Fall 2014 USC DECISIONS STATS ONLY THREAD

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
81

<p>Decision: Rejected</p>

<p>Date applied: 12/1</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: 3/28/14 Mail</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT Total: 2020
ACT: n/a
SAT Subject Tests: didn’t report
GPA-UW/W: 4.0/4.75
Rank: 1/480
AP/IB classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus AB, AP Lit/Comp, AP Lang/Comp, AP Environmental Science, AP Govt and Politics, AP US History</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: Wrote about how her varsity volleyball coach died during the season and how honored she was to receive the first award named after him at the awards ceremony. Also wrote about how she wants to change lives by becoming a cardiac surgeon.</p>

<p>Teacher Recs: Only read one of them which was pretty good from her student council advisor. The other one came from her AP Lit/Comp teacher which we imagine was strong since D was the only one to ever get a perfect score on one of his tests as long as he has been teaching. </p>

<p>Counselor Rec: Should have been good. Never saw it though.</p>

<p>EC highlights: Likely valedictorian, three years varsity volleyball as a starter, two years as captain of the team, two years 2nd team All-Conference, Coaches Award, MVP Award, Scholar Athlete 3 years, three years club volleyball on a nationally competitive travel team, one year as captain, three years student council, Junior class president, Sophomore Class VP, E-board secretary senior year, produced several very large school wide events, was chosen as a presenter at a state wide leadership conference, All-State Academic Team sophomore, junior and senior year, National Charity League member for four years volunteering at a variety of charities including homeless shelters, the Blind Center, Miracle League. National Honor Society, Chess Club. Also worked part-time 20 hours a week as a sales person at a large department store her senior year. </p>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<p>School Type: Public (2100)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Major: Biology
Other Factors, hook? Obviously no hooks here:)</p>

<p>Thoughts: Not sure why she wasn’t accepted but realize the competition is very tough and many students with much higher stats were rejected also. Maybe they already had enough of her “type” of person/student in that major that are legacy? Also perhaps her essays were not as USC specific as they should have been? Who really knows for sure?</p>

<p>Schools I’ve been accepted to: UCLA, UCSB, Pepperdine, USD (merit scholarship), LMU (merit scholarship), Santa Clara (merit scholarship), Cal Poly SLO (merit scholarship), University of Utah (merit scholarship), University of Colorado at Boulder (merit scholarship), University of Washington.</p>

<p>School I’ve been rejected from: Stanford and USC</p>

<p>Huge congrats to those who were accepted!!! Fight On!</p>

82

<p>Decision: Accepted </p>

<p>Date applied: November</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: Mar. 26th</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: Architecture/Marshall</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT Total: 2070 M: 770, CR: 590, WR: 710
ACT: 32
SAT Subject Tests: 800 Math II
GPA-UW/W: 4/4, 92.8/100
Rank: X
AP/IB classes: Calc BC (5), Micro (5), Macro (5), Human Geo (Senior Course), Stats (Senior Course)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: Its so good
Teacher Recs: 8/10 (mentioned other school names…)
Counselor Rec: 9/10
EC highlights: League of Legend Challenger, Wow PvP rating 2200+</p>

<p>Location/Person: </p>

<p>State or Country: Canada
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Yellow
Gender: Male
Other Factors, hook?: </p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: Damn. Going to USC for sure. Screw George</p>

