Ch-Ch-Chances!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>Ok, sorry, I know a lot of people don't like these threads, but I'd like to know if I could apply EA and have a good shot of getting in. </p>

<p>Probably going to apply to Marshall. Might major in Econ and Poli Sci in CLAS though, but leaning more toward business. I'm intrigued by the possibility of walking out USC with a bachelors degree and a Masters in Economics in 5 year. </p>

<p>Male from Ohio (Think Geographic Diversity might help me out a little bit?)
Not reporting race
Catholic High School</p>

<p>GPA: UW around a 3.8, probably a low 3.8ish. W 4.17ish
Grade Trend: Might hurt me a little bit. Frosh yr was pretty good, soph year was pretty good, I showed an upward trend for the most part. 1st semester Jr year was pretty good too, but 2nd semester I kind of burned out and ended up with 3 Bs. I have a total of 5 Bs on my transcript (not horrible I know), and 4/5 were in math or sci classes, which is definitely not my forte. Not freaking out about Bs, I was pretty chill when I got my report card, but it kinda sucks to end Jr. yr on kind of a crappy note, with half my classes getting Bs in them.
Anyways.
Class Rank: My school is kind unclear they say they don’t rank, but they tell in a counselor rec the approximate rank. I should be in at least the top 5-10% so I’m guessing they’ll put down something like that. Or they might not put anything in the letter. I’m not sure. </p>

<p>SAT: 700 M 690 CR 720 W 2110 total (single sitting, not superscore)
ACT: 29 (30 superscored, but I don't think USC superscores the ACT) I'm not sending this score, my SAT is clearly better. Though I might retake it in Sept to hopefully get a 32+. But if not my SAT score is good, not great, but in range for USC.
5 APs by graduation
SAT IIs: Should be decent (have not taken yet), expecting 700+ in Math 1/2(not sure which on to take), anything less than 750 on USH will be a huge disappointment for me. For the third one, I'll probably pick some English one or self study World History</p>

<p>Teacher and Counselor Recs: Teacher one should be pretty good, my grade in the teacher's class that I'm asking to write me a rec rarely dipped below a 97% (AP class) and I think he liked me as a person/student. Not sure about counselor one, we get to write a "brag" sheet, so it should be at least ok. </p>

<p>Essays: Trying to brainstorm, but I've had a relatively semi interesting life, so hopefully I can come up with something cool and unique. </p>

<p>ECs: Pretty solid, though nothing spectacular like some people on CC. </p>

<p>-Eagle Scout, plus one year of being Senior Patrol Leader
-Student Govt Representative (lowest position in student govt, lol)
-*Work Experience: I have two jobs. One is a secretary type job and it is not that demanding. I put the asterisk next to this because my other job is lawn care/handyman care for a local business (they have 6+ acres of land), but I do it under the table. I still work like 15+ hours a week during the summer and 5-10 during the school year, so its not like I do something once a month there. I should still put this on my app, right?
-Student Ambassador and Freshman Mentor
-NHS
-Minor role in school paper
-Mock Trial
-Model UN
-Catholic Schools for Peace and Justice
-AP US History Co-Student of the Year</p>

<p>probably leaving a couple minor things out</p>

<p>Service:
-Have not tallied up my hours, but it should be about 300+ service hours when I apply (tutor at school and local library, soup kitchens, various things, etc...)
-Eucharistic Minister at my church, at my school and I go to the nursing home and distribute Communion.
-MDA Camp Counselor. This is where a bulk of my service hours came from. Very demanding, but very rewarding and I plan on doing it again next year. I also participate in a program that helps disabled kids play sports during the summer and school year. </p>

<p>Think this is about it, sorry it was kind of long and there might be a few typos, do you need any more info?</p>

<p>So, should I apply EA? Using that document someone posted in another chance thread, my grades are about USC's average, SATs in the kind of middle/above average range for USC (more toward the top 75%ile, right?), ECs seem to be ok right? </p>

<p>So what do you think?</p>

2

<p>Take Math II, I don’t think there’s any point in taking Math I.</p>

<p>USC has no Early Action program as far as I’m aware. I would recommend getting your application in by Dec 1, the scholarship deadline, because you never know, and it’s nice to have it off your mind when you’re working on your other college apps that are due around Jan 1. Personally, I had most of mine done around early- to mid-December, but it was still nice having USC’s completely done with.</p>

<p>I can’t really speak to your chances, you seem like a good candidate, but one can never really know. I also have a feeling USC’s acceptance rate will be lower this year, since they experienced a higher yield than they were expecting, I believe. I know it was that way for my school (theater), and I think it was the same for many of the other schools.</p>

3

<p>Thanks. </p>

<p>Oh I just kind of assumed they had an EA because I knew some people got accepted in like January and others in like Feb, March and April 1. </p>

<p>I pretty much don’t have a shot at a scholarship, right? Would be nice to know early about getting though.</p>

4

<p>I’m a trustee scholar and my GPA was lower than yours (SAT higher by 70 pts), so it depends on your major really. Also important is the required interview; I was originally nominated for a presidential but got bumped up to a trustee :)</p>

