<p>Academics:
-I am a junior and I have a 4.0 GPA weighted and a 3.75 unweighted.
-I go to a very rigorous private Catholic school and I'm pretty sure I'm in the top 10% (I hope!).
-I'm taking AP English and Spanish and next year I will take AP 3D in addition to that
-I have taken ceramics since 10th grade and hopefully I'm going to make an arts supplement.
-I just took the SAT and ACT (Fingers crossed!) and I'm going to take my subject tests in Spanish and Literature.</p>
<p>Extracurricular:
-I have also been a Girl Scout for the past 11 years and I have earned my Gold Award organizing baking at the Ronald McDonald House (a place for the families of sick children in hospitals).
-I am in National Honors Society, National Art Honors Society and CSF.
-I volunteer at a mostly Latino school to teach kids math after school. About 3 hours a week
-I have about 200 service hours so far but I'm definitely hoping to get many more.
-I have played guitar since I was in 8th grade and it takes up the spare moments I have in my week :).</p>
<p>Awards:
-4.0 Award, Presidental Service Award, Bronze, Silver and Gold Girl Scout Award.</p>
<p>Extra (I guess my "hook"):
I am also billingual Latina. Spanish was my first language, and even though I am now fully fluent and successful, I went into school not knowing a word of English. My parents are immigrants from Bolivia and El Salvador. I am going the be the first in my family to go to college.</p>
<p>I've been dreaming about going to USC for a while. Anything I can do to improve my chances? Also, are there alot of scholarships at USC? My family said they that if I get in, they will do anything to pay for it but I'm still worried about that factor. Thanks in advance! :)</p>
<p>Assuming you get 1900+ on your SATs, you're definitely in. I mean, post your scores when they're available, but being a bilingual (1 L) Latina and a first generation college student, along with having a strong GPA, I'd say you're 95% in. What school will you be applying to?</p>
<p>I'm thinking Boston College, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego and maybe...UCLA (rivals I know). I really feel in love with USC though and if I get accepted, I'm there. :)</p>
<p>^ I think svg1990 meant what school you are applying to within USC....CLAS, Marshall, Annenberg, Viterbi, Cinema etc?
As for those other colleges you are applying to, sounds like a good list.</p>
<p>Yes, CLAS is a somewhat less competitive, by degrees that very based on the school. I think that you are the type of student that USC definitely wants here. Make sure to spend a lot of time on your essays, and get good recommendation letters from teachers who really know you.</p>
<p>Everything looks excellent and you'd be attractive to any number of schools, with USC definitely among them.</p>
<p>If I had to say anything, I would perhaps try to take a couple more AP classes to make yourself especially competitive among USC's top-notch applicant pool. Obviously I don't know which APs your school offers and I wouldn't suggest overloading yourself, but maybe you should consider taking an AP US Government or AP Psychology if you intend to be a Sociology major.</p>
<p>Congratulations for all the hard work you've put in to your education. You should pat yourself on the back no matter where you get accepted to college. </p>
<p>(I would say you're in for sure, but theres a thing going around among top applicants where highly-qualified candidates get rejected for no apparent reason.)</p>
<p>congrats on being likely the first in your family on going to college! you have awesome stats. try to start early on the essays and prioritize everything. it'll really help the process a lot.</p>
<p>^ Good luck on your SAT! I hope you have a pleasant surprise. Remember though, that you will have time to take them again if you're not satisfied. Everything else in your resume so far looks really good.</p>
<p>The verdict is...1910. I'm happy because I thought I did much worse. I took my ACT a couple weeks ago so I'm going to see the outcome of that before I decide to retake or stay with my scores.</p>
<p>By the way, the practice SAT I took that was held by Princeton Review and the PSAT predicted that I would get about a 1770. It was a pleasant surprise. I kind of wish I did a bit better but I guess I have to wait and see my ACT (which I think I did better on)</p>
<p>^ Gabs: Congratulations on the SAT score! That's great and you are looking good for USC. I'd still suggest, if you're up for it and since you will have other opportunities before next fall, to take it again. Most often scores are improved after the first time. Also, USC does a superscore, meaning they take the best scores from each section (from different sittings), so even if your score stayed around the same, you might achieve a higher score in a particular section...giving you a higher composite.
Good luck also on the ACT!</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion! I'll probably try again at the end of the year or beginning of the next year to see if I can bump it up a little more before applying to college. :)</p>