Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>Background:
Hispanic male (Colombian)
New Jersey
competitive public school</p>

<p>sat's:
math-760
critical reading-760
writing-790
total-2310</p>

<p>sat ii's:
math ii-800
chem-650</p>

<p>weighted gpa:
freshman-4.26
sophomore-4.04
junior-4.05
cumulative-4.1</p>

<p>and A is 4.3, A- is 4.0 so i'm in between</p>

<p>Freshman year I took regular English because I didn't qualify for honors, and took honors geometry and honors physical science. I also took 4 semesters of academic electives instead of study halls.</p>

<p>Sophomore year I took honors English, honors Algebra 2/Trig, and honors bio instead of AP bio. I took 4 semesters of academic electives.</p>

<p>This year I'm taking AP chem, honors english instead of ap, and honors pre calc. I'm taking a year of study hall and an year of academic electives.</p>

<p>Every year I took regular history (I didn't qualify for AP last year and you must take AP sophomore year to take AP this year) and regular Spanish (no AP or honors offered). I'm in Spanish 5 this year.</p>

<p>Next year I will have AP Physics, AP Calc A/B, AP Stat, and AP English. I will be not be taking history. I will continue to take academic electives.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Lacrosse-4 years
Newspaper-4 years (copy-editor this year and maybe editor next year)
Drama Club-2 years
Involved in 4 productions
3 Math competitions each year for 4 years
People to People Student Ambassador 1 summer</p>

<p>I had an after-school job in the fall this year.</p>

<p>Top 15% in my school. (We don't do exact rank)</p>

<p>Please reply and help me. If necessary I can get more info (specific grades, more info about my school, etc.)</p>

2

<p>i would say good chances, i would just make sure to explain the odd GPA weighting system :)</p>

<p>Looks like good SAT+GPA combo.</p>

<p>if you're a native spanish-speaker (or close) you may want to consider taking the spanish SAT2 and the spanish AP tests</p>

<p>also it may be worth it to start looking around at external scholarships - isn't there a national hispanic merit scholar program?</p>

3

<p>I think you're in. Make sure to apply early so that you're elegible for USC \ scholarships</p>

4

<p>usc doesnt have ed/ea right?
i'm definitely applying early for scholarships because i might be national merit scholar and i can get half tuition</p>

5

<p>No, they do not have ED/EA, but they do have a scholarship deadline.</p>

<p>According to the website...
December 11, 2006: Freshman Application Deadline for Scholarship Consideration</p>

<p>I'm a national merit scholar; that half tuition thing looks beautiful on my billing balance.</p>

6

<p>I bet not as good as the full tuition plus some housing grant I got, but really, congradulations.</p>

<p>I'd say your in. I had a 1960 SAT and no AP tests taken when I applied, and I got into the engineering school w/honors. Though I did have a 33 ACT</p>

7

<p>bmanbs2</p>

<p>Was your "full tuition" a merit scholarship or a financial aid grant. Was it a particular award.</p>

8

<p>margaritasalt, I gotta agree, my $5000-something billing balance was pretty freaking sweet haha Of course it would have been cooler if my room and board had been paid for as well.... but now I'm just being selfish :)</p>

<p>To the OP, you have a pretty good chance of getting a merit scholarship. Be sure to apply by the scholarship deadline, write killer essays, and nail your interview(s).</p>

9

<p>being poor helps even more because USC's great with financial aid... So if you are from a low income household.. u won't have to worry about money <em>as</em> much.</p>

<p>I didn't really do much anything extraordinary and i paid like 4K ish this semester (out of 24K that's pretty nice i say)</p>

10

<p>I think you've got a very strong chance looking at your academic record. Out of curiosity, what are your academic electives? And what's your after-school job?</p>

<p>Are you interested in applying to the College of Arts, Letters and Sciences or are you looking at a particular school within USC?</p>