hey everyone, i’m just gonna post this one thread of this topic (to relieve you guys from seeing a bunch of thread copies) and from then on see what the future has gotta say.
so, USC is literally my dream school. my cousin constantly talked about how much he adored the school (even though he never got in) and i fell in love after researching it. even more that some of my favorite musicians (cough sawaeetie cough cough) and my japanese teacher went to USC.
i really, really want to be a digital arts/animation major there.
anyways, here are my stats:
GPA (UW): 3.702
GPA (W): 4.442
Class Rank: 58 out of 760
AP classes taken (and taking): AP World History, AP US History, AP Eng Lang, AP Studio Art: Drawing, AP Statistics, AP Japanese, AP Eng Lit. (the only notable score i have gotten from an AP test was a 4 in lang, the others are kinda meh.)
ACT: 28 (33 on Reading & Eng, 26 on Science, 21 in Math lol)
SAT: 1210 (don’t remember my individual scores and i’m lowkey too lazy to look it up but i remember missing only one question for English. however my math scores still sucked)
ECs:
- Art Club/NAHS: President
- Key Club (4 years): Division Tech Editor (Junior Year), District Graphic Design Team member currently
- Varsity Tennis
- YT Channel (honestly i really regret putting this down i only have 600+ subscribers dsfsjfskl but i mentioned that i edited videos for creative purposes)
- Help tutor a Japanese Transfer student from Yokohama with her homework and classwork
- Yearbook Editor/Staff (although i recently quit earlier senior year)
- Volunteering on my own at an Elementary School (for art programs)
- Shirt Designer; Made a Region Key Club shirt design junior year, and then made more my senior year for my school’s own clubs. (ex: Key Club, NHS, NAHS/Art Club, K-Pop Club)
Honors:
- Diamondback Scholar (10th & 11th grade), maintaining GPA of 3.75 or higher
- Straight A’s award (10th grade)
- Winner of Region 5 Key Club Training Conference Shirt Design Contest
- 6th Annual SNSJ Journalism Contest Headline Writing Honorable Mention
Recommenders:
- 11th grade English teacher; I thought he was a good choice because he fairly likes me and I have made really creative things in his class, including videos/movies, which he mentioned in his letter, and also I gotten one of the highest scores on the AP test. Also, his family members all seem to have went to USC.
- Japanese teacher; I think having her was terrific. Not only did I maintain straight A’s in her class for 3 years (B this semester, RIP; hate AP kanji), but she has always considered me creative and a good student and also was a USC alumni. I made sure for her to mention so.
Essays:
Looking back at it now, I’m not sure I really like my essays too much except my personal, which I really think captured my passion for art. My optional essays, the prompt had to do with other interests I had unrelated to my major, in which I stated video editing/creating. The “why USC” essay I did sounded kinda bad looking at it now, because I literally did a comparison between my English skills and Math skills and rambled on about such topics to make the point that, “USC is an interdisciplinary school, so this is why it’s perfect for me!!!” It was kinda cringy.
Portfolio:
I’m kind of really sad about it. I didn’t include like, any realistic pieces because I just started doing so this year for AP studio art. Most of them are cartoony styled. I included my most impressive shirt designs and also one of my submissions for a Graphic Design application, but I don’t know if they’d like it. I made all of the said pieces in my portfolio with Photoshop/Paint Tool Sai. If anyone wants to possibly see for themselves, I can link maybe a google drive of what I put in it.
One of the USC admissions counselors came to present at our school and I had a conversation with her then. I also have mailed her pretty frequently during the application process and mentioned to her that I have been recently doing art commissions as well as having the chance to sell my art at an convention, which she said she will “note” on my application.
I know, my GPA and test scores are absolutely beyond saving and there’s no excuse for how garbage they are. I hope that maybe my reputation so far in relation to art would support their outlook on me. What I’m most scared about, in my case, is how they review my portfolio.