83

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Date applied: Late November</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: Arrived March 28th</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: Annenberg School of Journalism</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT Total: 2070 M: 710, CR: 600, WR: 760,
ACT: 29
SAT Subject Tests: None
GPA-UW/W: 4.0/4.11
Rank: 1/45
AP/IB classes: None, but did get two A’s in two community college courses (Public Speaking, Introduction to Mass Communication)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: Excellent and really personal, tells about my overcoming of autism and Crohn’s Disease to do all I do
Teacher Recs: OK I guess, but I know they weren’t too detailed (never saw them)
Counselor Rec: Excellent
EC highlights: Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout. lots of volunteer hours), Student-body President, DeMolay (lots of volunteer hours, high positions, countless ritual degree teams and major parts in them), Editor of School Newspaper (worked for it last three years), Yearbook Staff member (this year only), School Choir (10th grade only), Church (many service positions, youth group participation, volunteer hours), Special Olympics athlete in basketball, baseball, track (school doesn’t have sports), volunteer sports announcer and broadcaster for junior league and JV sports, hosted my own online sports radio show that is part of a network that now airs on iheartradio, attended a sports broadcasting camp in L.A., and a few other things as well. Have around 1,200 to 1,400 community service hours all together. That doesn’t even include hours for activities listed here that are not considered volunteer activities.</p>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<p>State or Country: California
School Type: High School is Charter, College is Private
Ethnicity: White (still trying to get documentation that proves I’m American Indian)
Gender: Male</p>

<p>Other Factors, hook?: Overcoming autism and crohn’s disease, have worked in various areas of journalism already including an assistant producer at local radio (1 month; wrote, voiced, produced, and edited public service announcements that aired and recorded traffic reports), Twitter Play-by-play Updater for a local professional minor league baseball team (3 months, or 1 season), and currently working as a high school sports writer for a local newspaper (started August 2012 and still going; attend games, collect stats, capture photos, write articles, editor really enjoys my work and it gets published in the paper and sometimes online). It’s clear I love sports broadcasting and journalism and I want to do it the rest of my life.</p>

84

<p>For my S:</p>

<p>Decision: Rejected</p>

<p>Date applied: 11/30/13</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: Not yet; looked on portal 3/29/14.</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: (Applied to Viterbi/CS(games), Dornsife (undecided) as 2d choice)</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT Total: 1960 M: 680, CR: 670, WR: 610
ACT: 31
SAT Subject Tests: (didn’t send; Math II 700, Physics 700)
GPA-UW/W: 3.93 (school doesn’t weight)
Rank: (Doesn’t rank; probably top 3 in class of 32)
AP/IB classes: Not available; will take CalcAB AP test this May. Took many honors courses, “most rigorous” curriculum available.</p>

<p>Subjective:
Essays: CA essay probably didn’t hurt or help. Wrote about an experience that led to personal growth, in the area of digital art and blogging. USC/Viterbi shorts were pretty good, I thought.
Teacher Recs: Probably very good, we didn’t see them but were told that they wrote very nice things and were really trying to help him get in.
Counselor Rec: Probably very good; ditto.
EC highlights: Varsity and year-round distance swimmer, placed 4th-8th in various events at the State level over the past 3 years, and won many island-wide first places in HS competition over the past 4 years (swam competitively for 10 years); Jr. Lifeguards (regional and state); Acted in several major roles in HS and community theater (10th-12th grades); Science Olympiad, FIRST and VEX robotics (lead programmer in 11th and 12th grades); Took 2 Stanford EPGY programming classes Jr. year, got As in both; Achieved “Math/Science All-Star” status (school level) in 11th grade, usually only reached by seniors. PT job as lifeguard Jr/Sr years.
Interview: Went very well (he reported). </p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: Hawaii
School Type: Very small private (non-religious) (32 in Sr. Class)
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male</p>

<p>Other Factors, hook?: Not really. We thought long-term swimming would show passion and dedication, and that he obviously didn’t “just do it to get into college”. Also thought being from Kauai (small, rural island) might help. Guess not.</p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: USC was his first choice and would have been a very good fit. It’s a little frustrating to see many others with similar stats that got into Viterbi… But he’s going to University of Denver with almost a full ride, and is very happy and excited about it, so we’re not losing much sleep over this. Good life lesson.</p>

85

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Date applied: December 1</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: March 28</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: Marshall School of Business</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT Total: 2090
M: 670 CR: 710 WR: 710
ACT: 34
SAT Subject Tests: N/A
GPA-UW/W: 3.92/4.35
Rank: top 10%
AP/IB classes: took 2 junior year/four senior year</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: I’m a fairly good writer. I was proud of my essays and spent a lot of time on them. They received good reviews from parents, friends, counselors, etc.
Teacher Recs: I don’t know. One of them was written by a teacher that loves me so I’m sure it was pretty good.
Counselor Rec: Don’t know her very well. Submitted a form about myself.
EC highlights: Internship at Visit California, School Retreat Leader, School Ambassador, Volleyball Coach, School Service Leader</p>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<p>State or Country: California
School Type: Private College Prep
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female</p>

