<p>Hello everybody. Please chance my son for some top schools.
He attends a prestigious private boarding school in Mass. There he has a GPA of about 3.4, and an upward trend. The school sends many graduates to top 10 schools + ivys (about 40 percent). It has no class rank and offers very few APs outside of Latin and Greek.
SATS:
1480/2200 - 750 (cr), 730(m), 720(w).
Sat IIs:
680 Math I(he will probably retake)
730 US History.</p>
<p>AP
5 - US History
5 - English Language.</p>
<p>Extras: (I don't want to write to many of them down, but here they are)
- Editor of the yearbook.
- Summer internship at local newspaper.
- 2 Sport Varsity Athlete
- Head of a few clubs + lots of community service.
- Understands Chinese - I don't know if this should be on it.</p>
<p>Additionally, he has half Asian and half white, and we live in New Jersey, but he goes to school in Mass.
He is interested in Writing.</p>
<p>In terms of test scores, he should be fine for admissions for USC. However, his GPA will be lower than the average admitted student. If the school you are talking about is as prestigious as you make it sound (~40% go to a top 10 or ivy), then I’d say he has a pretty decent shot at getting in. However, in a case like this, I’d recommend asking your son to talk to the college counselors and seeing if he can see what sort of students from his school were previously accepted at USC. (At my HS, we used Naviance which plotted the GPA vs SAT score of each applicant to a school and told if they were accepted or rejected)</p>
<p>USC is a private institution, so it makes no distinctions between IN and OUT of state, at least that is what I have always heard.
Personally, I am an international student who got in as a transfer, from an OUT of state 4 year univ. </p>
<p>His test scores seem very good and I would definitely say he has a great shot.
Yes, like akalboy said, his GPA is a little lower than average, but I would probably say he makes up for it with the SAT’s. Also, I dont really know if the 680 Math I will hurt, but if he can, then I think it would be a good idea to retake it and get a 700+.</p>
<p>You say he is interested in writing, which is good, because he will need it for the essays.</p>
<p>If he writes a GOOD essay(well above average, and interesting) then I will say that he is definitely in. USC seems to look at many aspects of a person so I think that the GPA wont hurt too much. </p>
<p>He has good EC’s, definitely. Im just wondering, you say he understand chinese, does this mean he only understands it, or he speaks it too?</p>
<p>collegemom8, USC might want to enroll students from your s’s prep school and they will be aware of the grade deflation at such schools, so that’s a plus–but on the other hand, they may wonder if he is applying to USC as a back-up, with hopes of staying in New England if his first choice schools accept him. In that case, you may want him to write a compelling essay that really convinces the USC adcoms that he considers USC his top choice, if this is the case. </p>
<p>Most universities these days are careful about yield… Just saying… :)</p>
<p>Agree - test scores are strong. Higher than both my daughters who were accepted to USC. But both had 4.0+ GPAs, five APs (although only 3-4s in score - 1 5 in Calc). I agree that essay will be important – make them know that life will not be worth living if you can’t be a Trojan!</p>
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