receive excellence in NCEA level 1 and 2. Our students gaining admission from NZ with NCEA typically are shooting to win subject prizes at their school and are doing multiple NZQA scholarship exams. Send me your transcript to j.beaton@crimsoneducation.org and I can have a closer look at the state of your academics and see what is feasible.

Re extra curriculars - these sound like great interests but we would likely need some more specific performance in competitions, some overseas representation or some accreditation in some of these areas to make it more compelling. In your email to me please attach your CV with more comprehensive detail.

Great work on the achievements so far and I’ll give you some great recommendations once I’ve reviewed that material.

I have an upcoming course on fundamental equity investing in Auckland you should come along to boost your knowledge in this space. Here’s the link: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/learn-stock-investing-from-wall-st-analyst-jamie-beaton-auckland-tickets-47491721016

Hi Jamie,
Thanks for the fast, in depth reply.

I have been thinking about what you have laid out for the past few days; I have pledged my school to enroll me in as many scholarship exams next year as I can do. I will most likely be doing scholarship English, Stats and/or Calculus, and Economics. As you mentioned about the subject awards, I am striving towards them and I am likely to obtain a number of awards this year and the next. Furthermore, I am a serious contender to acquire the Dux title next year, especially because the school is aware of my plans for university. My school; Hastings Boys High School is very local minded, and thus only a tiny number of students in the history of the school have studied overseas at the level I am looking at - which makes the process that much more difficult as there is simply a lack of resources and opportunities.

Like you say about my extracurricular’s, I am well aware my current activities are weak, and will need serious developing. This emphasizes the fact I will most likely need some form of help, and consultation to improve my candidacy. My school does not offer the students to many competitions to exhibit their academic prowess, and thereby this is a barricade to gaining accreditation in my subjects. I have made sure the teachers notify me of any opportunities available, however, I am greatly skeptical to the magnitude of these competitions and opportunities.

Every day I get a deep feeling of anxiousness just thinking about how behind I am, and the struggles I will face in developing my candidacy simply due to the ineptitude of my school, and the lack of resources and opportunities they provide compared to more established schools across New Zealand. I have booked for a consultation with Crimson over a week ago, but I am yet to receive a reply. Can you please give me a ball figure of the cost of Crimson’s consulting and the plans you offer and/or would recommend for me at officiallouisas@gmail.com, because I really need to start my candidacy development ASAP.

You will most likely see me at your course in Auckland. It will be interesting to see the fundamental perspective towards equity investment which I am only beginning to learn now, as I started learning technical analysis far before fundamental analysis. Thanks for letting me know.

Kindest regards,
Louis.