<p>Other Factors, hook?: I don’t know! I think the internship probably helped because I did apply to Marshall. </p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: Fight on…</p>

86

<p>Decision: Accepted </p>

<p>Date applied: November 30 </p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: March 26/March31</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: Viterbi/Civil Engineering</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT Total: 2120 M: 720, CR: 660, WR: 740
ACT: N/A
SAT Subject Tests: Math II: 770, Chemistry: 750, US History: 650
GPA-UW/W: 3.92 (UW)
Rank: N/A
AP/IB classes: AP Psychology, AP Chemistry, AP US History (5s), AP Calc BC, AP Physics B, & AP Biology (this year) </p>

<p>Essays: Common App was about my family. Pretty solid and went through several revisions. I think my USC essays were pretty good too. They depicted why I wanted to go into engineering and the type of personality I have. I put a good amount time into writing and editing them with the help of my English teacher. </p>

<p>Teacher Recs: AP Chemistry and English teachers… I assume they were great! </p>

<p>Counselor Rec: Probably good too. My counselor said he “accurately and honestly” portrayed me based on a bunch of different surveys we took in college guide class. </p>

<p>EC highlights: Girl Scouts (Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards… Currently Patrol Leader), KEY Club (Historian and Assistant Treasurer), Student Worker, Yearbook Editor (and Staffer), Golf Vars II, TEDxYouth@Honolulu, “School Spirit” activities, Band/Marching Band</p>

<p>State or Country: Hawaii
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Asian</p>

<p>Gender: Female
Other Factors, hook?: I don’t think I really had a hook. I didn’t include the other volunteer work I did and a bunch of other stuff… Maybe me being a female in engineering helped! </p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: I didn’t get any scholarship money from them, but I kind of expected that because it seems like USC admission is becoming increasingly competitive. I would say to take the PSAT seriously because National Merit Scholars get half tuition ($23k) if they declare USC as their first choice school! Umm I was kind of surprised at who they admitted over other people so I guess nothing is ever certain! I think if you have what they are looking for (like women in engineering, men in women studies, etc.), you may be pleasantly surprised! Also I am not sure if I am going to go here yet because of financial reasons, but if I can figure it out, USC is definitely my first choice! </p>

87

<p>Decision: Rejected</p>

<p>Date applied: November 2013</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: 4/1</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: Applied to SCA WSTV, second choice Critical Studies</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT Total: 2220 M: 660, CR: 770, WR: 790,
ACT: N/A
SAT Subject Tests: French (800), German (790), Literature (790), Math L1 (690)
GPA-UW/W: 3.95 UW
Rank: Top 1%
AP/IB classes: N/A – International, I took A-Levels (A*AA) & AS-Levels (aab)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: CommonApp was great, maybe a bit too complex/symbolic for a college essay. Wrote about the place where I’m perfectly content, and it definitely reflected my personality/goals. I had worked more than a year on the supplements, so I certainly did my best on those, and got positive responses from the people who had read them.
Teacher Recs: I haven’t read them, but apparently they were really good.
Counselor Rec: Excellent, she knows me really well.
EC highlights: Lots of writing/film ECs with some major awards in my country, Student Council VP, school magazine editor, choir, founder of Russian Club & Finnish Club, organized school events and had roles in most school plays. Other than that I did ballet until grade 10, and aerial silks since. In the summer I volunteered at an association that helps refugees and I also do a lot of tutoring.</p>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<p>State or Country: Hungary
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F</p>