5

<p>They have alumni do the interviews right? I live by a big city, but I doubt there are many USC alums in Ohio. Or would I have to flay into LA for an interview? And that’s only if I’m a finalist for a scholarship, right? …which I probably won’t be haha.</p>

<p>thanks</p>

6

<p>You have a good shot at getting in but like I recommend to everyone, DO AN INTERVIEW! If you plan on visiting over the summer, try to schedule an on-campus interview during your visit (that’s what I did). I think my interview helped me out a lot last year.</p>

7

<p>dont doubt your chances, i’ve gotten scholarships over kids with better stats than me :)</p>

<p>You fly over to LA and stay overnight for exploreUSC, then interview with current faculty, and sometimes a student.</p>

8

<p>I honestly have no idea how the scholarships work. My ACT is in the top 1% of the nation (though my GPA was only around a 3.7/3.98 uw/w at that point), and I only got $4k a year in merit money. So I think it’s kind of a mystery?</p>

<p>And they provide a travel voucher to fly out to LA for the scholarship interviews. There are also alumni interviews earlier in the winter, I believe, or sometimes departmental interviews. For example, I had a phone interview in mid/early January with one of the people on the staff in the School of Theatre. I think the phone interview definitely didn’t hurt at all, and probably helped, because I was quite engaged and demonstrated a lot of interest in the school. I know it helped them remember me, because he still remembered me and my questions when I went out to visit in late April. (My admissions counselor also remembered me and my essay, too, which we thought was nice)</p>

<p>So I’d say if you want to go to the school, show it. Be a go-getter; grab every opportunity to communicate with the school. If you have a question about anything, don’t hesitate to ask someone. If they come to visit your school, GO! For me, at least, the rep who visited my school was also my admissions counselor.</p>

<p>Also, the reason for the earlier admits is that scholarship recipients get notified throughout the late winter/early spring that they’ve been admitted and are invited to come to campus for an interview.</p>

9

<p>Ok thanks guys. </p>

<p>I’m going to apply by Dec. 1, but honestly I doubt I’ll get a scholarship. Would be nice to find out early though. </p>

<p>So would you call this a solid match for me? I think my chances are in the air, but in the back of my mind I think I’m going to get in. Hope so anyway, haha. </p>

<p>I’m trying to plan a visit out to LA over Christmas break. I’ve got family in AZ we haven’t seen in a while and some family in Southern California, and my parents were somewhat receptive about the idea. </p>

<p>Plane tickets were so expensive though. $369 a person was the cheapest I could find. </p>

<p>Thanks everyone.</p>

10

<p>the class 2013 admits had a mean UW GPA of 3.8, ACT scores 30-33, and SAT 1990-2210. Overall, I think you have a decent shot, marshall might be a little harder to get into but awesome recs and essays should do the job. Also, I’m assuming youre not korean or indian - its usually more competitive for them.</p>

11

<p>edit wrong thread</p>

12

<p>Ok thanks. No I’m not Korean or Indian, but I don’t think I’m going to disclose my race, idk, idc.</p>

13

<p>You’re pretty vanilla and white bread, if you know what I mean. They get thousands of applications from people like you. So my advice to you is: find some way to stand out. Definitely go to Explore USC, and do an interview.</p>

14

<p>Ok thanks. I’m going to try to go to explore USC, but I probably won’t be able to make it out to LA…we’ll see. </p>

<p>One thing that I’m hoping will give me a little boost is being from Ohio. Most USC students come from the west coast and Texas, so maybe being from the midwest will help me out a little bit? </p>

<p>thanks again</p>

15

<p>I don’t think so, USC has a lot of students from everywhere around the country and the world. Maybe if you were from, like, Uganda or Pakistan or northern Alaska it might help, but I doubt being from Ohio is going to have any impact at all.</p>

16

<p>you play any sport?</p>

17

<p>not at the varsity level. </p>

<p>JV track for a couple years, football for a couple, but no varsity letters. </p>

<p>That shouldn’t really hurt my app though would it? They’ll look for what I have, not what I don’t have… right? </p>

<p>It will hurt because I’m going to apply for AF and N ROTC and maybe an academy or two, and they value varsity sports kind of a lot. Going to have to convince them my teams intermural football championship was legit and a lot of work lol…not. </p>

<p>thanks</p>

18

<p>king,
SC has one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation. Students come from about 100 countries. About 43% of the enrolled freshmen are from private/independent schools. In the freshmen profile last year it stated 52% were from California, 37% from other U.S. states and 11% international.</p>

<p>States most represented out of California are in order:</p>

<p>Texas
Washington
New York
Illinois
Hawaii
Massachusetts
New Jersey</p>

<p>On Facebook many of the class of 2014 listed their schools. These were some of the private schools listed. It will give you an idea of the geographical diversity.</p>

<p>Harvard-Westlake
Punahou
Phillips-Exeter
Hotchkiss School
Germantown Academy
Singapore American School
Marlborough School
Pace Academy
Regents School of Austin
American School of London
Whitefield Academy
Groton School
The Buckley School
Iolani School
St. Lucy’s Priory
Ilinois Math & Science Academy
Chadwick School
Bentley School
Boston Latin
Sacred Heart Academy</p>