<p>Hello, I have seen the "The Final Answer" thread, but I would like some concrete opinions on my chances of getting in. I am very nervous about getting in because I really like the school and cant take the long wait. I know none of these opinions you provide me with mean anything, but I think they will help me feel more secure as I wait for what seems like forever. Anyway here is my information:</p>
<p>ACT: 31
GPA: 4.25 weighted/ 3.9 unweighted
Rank: N/a
Other stats:"Most rigorous" courses mostly honors and 5 AP's
Subjective: Lots of Leadership positions, 500+ hours of community services, various clubs, 3 jobs- tutoring, a summer job, and the coffee cart I founded at my school
Essays: Common App was really good, i wrote about quitting football and the response of my friends and finding myself in my passion for community service
Teacher Recs: Community service adviser 10/10, Math teacher/family friend: 10/10, AP Chem teacher 9/10
Counselor Rec: 10/10
Location/Person: OH
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male</p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel Tell me if you think it’s good. </p>
<p>I was never the most coordinated, fastest or strongest kid; I was just average. In fifth grade, I started playing football. Looking back, it’s the only thing I remember about fifth grade—I don’t remember whom I sat next to at lunch or what girl I had a crush on—I only remember being thrown into a helmet and told to push the guy across from me backwards. (I guess I was pretty good, probably because I was heavy for my age—always good for a lineman—I was asked to play for the sixth grade team.) I loved this. Since I was only one of two guys asked to play, everyone revered me and thought I was cool; I was popular—something I had never been before. “One day you’ll help us win state.” Fast forward to freshman year and I’m starting junior varsity on both sides of the ball. “You’re grade is special; you’ll take us back to state.” Skip another year: I’m playing a quarter of the varsity game every night, one of the strongest, one of the leaders. “Next year, you’ll lead us to state.”
Every year my team was told the same thing by a different coach: we were special, had tremendous talent, and would win state. All this talk of state was fantasy. The year before I started playing football, my small school made it to the state championship game—and lost. Since then, no team had made it to state, or even past the second round of the playoffs. We were expected to make it to state and win this time and they would need everyone’s effort and no one could give any less than 110%. I guess that’s why it shocked everyone when I decided to give 0%. I quit the team.
When I quit, my whole life changed. Suddenly I had free time in the summer; I could relax after school. However, I lost most of my friends. After playing football for so long, everyone expected I would keep playing, and when I didn’t they decided, to shun me. This infuriated me. How could these people I’ve spent so much time with, sweat with, bled with, abandon me? What happened to brothers “on and off the field”? What happened to always being there for each other? I thought my friends might be upset, but still support my decision. Unfortunately, I failed to meet their expectations. I quit the team and they quit on me.
I didn’t really quit the team; it was more like I decided not to play my junior year. But unlike in every other sport, you don’t sign up again every year; it’s assumed you’ll keep playing. However, I realized I had the choice not to sign up and took it. Football just wasn’t fun any more; I didn’t love it. Instead, I committed myself to my growing passion— serving others— and I never looked back.