<p>Other Factors, hook?: Not sure…I went to two schools at the same time (I go to public school, but did my A-Levels at private school). I also speak six languages, but I don’t really think that’s much of a hook.</p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: USC was my first choice so I’m disappointed, but I’m not that surprised, considering SCA’s acceptance rate. I’ll probably take a gap year and try again! Hopefully I’ll have more luck!
Congrats to everyone accepted. You’re the best! FIGHT ON!</p>

88

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Date applied: 15 Jan 2014</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: 27 March 2014</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: Viterbi School of Engineering/ Electrical Engineering</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT Total: 2050 M: 800, CR: 560, WR: 690,
ACT: Didn’t take
SAT Subject Tests: Math 2 800, Physics 800, Chemistry 760
GPA-UW/W: 3.5 unweighted
Rank: 26/176
AP/IB classes: Calculus BC 5, Physics C Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism 5, Chemistry 5 (No AP classes provided in my school)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: Not bad i think but not excellent; at least nobody would write the same thing
Teacher Recs: I don’t know
Counselor Rec: I don’t know
EC highlights: Table Tennis Team captain, choir member (participated in World Choir Games), School librarian</p>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<p>State or Country: Hong Kong
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: M</p>

<p>Other Factors, hook?: Sister is an alumnus</p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: Going to USC</p>

<p>Waitlisted by Purdue, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, UMich
Rejected by UCLA, UCSB, Berkeley, UPenn, Cornell</p>

89

<p>Decision: Accepted
Date applied: 12/1</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: 4/1</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: SCA</p>

<p>SAT Total: </p>

<p>ACT: 32(33 composite)</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests: 800 Math 2, 800 Eng lit</p>

<p>GPA-UW/W: 4.0 UW</p>

<p>Rank: 5%</p>

<p>AP/IB classes: Physics B(4),Statistics(4), Lit(5), Music history(5),art history(5),Calculus AB(5), Biology(5), world history(5),Gov’t, Physics C, Advanced Calculus, Eng Lang,</p>

<p>Award: National AP scholar, small awards ( not significant enough)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: Excellent</p>

<p>Teacher Recs: didn’t read
Counselor Rec: didn’t read</p>

<p>EC highlights: Varsity Captain tennis, NHS, lots of theater and drama performances, volunteer for local theater group for kids and film festival, created school and commercial films( summer jobs),</p>

<p>State or Country: OR</p>

<p>School Type: Big public</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Asian/white</p>

<p>Gender:F
Other Factors, hook?: none</p>

<p>[General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…;</p>

<p>Thanks to CC, and to my brother experience on my preparation for college admission (7 years ago , he was rejected to all the colleges he applied to, mostly Ivies but now at 25 years old, he solely owns one company and partner of two companies, he is a smart entrepreneur, and has a net worth now) . I am so happy to achieve my goal. it just shows whichever college you choose, it does not dictates your future, it is your goal and passion that decide your future, my brother is the testament to that. </p>

90

<p>If it works, it should look like this:</p>

<p>Decision: Rejected </p>

<p>Date applied: 12/31</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: 3/29</p>

<p>Stats: •SAT Total: 1850 M: 800 CR: 480, WR: 570
•ACT: X
•SAT Subject Tests: Math II and Chinese 800
•GPA-UW/W: 4.26
•Rank: X
•AP/IB classes: X
Subjective:
•Essays: Not bad
•Teacher Recs: 7/10 maybe
•Counselor Rec: X
•EC highlights: X
Location/Person:
•State or Country:
•School Type: Private
•Ethnicity: Asian
•Gender: Female
Other Factors, hook?: X</p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: X </p>

91

<p>[noparse] Decision: Accepted [/noparse]</p>

<p>[noparse] Date applied: 12/6 (the deadline for SCA was the 1st, but I couldn’t finish my movie in time so originally I was just not going to apply but then I found out they had a five day grace period, still can’t believe my luck) [/noparse]</p>

<p>[noparse] Date decision postmarked/received: 3/29 [/noparse]</p>

<p>[noparse] Accepted at which school/major at USC: School of Cinematic Arts, Writing for Screen and TV [/noparse]</p>

