Chance me for USC Marshall

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
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Hello, thanks for clicking on this post, USC is a reach but would like to see what some of you think. Thanks!

Demographics: South Korean/American, Male, El Paso Texas (Lived in Japan, Hawaii, and Oklahoma prior because of the military; 3 high schools and 10 schools total). No legacy. Public High School (~690 people in my class)

Intended major: 1. Finance 2. Economics

Weighted GPA: 4.08 (no inflation)

Unweighted GPA: 3.75ish (school only does weighted)

All 3 of my high schools had different weighting systems; Current is on a 100 point scale with 3 tiers (Regular, Pre-AP, AP)

Coursework:
Freshman: PAP Eng, PAP Geo, PAP Bio, W Hist, US Govt, Japanese 2, Band, ROTC, Comp Apps.

Sophomore: PAP Eng, PAP Alg 2, AP Bio, PAP Chem, APUSH, AP Comp Sci, Band

Junior: AP Lang, PAP Precal, AP Phys, AP Hum Geo, PAP Japanese 3, Band, Speech/Health,

Senior: AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Env Sci, AP Macro/Banking & Finance, AP Stats, Band, Accounting

AP Scores:
10th- APUSH: 3 Bio: 3
11th- Lang: 4 Hum Geo: 4
12th- Taking all 5 exams

Rank: 69/694 (Nice)(Sent mid-year transcript, showing I got into top 10 percent this semester)
SAT (Superscored): 1350- 680 M, 670 EBRW

Extracurriculars.

  1. Marching Band/Concert Band: (Squad Leader Senior year) 9-12, participated at all 3 high schools
  2. Civil Air Patrol: 9-11, Plenty of leadership opportunity, Earned Billy Mitchell Award (Equivalent to Eagle Scout)
  3. NHS: 11-12, 30 hours volunteering a semester
  4. Track: 9-11 Varsity 10, 11
  5. Cross Country: 10, (Conflicts with band made scheduling difficult)

Jobs:

  1. Newspaper- 1 year freshman year
  2. Busboy/salad & soup preparing- Summer between 9th and 10th
  3. Waiter- Summer between 11th and 12th

Honors/awards:

AP Scholar With Honor- 11
A/B Honor Roll- 9-12
Oklahoma High School Honor Society- 10
Billy Mitchell Award (Equivalent to Eagle Scout)
Various Civil Air Patrol awards for leadership and community service.

LOR:

English: Didn’t get a look, has written tons before, probably pretty decent (6+/10)

Band: Pretty good, highlighted moving with band and adapting to new environments (8/10)

Essays:

Common App- Talked about the struggles of moving and what I learned through mentors, role models, band upperclassmen, Jobs, new environments, etc (7-8/10)

Additional Info Essay- Talked further about the struggles of moving, more of the nitty-gritty than what I learned. More informational and explained depression and anxiety moving during 1st semester of 9th, and Between 9th and 10th. 4 schools in 4 semesters, mom is first-gen Korean Immigrant. Somewhat good (5-6/10)

Supplement about beliefs being challenged- Talked about moving from Hawaii to Oklahoma (Native to African American community). I wrote about a quarrel with a teacher, where she assumed I was white and dismissed my opinion on a subject. She was wrong and I wrote about what I learned. (6-7/10)

Supplement about academic interest- Talked about visiting last easter, taking a rigorous course load based around STEM/Business/Finance. I talked about interesting research at USC and my interest in Marshall/ Los Angeles’ opportunities.

I know my stats are in the bottom 25% but hopefully, my “worldly” experience will be valuable in the eyes of admissions officers.

Side note: I’ve already been admitted to ASU, TAMU, and LMU

What do you think?

Thanks

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USC Marshall student here. I think you gave yourself a good shot with a solid GPA, SAT, and pretty interesting story. Yes, you are in the bottom of the ranges but USC loves their 10% of class stat so that really would help. What might hurt however is that I didn’t see that you had much business related extracurriculars… regardless, USC is more willing to take students with less high stats than other schools in its range so long as they think you might be a great fit at the school. Good luck and don’t worry if it doesn’t work out, it probably going to be around a 10% acceptance rate this year, you’ve already got into some great schools

1 Like
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Thanks for the response!

Yeah as I moved my interests changed, I only really decided I wanted to do business at the end of junior year so ec’s would be weak. If not for Finance, hopefully, they’ll consider me for Economics.

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USC likes their band members and if they need your instrument, for Tommy Trojan, that may tip them in your favor.