My football friends still ignore me, but I’ve learned I cannot control other people; I can only control my future and myself. I can do anything I want, be anything I want. I don’t have to be the football guy. I can be the servant leader guy or the guy with the great smile helping everyone. I can change who I am and write my own story. If I can change my own world, there is nothing stopping me from changing the entire world. By involving myself in service, I have learned to identify community needs, communicate with others, plan fundraisers, and support everyone no matter what. All these skills will help me change the world. If I hadn’t decided not to play football, I never would have learned these skills. Perhaps I would have changed the school’s history, but now I can change the world’s future.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You shouldn’t post your essay on a public forum. Someone may copy it or use it in a way that you would not approve.</p></li>
<li><p>I think your essay is pretty average. Tomorrow I will remember you as “that kid who quit his football team for no reason” rather than “that kid with a passion for community service.” I don’t know, maybe the rest of your app would help change my perception.</p></li>
<li><p>I think you have a good shot, provided your supplements are written well (very important part of your app). Being from Ohio will be helpful. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Disclaimer: I am still in high school and an applicant to USC this year.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s a bad idea to post your essay on a public forum.</p>
<p>Madbean’s “Final Answer” post is pretty straightforward, no one here is in a position to give you a ‘concrete’ answer so why bother? You’ve got a slightly better than average (for SC) GPA and an average ACT for a school that rejects 80% of its applicants. If I had to guess, you’ll probably get in, but then decision threads are full of profiles like yours that end up rejected - our guess is as good as yours. </p>
<p>Regardless, your app is in and you’ll know soon enough. Good Luck.</p>
<p>P.S. USC gets ~47,000 applications a year from all over the world, being from Ohio is not an edge. Rwanda or Greenland maybe, but not Ohio.</p>
<p>:) I take exception to that as an Ohio native - lol!</p>
<p>Sullivan7 - the others are right. Never post your info on a public forum. You’ll never know how it will be used. Having said that - you asked for honest feedback and I’ve heard stories like that before and they didn’t end well in admissions. Because you quit. You said you decided to give 0% to a team that needed 110%. And while it may have “freed up” your time to change the world. You haven’t done the latter. </p>
<p>So what would make someone choose you over another student who left for a higher calling and accomplished it?</p>
<p>Being a nice kid in a pile of amazing students won’t cut it. You don’t have to have a Nobel Peace Prize or lots of outstanding accomplishments but it helps if you were passionate about something. Or gave a glimpse into how you had used that “free time” in such a way that it would add to the campus culture or diversity (interests, hobbies, passions, service, projects, etc.). And I don’t see that in the essay - or any glimpse of perseverance against low odds. Just the statement that sticks out about “relaxing.”</p>
<p>Still - honesty is the best policy. I see too many students who make stuff up just to look more admissable. I applaud you for having the courage to keep it real.</p>
<p>Sullivan7, it was very brave (and not very wise, I’m afraid) to post your essay. I say “brave” because you have opened your heart to a group of strangers. You are a teen who had a profound wake-up call in junior year, who had been group-pressured into following a traditional path (team sports, at which you were very good), and you were strong enough to call a stop to that activity rather than let peers pressure you to continue. As such, I can really see how important this decision was to you. Naturally, one might assume that individualism you expressed would be well received in an essay.</p>
<p>Alas.</p>
<p>In fact, college admissions reps receive many, many, many such essays. After all, HS kids have so many very similar experiences, breakthroughs, epiphanies, and many concern a) sports culture/pressure, b) travel abroad/discoveries, or c) work helping others being rewarding. I do not mean to diminish a single ounce of the personal discovery that truly goes on during these events, but… as far as topics for a strong college app essay, they have simply been done and done and done. It has the effect of making the candidate seem like so many others. A worthy and sincere kid, but… college essays are really great when they present a side of you that makes the college want the unique you–the individual you really are. </p>
<p>I suggest students look at one very small and hopefully unique-to-them experience (one less likely to be in thousand’s of other teen’s essays) that shows how they solved a problem or overcame/confronted a very specific obstacle or discovered/ explored a specific new interest and where this took them.</p>
<p>I stopped reading the essay after the first few lines, finding the self deprecating comments boring. And I’m glad you posted it to draw constructive criticism and avoid hurting yourself by submitting it. Why don’t you write about your dreams and how USC can help you achieve them. Think of this as a job interview and what you can bring to the table. Good luck.</p>
<p>You wrote an essay about quitting football and sent it to USC??? Hopefully you didn’t send the same essay to Notre Dame and UT Austin.</p>
<p>Seriously, the essay was good but dwelled too much on the ramifications of quitting football and not enough on the rewards of your decision. This read more like a confession than an inspiring story about taking the road less travelled.</p>
<p>But what do I know. I’m not an admissions officer at USC.</p>