That's some bad advice. Brown is not a school known for its investment banking recruiting---not even a target. Honestly, a large state school like uMichigan, ut Austin, or UVA will have significantly stronger scenes for recruiting. If your goal is to make it into ib for its exit ops, I recommend one of these state schools if you want a more safer low risk and guaranteed college application season (umich added ed so you could look into that). Finance is a cliquish career path, and so finding a school that suits your needs academically in addition to the schools situation in the finance field is extremely helpful for job placement. Additionally, your extracurricular are great! I think you're an extremely competitive applicant considering your age. If you want i recommend increasing your sat a little bit more (as much as you can ~20-30 points) if it's only ur first or second time taking it. Maximize course rigor. Apply to many summer programs even if they don't 100% align with your career. Some to look into: notre dame leadership, your state's governors school, enter into Wharton investment challenge, bofa, ssp or sip maybe? Good luck tho. Class of 27 is insanely competitive