Chance me for usc

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>High school junior, USC is one of my top choices</p>

<p>Sex: Male
State: NJ
School: Public (no religious affiliation)
Religion: Roman Catholic</p>

<p>GPA: 4.25 weighted, 3.7 unweighted (all A's and B's)
Freshman year
Honors LA I (B+), Honors Bio (A), Honors World History (A-), Geometry (A),
Spanish II (A), Photography (A), Band (A), Phys Ed (A)
Sophomore Year
Honors LA II (B+), Honors Chem (A-), AP US 1 (A-), Honors Alg 2/Trig (B),
Spanish III (A), Computer Applications (A), Band (A-), Phys Ed (A)
Junior Year
Honors LA III (B), Honors Physics (B), AP US 2 (B), Honors Precalc (B),
Honors Spanish IV (A), Technical Drawing (A+), Phys Ed (A)
Senior Year Schedule
AP LA IV, AP Bio, AP Environmental Science, AP Spanish V, Calculus, Phys Ed
How much will my bad junior year grades affect their decision?</p>

<p>SAT: 1990 (570 CR, 730 Math, 690 Writing). Going to retake to get CR up.
ACT: 28
SAT 2's: Spanish 500 (haha) math II 600. I'll probably take these again. How big of a deal are these tests? I heard they are only used for placement.
AP US History: 5</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Technical editor for school newspaper 10, 11
editor in chief 12
Newspaper photographer 9
Varsity golf 10, 11, 12
Swim team 10, 12
Marching band 9, 10, 11
Concert band 9, 10
Junior jazz band 9, 10
FBLA 10, 11, 12 (treasurer senior year)
Nominated for Understanding American Business, a summer business leadership conference. For anyone that is wondering, I went. (This probably counts as a special award/ hook, but I'm not sure)
Peer counseling 11, 12 (shows excellent character and leadership qualities)
Academic team 11, 12
Student council treasurer 11
National Honor Society 11, 12
I've been taking weekly guitar lessons since 6th grade
I am also in a rock band with some of my friends in which i play lead guitar. We write our own music and play gigs regularly. We were finalists in 2 state-wide battle of the bands competitions out of approximately 300 bands. </p>

<p>Volunteer hours- not many, probably only like 100 or so hours.
CCD teacher at local church 11, 12
Antioch retreat team member at local church 11, 12
Volunteered at some hospital charity events
Confirmation service hours
I also have a summer internship in the office of an NJ Assemblyman. I'll be getting a recommendation letter from him, and I assume this looks impressive. </p>

<p>I really want to attend a school I know I will enjoy and a school that has a strong study abroad program. If you have any other suggestions besides USC, please let me know!
I also have trouble with a choice of major, so I'll probably apply undeclared everywhere.</p>

<p>Please give me feedback! I hope I get in!</p>

2

<p>Try to bring up that SAT score…</p>

<p>With your strong interest in music have you given any thought to the Popular Music major in the Thornton School of Music? You could combine this with a Music Industry minor or a minor in the Marshall School of Business.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the input. Do you know if USC superscores their SATs?</p>

4

<p>Yes, SC uses this method along with most private colleges/universities in the U.S.</p>

<p>The university has a strong study abroad program. There are more than 40 programs in 27 countries. Popular choices are London, Paris and Vienna. If you are interested in a more unusual experience consider these: Prague; Kumasi, Ghana; Dunedin, New Zealand; Caicos Islands or Aberystwyth, Wales.</p>

5

<p>Id say USC is a reach, mainly because of your stats, but you can also boost your chances I think by writing about why you really want to go to USC (strong International programs are really trademark of USC) or extracurricular achievements. Itd be great if you could bump that SAT to around 2100 and slightly raise your GPA. I dont think SAT IIs matter as much, but theyre easier to study for, so you can prolly bump that up too.</p>

6

<p><a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/0910/FreshmanProfile2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/0910/FreshmanProfile2009.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Your GPA is just below the average admit’s but as has been pointed out, your SAT/ACT numbers are at or well below the 25th%-tile. The CR number is especially tough, obviously getting that number over 600 will help a lot. Without an explanation of the standardized test scores I think your chances start to get a little “reachy”.</p>

7

<p>good chances at gettin in. GPA is good, SAT is in the middle 50% range, barely though. Good extra curriculars.</p>

8

<p>definite reach for you, but it isn’t a complete stretch. try to improve your CR to at least 650</p>

9

<p>I think that USC is a reach for you, but not a HUGE reach. Try and up your score to over a 2000 and I think you would have a better shot. I basically had your SAT score and was still admitted, but I also had a higher GPA (but not that much higher). My class rank was also a factor, most likely. What is your class rank? Make sure your essays are very creative and highlight a “hook,” whatever that may be.</p>