<p>Gpa: 3.85 on the rise, should be 3.9 by deadline
Rank: N/A
Elite top 100 public school known for scholars
State: MN
Gender: Male
Race: white
Act: 35C, 34E, 36M, 36R, 34S
AP: Euro 4, stats 4, us history not taken, am lit not taken
Senior load:
AP: Econ, Bio, calc bc, comp gov, us gov
World Literature, concert band (highest level in national recognized program)
Recs: none yet, but I'm in tight with my counselor and several teachers so fingers crossed
Ecs: 4 years football (2 letters, 2 year starter)
3 years basketball
Community service letter (2 letters by grad)
4 years of being a church leader for middle schoolers
Several mission trips
300 hours of comm service by graduation
3 years of student leadership team
3 summers of umping little leaguers
3 years marching band
3 years pep band
4 years concert band </p>
<p>you’re missing what major you are planning to apply to. The different schools at USC have different criteria on assessing applicants and look for people with certain qualities. What major are you planning to pursue in college? Also it depends greatly on your personal statements/recommendation letters. Other than that, your GPA and ACT seems to be great</p>
<p>I agree with discussion. I’ll be an incoming freshman in the class of 2016, and while I had an impressive application (probably less impressive than yours, though!) I feel that my teacher’s recommendations and personal statements, as well as statement of intent for my major (Journalism) really put me over the edge. USC receives applications from tens of thousands more students than they can possible accept, and this will increase with every year, so most of all they need to see that you are a good fit for the school, and that you WANT to be there, not just that you CAN be there. Make sure you ask yourself, why USC? Why this school over the dozens of others I could study at? What makes me stand out from the 40,000 plus people who will apply to USC next year?</p>
<p>Other than that, your application looks very strong, especially if you’re good enough to be recruited for a sport. </p>
<p>Yeah I think especially for a major like business where allot of people go into it just to study something “safe” in college showing why you want the major and what you want to do with it will help you stand out. And USC has a huge (HUGE) ego so fanning those flames is not a bad idea. For example, Marshall is really big on the “Trojan Network” and alumni relations being available to students and alumni to help with jobs and networking. Now that’s something everyone (well, many people) knows about so do some research and find other things about why being at Marshall will help you and why you want/need that help.</p>
<p>Also, what do you mean by “us history not taken, am lit not taken”? Did you take the class but not the test?</p>
<p>I definitely (not really for the sake of your application though. I don’t think it will matter because they don’t get your scores until after you’ve been accepted) recommend just taking the tests. If you get a 4 or better that’s 8 credits and probably a day earlier registration than your peers and trust me, you want early registration. Also not having to worry about those electives can mean graduating early and saving 22+ thousand dollars is a good idea.</p>
<p>Does your high school have business classes? If so have you taken any?</p>
<p>My apologies about the ap tests. I just took ap ush, lit and Lang. I had copied this from a former chance post of mine and forgot to update that. Sorry for the confusion! And thanks for the great advice guys! I went to the game at notre dame and admittedly cheered or nd, but they kinda got handled. I’ve always respected USC but not till recently really seen it as some place I could be. I love the family-like cohesiveness of the alumni and students.</p>
<p>In my opinion it’s dangerous to separate the safety-match-reach discussion from the admissions rate. With an UW GPA of 3.85 and an ACT of 35, USC is certainly a “match” school. Based solely on those statistics, so are Stanford, Harvard and MIT; but most people would reasonably agree that they would be reach schools because of the low admittance rate.</p>
<p>This year only about 18% of applicants to USC got accepted. Put another way, more than 4 out of 5 were rejected. To my mind that makes SC a reach situation for everyone except the most spectacular or ‘hooked’ candidates. If this is about putting together a list of safety-match-reach schools I think the best strategy is to put USC in the reach category.</p>
<p>Do you plan to join the Spirit of Troy (USC Band) if admitted? Google the band to see what they are up to this year! It is important in your application and interviews to know something about the university and your plans to be active in the campus community.</p>
<p>No I’m not really looking to continue band in college. Although I have seen them preform at halftime and pregame at notre dame and they are great!! Bump</p>
Also not having to worry about those electives can mean graduating early and saving 22+ thousand dollars is a good idea.</p>