<p>[noparse]Stats:</p>

<pre><code>[/noparse]
[noparse]
SAT Total: 2130 M: 690, CR: 730, WR: 710 [/noparse]
[noparse]
ACT: didn’t take [/noparse]
[noparse]
SAT Subject Tests: Math 2: 690, US History: 750, Lit: 660 [/noparse]
[noparse]
GPA-UW/W: 3.95/4.26 [/noparse]
[noparse]
Rank: 13th out of 376 [/noparse]
[noparse]
AP/IB classes: AP Macroecon, Gov, English 11 and 12, Physics, Psych, US History, European History, Calc, Stats, Music Theory, Environmental [/noparse]
[noparse]
</code></pre>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<pre><code>[/noparse]
[noparse]
Essays: I wrote my USC essays in an hour and 30 minutes because I spent all my time on the film app and completely forgot about writing my actual USC essays. I write best under pressure so I suppose they turned out well. [/noparse]
[noparse]
Teacher Recs: Didn’t read, but the two teachers I had write mine both liked me very much and have worked with me a lot (I would say that one of them, my English teacher and debate coach who I’ve had since freshman year, is probably the closest friend I have that is an adult). The two additional recs I had to send for my film supplement, however, didn’t send their recs to slideroom at all… [/noparse]
[noparse]
Counselor Rec: Didn’t read, but my counselor and I are very friendly and talked a lot. She has always understood my drive and ambition and my views on academics, plus she is the sweetest lady, so I am sure it turned out well. [/noparse]
[noparse]
EC highlights: Senior Class Pres, Student Council Association Secretary, Varsity Policy Debate Captain for three years with 15 invitational/conference 1st places and 3 time state 2nd place in state (every year since freshman year) as well as countless other debate awards, President of Ski and Snowboard Club for 2 years, President of Gay Straight Alliance and a Marketing Consultant for a regional LGBTQ Youth alliance, Captain and founder of Improv team, Technology Student Association member with state and national awards, Boy Scout, Volunteer, Intern and Fellow with the Democratic Party, theatre cast member and lead, chemistry lab volunteer with research hours at a local University and nearby Research Institute, and columnist for the school newsspaper. [/noparse]
</code></pre>

<p>[noparse]Location/Person:</p>

<pre><code>[/noparse]
[noparse]
State or Country: Virginia [/noparse]
[noparse]
School Type: Public, semi-competitive [/noparse]
[noparse]
Ethnicity: Middle Eastern [/noparse]
[noparse]
Gender: Male
</code></pre>

<p>Other Factors, hook?: I attended a Governor’s School for Environmental Science during the school year, I spent the summers at 3 prestigious debate camps, a Governor’s School for Humanities, and also I was accepted into a aerospace STEM program lead by NASA exclusive to Virginia program which I had to take as a course for a year. [/noparse]</p>

<p>[noparse] General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: I’m almost 100% about USC. Obviously my case is different because of the fact I applied to the SCA, which means a lot more focus was on my slideroom supplement which was roughly 26 pages long. My script I sent in itself was so-so, personally I don’t think it was my best work, but my script prompts turned out well, one of which I would say is probably one of the best I’ve ever written. [/noparse]</p>

92

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Date applied: 11/30/2013</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: postmarked 3/26/2014; received 3/28/2014</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences as Undecided.
My first choice was Undecided at Viterbi but they gave me my alternate choice.</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT Total: 2000 M: 730, CR: 670, WR: 600
ACT: 32 (E: 33, M: 34, R: 31, S: 31)
SAT Subject Tests: Math 2: 770; Physics: 620
GPA-UW/W: 3.91/4.45
Rank: 5:521
AP/IB classes: IB Math HL (AP Calc AB and Calc BC), IB History HL (APUSH), IB English HL (AP Lit and AP Lang), IB Physics SL, IB Spanish SL, IB Film SL, IB Theory of Knowledge, AP Euro. Total 11 IB/AP classes.</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: Honestly I thought they were amazing.</p>

