<p>It is generally accepted on CC that nobody uses Ivys + Stanford as safeties.<br>
Now, I know USC's standards are certainly much higher than many Tier 1 schools, but are they such that even most students with 2250+ or 34+ have to be iffy about acceptance?
Trustee and Presidential Scholarships are certainly hard to come by, but anyone hear of people with good test scores and good GPA get rejected from USC altogether.</p>
<p>Assuming your GPA is at least 3.2-ish with those kinds of scores, you should be good if your essays are written in English... But any lower and you could easily get rejected as "intelligent person, bad decision maker/lazy/etc."</p>
<p>Obviously your chances are pretty good of getting in with those scores, however I don't think that those scores necessarily GUARANTEE your acceptance, and I don't think that USC can be a safety for anyone.</p>
<p>Even for USC, SAT scores alone in the 2200+ can not be deemed a safety. Two examples from CC that I've read, one student with 2300 SAT, 3.5 uw was rejected from fall 2008 at USC, and one was was rejected last year with 3.4/3.5 uw GPA and 2240 or 2250 SAT.</p>
<p>It also depends on your major choice. SCA and Thornton are not safeties for anyone. Viterbi and Annenberg can also be tough to get into.</p>
<p>Is Marshall hard to get into for undergrad?</p>
<p>Marshall School of Business is a top ten undergraduate school. It is very competitive. The GPA for the incoming class of 2007, now outdated, was 4.10. U. S. News ranked these programs within the Marshall School: (undergraduate)
Entrepreneurship 4th
Accounting 5th
International Business 5th
Real Estate 7th</p>
<p>If your GPA & scores are outstanding then you'll probably get in, but with tightening standards, you never know.</p>
<p>I wouldn't call USC a safety for anyone. A safety is a school you're assured of getting into.</p>
<p>Trojan Chick,
To add to your list the SC School of Theatre is highly competive. The admit rate there is in the 4 to 5% range I was told.
The School of Policy, Planning and Development is sometimes overlooked. It has a fine reputation nationally and the graduate school is ranked 7th by U.S. News. The undergraduate programs have about 340 students.
Another competitive program is Physical Therapy, ranked #1 by U. S. News and Occupational Therapy, ranked #3 by U.S.News.</p>
<p>U. S. News rankings are subjective and controversial, but they are noted by the media.
They were included in this post for that reason.</p>
<p>One of my friends got rejected from USC last year. Business major, 2150 SAT's, 4.2 gpa. </p>
<p>Dude, you never know.</p>
<p>A friend of my son's was rejected last year - he was a National Merit finalist with great SAT's and great grades. He didn't list USC first in terms of schools he might attend as a Nat'l Merit Scholar - maybe that's why he was rejected? No other identifiable reason. I wouldn't call it a safety any longer.</p>
<p>i have a friend who had a good GPA, 2100+ SATs and quadruple legacy (both parents and two grandparents went to usc) who somehow got rejected. he is very smart so i have to imagine his essays were painfully arrogant because that is only way i could see him not getting in, but point is you never know.</p>