Chance Me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
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<p>Hey, I am a junior in a New England private boarding school. USC is currently my top choice and I was wondering my chances with the school. I was also wondering how much connections can help, as family friends are good friends with the Dean and will be giving him a call when it is application time? Thank you for any help that you can provide, or insight as how I can improve my application!</p>

<p>Cumulative GPA: 3.5 SAT: 1940 ACT: 27</p>

<p>All these scores are from the only time I have taken the SAT and ACT, I will be taking them again. The GPA is unweighted. I will also be taking SAT II's over the summer.</p>

<p>ADVANCED and HONORS COURSES: </p>

<p>12th Grade is most likely - AP Stats, AP Gov, AP Bio, English IV Honors.
• 11th Grade – AP Chemistry, English III Honors (AP), Latin American Studies Honors, Honors Biology
• 10th Grade – Algebra II Honors, Spanish II Honors
• 9th Grade – Algebra/Geometry Honors
•<br>
HONORS and AWARDS:
• Honor Roll (3.33-3.67) 8/8 Trimesters
Leishman Enviromental Conservation Prize (Implementation of Light Shelves in various buildings to save heating costs as well as a natural cooling and lighting effect.)</p>

<p>LEADERSHIP POSITIONS:</p>

<p>Proctor in Student Dormitory
Guitar Show Student Head
Team Captain – Basketball, JV Lacrosse
Performing Arts Center Manager
Peer Tutor Leader
JOS Student Leader</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
• JV Football (9th Grade)
• Varsity Football (10th Grade)
• B Basketball (9th Grade)
• A Basketball (10th and 11th Grade)
• JV Lacrosse (10th and 11th Grade)
• Democrat Club (3 Years)
• Chinese Club (2 Years)
• Guitar Show (Student Head) (3 Years) (Biannual 30+ members)
• Political Action Club (2 Years)
• Technical Theater (Student Head of Sound)
• Philosophy Club (3 Years)
• JOS Leader (Jewish Organization of ) (3 Years)
• Tour Guide (3 Years)
• Kaleidoscope/MCA (Multi-Cultural Association) (3 Years)
• Peer Tutor – (Physics, AP Chemistry, Biology), Spanish (Levels I-III), (Alg. I - Calculus) (3 Years)</p>

<p>I have also volunteered at an Elderly Care center for 4 years and I will be interning at a hospital for half of the summer.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1112/USCFreshmanProfile2011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1112/USCFreshmanProfile2011.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Highschool55, </p>

<p>There’s no way for us to assess how your high school stacks up against all others. The above link certainly implies that a 3.5 UWGPA puts you in an outside-looking-in position. Add to that SAT/ACT scores that are below the 25th%-tile for admitted and enrolling students and it’s hard to be optimistic. </p>

<p>Your best course of action is to get those standardized test scores up as much as you can. Anything below the mid-point of admitted students (~ 2150 SAT or 32 ACT) gives the admissions committee an easy reason to say no. What school are you considering applying to? Viterbi Engineering is rumored to have even higher average test score numbers.</p>

<p>As far as ‘connections’, that’s also something that’s impossible for us to assess. How good a set of friends are your family friends with the Dean? Are your family friends willing to aggressively go to bat for you? Or are they such good friends with the Dean that the most they’ll do is put in a nice word for you but leave him to do his job? </p>

<p>Work on what you can control and view the connections aspect as a bonus.</p>