My daughter was contacted by USC regarding the honors program. The person she spoke with told her about the program and said she has until November 15 to apply. She has a 3.9 weighted and 30 ACT with lots of leadership experience. Her stats are below those typically accepted in the HC, so I’m unsure as to why she was contacted.
If the middle 50% scored 31-33, then certainly some 29s and 30s were accepted. As far as GPA, U of SC recalculates according to their own formula, so the GPA that’s on your daughter’s transcript may be higher in their records, if that makes any sense.
If she’s at all interested, and can get the essays done well in the next couple of days, then she should go ahead and apply. If she doesn’t want to, it won’t affect her admission decision to the overall university; she’s well qualified and should have no trouble being accepted.
My daughter got a call from a student asking her to apply to the honors college a few weeks ago. She didn’t speak to them directly because we weren’t home, the girl calling just left a message. My daughter was going to apply anyway. I would encourage your daughter to apply if she’s interested. I doubt they would have made a personal phone call if they didn’t think she’d be a good fit.
My daughter’s stats are similar to yours and she was also prompted to apply. I do not feel she’ll have a very good shot based on her being on the lower side of the average but her essays were fantastic–she did everything over the summer and spent a lot of time on them. What I am hoping for is that they will see her application as strong, and maybe not put her in Honors but rather in Capstone, which is honestly where she feels she’d fit better, anyway. She had a tough freshman year at a large public HS and then moved to a very rigorous boarding school so her grades are really good, but not super high like a lot of the other applicants. Her ACT was also a 30.
Thank you for the replies to my question. They are helpful. My D has decided to apply. I wish she would have considered herself a candidate for the HC at the time she applied to the University. It would have allowed much more time to work on the HC essays. She was just contacted a few days ago and the essays are due tomorrow. The HC does feel like a long shot in terms of grades and scores. However, there are other personal, intellectual and leadership skills that some people possess that can be an asset to the smartest people in the room. I also think Capstone might be good fit.
My son also got a call (30 ACT) about the HC but he decided against it because he doesn’t feel he has a high enough GPA. He has already been accepted into the Sports Management program w/scholarship money so he is feeling pretty good about that. He, too, would love a Capstone invite.
Do we know if they will let us know one way or the other about Honors or do they only notify those who get in?
Honors acceptances are sent out in batches thru a date in February (check website for date). At that point they will notify those who don’t get in. At least that’s how worked in past.