<p>Hey guys USC is a top 5 school on my list and I wanted to know what the CC community thought about my acceptance chances Thanks.</p>
<p>Grade: Junior
High School: Very difficult for the TN area
GPA 3.8-3.9(UW) N/a(W)
ACT: 26 (first try should come up in next tries) (anyone have suggestions of studying? I didn't study for this one)
AP: Sophomore:Euro(3) Junior:APUSH AP Lang AP Span Senior:AP Calc BC AP Micro Macro AP Lit AP Physics
ECS: Science Olympiad, Mu Alpha Theta, Model UN, FBLA, Robotics Club, over 400 hrs of Community Service, Job at golf course, internship at prestigious credit reports company, Spanish Club, Me and friend have made a website to help students at our school help eachother with homework and studying. (like this forum but for school and different classes) thought it might help since I want to go into computer science and it would show my directed interests to the admissions team.</p>
<p>Essays shouldn't be too hard. Any suggestions on what they look for?
Recommendations should be good too. Any suggestions on what teachers I should use? (Math and humanities, maybe?)</p>
<p>Everything looks golden except for ACT score. Definitely get that up to at least a 32. I wouldn’t recommend taking any classes though, unless you’re just a bad test taker. I used a Barron’s (?) ACT Prep book, read it through, took the practice tests, and ended up with a 35. I have friends who just took the classes and none of them did nearly as well as I did, while none of my friends that got 34+ took the class.</p>
<p>Your EC’s also seem scattered. It’s more about the quality than the quanity, find something that you have a true passion for. They shouldn’t be cliche either. You say you like computer science, so I think you should definitely focus on Robotics Club, try getting an officer position. Colleges love leadership.</p>
<p>As far as essays go, be original. Don’t be cliche, but don’t BS either. Adcoms have to deal with a ton of applications so making yours stand out from the rest will be key. Definitely start out with an attention getter, setting up some vivid imagery from the beginning. When you’re reading a book, and you can’t get into it, it gets boring real quick. So don’t bore your adcom.</p>
<p>Good luck man. My biggest suggestion to you is to raise that ACT score and I think you’ll stand a good chance.</p>
<p>Well Model UN and Spanish club aren’t exactly focused on computer science, but they def. won’t look BAD. I think that what BigKev meant is that you should do something to show that you care more about Robotics Club than the other non-computer science related activities. Also, does your school offer a computer science class? If not take the initiative for the administration to set up one. If the class is already offered, then talk to the teacher and see if he’s willing to hire you as a TA. </p>
<p>For recommendations, my suggestion would be a math and a science teacher (pref.computer science or physics). An additional recommendation wouldn’t hurt, of course, and this one could be from your Spanish teacher or AP Econ teacher.</p>
<p>^ Exactly. Try to dedicate a ton of time to your robotics club and your website project. I think both of those would look quite good on a college app for CS. I’m by no means saying you should quit the others, in fact EC’s never look bad, per se. Just focus a bit more time onto computer science, try to get an officer position, and I think you’ll be set man.</p>
<p>If your school offers AP Comp Sci, definitely take it next year. Even a basic Comp Sci class won’t look bad. Either way, as long as you get your ACT score up, you look good. Keep up the work dude!</p>
<p>Ok I understand. And no sadly my school offers 0 CS classes. I have been trying to talk with the admissions at my school to see if I could create a class if a significant amount of students signed up, which would also look good. If this does not play out I’ll probably take a few classes in CS this summer at my local community college, which would show my personal pursuit and interest in this subject.</p>
<p>I’m going for at least a 30 on the ACT in June. I have princeton review and Kaplan. Do you all just recommend over time read both cover to cover? I mean I have roughly 5 months to study. Thanks for all the help I greatly appreciate it from all.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t shoot for a 30 man. The 25-75 range for admitted students last year was 30-33. A 30 would mean that you’d be at about the 25th percentile, which isn’t where you’d want to be. If I were you I’d try for at least a 32.</p>
<p>What I did was that I reviewed only the sections that I wasn’t good at, and got that hammered into my head. For example, I skimmed the Math section of the review book since that’s one of my strengths. Then after you’re done doing that once, take a practice test under test conditions (time limits, quiet environment, time of day). See what you struggled on the practice test, and review those sections, and take another practice test. Rinse and repeat. It worked for me, but YMMV.</p>
<p>If you’re not good at the ACT, try taking the SAT. Most people do better on one or the other since the SAT is an aptitude test while the ACT is a knowledge test. Both correlate strongly to the other, but it’s worth it to give the other one a shot.</p>
<p>you should be ok, because having low test scores and very high grades indicates that you are a hard worker / just dont standardize test well. colleges actually kinda like that esp over low grades high tests</p>