<p>Looking to major in Engineering and wondering about my chances and strengths of program</p>
<p>White Female from Illinois
ACT Composite of 32- 34 Science and 34 Math
Top 5%
Weighted GPA 4.2 (unweighted not on my transcript and haven't calculated yet)
9 AP classes
Honors English/Math/Science all four years
5 years of Spanish and 3 of French
Varsity Athlete with varied EC's </p>
<p>Loved USC when I visited, but also need compelling reason to convince my parents I shouldn't just go to U of I since their engineering is so highly rated. Want bigger city experience than Champaign/Urbana, but wonder if USC campus location makes it more of an island than a "city" school. </p>
<p>Also wondered if it improves your chances not to ask for need based aid. Don't think we would get much since both my parents have decent jobs and I am only one in school. Know they always say "need blind", but I wondered if that is really true.</p>
<p>ACT average, not perfect math is whatever I suppose. but a 32 act ~ 2130SAT, to give you a perspective. If you had a 34ACT i’d say you’re in great shape in that aspect.
Also, unweighted GPA matters. Try to hit 750+ in all SAT2’s, and 800 in Math2C (you take math and science at ap level = it’s easily doable)
Varsity athlete is a big plus. Bigger for engineers.</p>
<p>You need a hook: EC’s a bit empty, but maybe that’s because you didn’t list them. Need to emphasize leadership roles and responsibilities in EC’s - that’s the kicker. Awards? What’d you do these past summers? </p>
<p>Right now I’d say you’re like a lot of students that apply, so you need a hook on why you should get in over the hundreds of others who are varsity athletes and take AP classes.</p>
<p>You can consider USC an island, though a big one. If you go off campus in one direction you’ll find it’s pretty shady, like the stereotypes imply. But on campus it’s generally safe, and towards the row it’s also safe and there’s a lot of police patrolling the region. The campus isn’t very busy and urban or anything but there are good transportation services that’ll take you downtown in minutes - you can see downtown from tall buildings at USC.</p>
<p>Needbased aid has no effect, officially, for people who are US citizens. It hurts for international students though because, well, there is no aid for intl students. Between me and all the people I know, I don’t think asking for aid really matters - all my friends asked for aid - and I know people who didn’t ask who didn’t get in either.</p>