<p>You're gonna need it. But, please, don't enroll at USC when Harvard rejects you. The school could use less people from Texas.</p>
<p>haha. Yet another unfortunate fool lumping all of Texas together. Ever been to Austin or Dallas (throw Houston in there, too)? I'll admit, the rest of Texas leaves a bit to be desired, but those cities might as well be located in California.</p>
<p>I wasn't talking about cities, you moron.</p>
<p>^ By proxy, you are. You're stereotyping "people from Texas" as all one group. The average person from Dallas or Austin is absolutely nothing like the average person from Midland or Waco. You can't just say, "Ugh, I'm so tired of Texans." We're not all the same.</p>
<p>If you say so.</p>
<p>Ok, would geographic diversity help me? I'm from Cleveland, Ohio and in the past 10 years, only 2 kids from my H.S. applied to SC, both rejected, but I have better stats than them, so I feel decent about my chances. But will not being from Cali help a little? I don't think it would hurt, like a UC school, right?</p>
<p>Hookem,
We are not trying to equate SC with Harvard. However, there are some things which Harvard does not offer which do attract students to SC. If a student has the talent and creativity the School of Cinematic Arts is known throughout the world. An extremely talented violinist has the chance to become a student of Midori. Harvard does not have a dental school or a school of architecture. If a senior wishes to study gerontology SC is an excellent choice.<br>
Some majors are unique to SC. The Bachelor of Music-Popular Music Performance is a new major. Computer Science-Games is another exciting major. Animation and Digital Arts draws many talented and creative applicants. In the Viterbi School of Engineering a student can major in Chemical Engineering-Nanotechnology.<br>
All students are not alike. Each student is searching for the best "fit". For many very bright students who wish to study or explore the above programs SC is the right fit for them.<br>
In 2008 SC had 18 Fulbright Scholars, a Carnegie Scholar, Luce Scholar, two Goldwater Scholars, the only John Heinz Fellowship awarded, and many others. In the 2007-2008 year SC had a Marshall Scholar and a Rhodes Scholar. I feel certain all of the above students had very high SAT scores.<br>
Harvard is an elite institution of higher learning. It is a dream university for thousands of students. However, many top scholars do choose other universities. There is no doubt in my mind George Lucas has no regrets he did not graduate from Harvard.</p>
<p>There are zillions of reasons why someone with ~ 2300 SAT might want to go to USC. It's not like everyone ranks their college preferences in the same order as US News.</p>
<p>I for one had SATs in that general top score range (back when it was out of 1600...:) ) and USC was my 1st choice, and I certainly have personally known other people at USC who were in the top score range including one perfect 1600/1600.</p>
<p>stueydue!
i am sooo jealous
wanted so bad to go to discover USC although I already know I want to go there lol
unfortunetly live about 16 hours and 2 thousand dollars away :(</p>
<p>Georgia girl, I agree with everything you wrote except one thing. Harvard does have a dental school. It's not as good as it's Medical School though.</p>
<p>Not everyone wants to go to Harvard or Yale. My older son had an opportunity to do so and he did not pursue it. Lots of high scoring SAT applicants want to attend USC. In answer to the original question by the OP: do not worry about other people at your school. My son was admitted last year to USC along with more than a few kids from his high school with all kinds of different stats. They are building a class, not running a contest to see who can get the highest SAT scores. Make them love you in your essay!</p>
<p>Georgia Girl - Although I'm not well informed about architecture, Harvard does offer this: [url=<a href="http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/academic/arch/%5DArchitecture%5B/url">http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/academic/arch/]Architecture[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Btw, my D goes to Harvard, but prior to her admission there, she always assumed she would, and wanted to go to USC. USC has so much to offer, including some things that Harvard does not, particularly the school spirit/football/life-long alumni enthusiasm/"fun." (That said, Harvard does actually have an expected amount of the foregoing).</p>
<p>With respect to OP's question about his/her sibling legacy hook, USC is less inclined to provide one than it has in the past. Formerly, a legacy with decent stats was a shoo-in at USC, now many are rejected or relegated to Spring admission, because Spring admits' less-than-stellar stats do not need to be reported for USNWR rankings.</p>
<p>Bay,
I was incorrect about a School of Dentistry at Harvard. My brother-in-law has his JD from HLS and he never mentioned a dental school there. When discussing SC I was referring to the opportunity to study architecture as an undergraduate. As shown on the website Harvard offers architecture within the School of Design as a post graduate program.</p>
<p>i go to USC for engineering, i got a 2250 with an 800 on math. i know someone who lives on my floor got a 34 ACT which is something in that range as well. i'd go to USC for engineering over any ivy. i know a lot of people who go to usc that turned down higher ranked schools (and yes, oh so shockingly even ivies). i don't know much about the schools of LAS but i know the professional schools are all pretty highly ranked and across the board they seem to encourage you to do a lot of things as undergrads which are generally not seen in undergrad.</p>
<p>I can't believe someone actually asked "why would someone with 2300+ go to USC"</p>
<p>Scholarship Money? The fact that USC is a top 30 school?</p>
<p>I'm guessing Mr. "I wouldn't go if they gave me a full ride + laptop + a few thousand dollars" has never had financial hardship in his life.</p>
<p>(if it matters at all... I happen to have a 2300+ and a 35 ACT, and I put USC as my number one choice for NMS)</p>
<p>My son did not want to go to any of the Ivy's. He liked Viterbi Engineering better than any other school. Why? Viterbi is new from the ground up with top quality equipment, has really creative and interesting Engineering programs, smaller with more personal attention, and the preferred location in L.A.</p>
<p>My sister had a 2300 on her sat, 4.83 gpa and was a national merit finalist. She is in her junior year and is finding usc academically challenging. She was waitlisted at Stanford, where last year students from her high school were accepted with sat 's under 2000.</p>
<p>Usc awards academic achievement with scholarship money that exceeds 150,000 over 4 years. Since she plans to go to med school, this was a great opportunity.</p>
<p>Ok, does anyone know if geographic diversity helps at all? I'm from Cleveland, and in the past 10 years, only 2 kids have applied to SC from my H.S., but both were rejected(both had mids 1200s SAT, about 3.5 GPA). My stats are a little better, but I was wondering, would it help coming from an area that doesn't send many kids o USC, or is USC blind when it comes to this?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I think USC likes geographic diversity, but you still have to have the high GPA, high test scores, and other good things on your application (extra - curriculars, awards, fine essay, top recommendations).</p>
<p>what's condisered geographic diversity for usc??? the east coast?</p>