<p>Teacher Recs: I only read one of the two, and it was pretty good. I knew one very well because I had her for two years and she was my NHS advisor for the next two years. She also helped advise my Gold Award project. The other one I just asked because I wanted to go into engineering so I wanted a LOR from a math/science teacher.</p>

<p>Counselor Rec: I heard it was really good but I didn’t get the chance to read it. I know her pretty well because she is an IB counselor, my Extended Essay advisor, and was my AP Euro teacher.</p>

<p>EC highlights: I’m a Girl Scout Ambassador; I’ve been in Girl Scouts for 11 years and I’ve earned my Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards. The Gold Award is comparable to the Eagle Scout project. I’m also the NHS President at my school and the California Scholarship Federation Community Service Chair. I was in a local city pageant as well.</p>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<p>State or Country: CA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female</p>

<p>Other Factors, hook?: Both parents went to USC; Dad is a “distinguished alumni.” Earned a 5.0 during first semester of my senior year.</p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: I’m torn between USC and UCLA but my parents are <em>ironically</em> pushing UCLA because of the cost.</p>

93

<p>I’m using last year’s formatting :smiley: </p>

<p>**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Date applied: Before Dec. 1</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: Received 3/28/2014</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: Viterbi School of Engineering, Chemical Engineering :)>- </p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>[ul][<em>]ACT: 33
[</em>]SAT Subject Tests: Math II 800, Chem 790, Physics 740
[<em>]GPA-UW/W: 3.97/4.03
[</em>]Rank: idk/340
[li]AP/IB classes: AP Chinese (5), AP Chem (5), AP Physics B, AP Calculus BC, AP US Gov., AP Macroeconomics[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>[ul][<em>]Essays: Good. I actually enjoyed writing the engineering supplements:)
[</em>]Teacher Recs: Didn’t read. One teacher really likes me, but not sure about the other. He only wrote one sentence in my yearbook. Tbh it wasn’t even a sentence, just some elements on the periodic table connected into a phrase LOL. (I was like, you have nothing else to say to me?? T_T I really liked the class…)
[li]Counselor Rec: Didn’t read. [/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Location/Person:</p>

<p>[ul][<em>]State or Country: CA
[</em>]School Type: Public
[<em>]Ethnicity: Chinese
[</em>]Gender: Female[/ul]</p>

<p>Other Factors, hook?: Immigrated to the U.S. in sophomore year. And btw I did not go to American School/International School before that; I went to a local public school. </p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: I was so surprised! On Friday I thought, lets face the reality and go get the rejection letter… but then, there it was, a huge orange envelope! It made my day. :slight_smile: USC was my dream school ya know. However, I’m not going to USC due to financial reasons. Man, the cost is insane, since I only got a $3k scholarship. Gotta work harder in college so I can get a better scholarship for grad school! Congrats to those who are accepted (especially ppl with major scholarship)!!!</p>

94

<p>noparse]Decision: Accepted [/noparse]</p>

<p>[noparse]Date applied: literally 4 hours before the deadline[/noparse]</p>

<p>[noparse]Date decision postmarked/received: 03/28/14[/noparse]</p>

<p>[noparse]Accepted at which school/major at USC: Dornslife[/noparse]</p>

<p>[noparse]Stats:
[/noparse]
[noparse]
SAT Total: M: 550, CR: 620, WR: 560 (did not send) [/noparse]
[noparse]
ACT: 29[/noparse]
[noparse]
SAT Subject Tests: World History, 660[/noparse]
[noparse]
GPA-UW/W: 3.54/4.21 (People usually go to top 25 schools with a 4.6 or higher, weighted) [/noparse]
[noparse]
Rank: top 7%[/noparse]
[noparse]
AP/IB classes: 10; US History 3, US Govt 5, Lang 2, Bio 2, World History 4, Psych 3, Lit, Calc BC, Econ, Chem [/noparse]
[noparse]
Subjective:
[/noparse]
[noparse]
Essays: Reused the activity one about my internship at the Holocaust Museum, copied my Georgetown one for my ‘Why USC’ lol [/noparse]
[noparse]
Teacher Recs: One from Bio, Lit, and Lang. All loved and thought highly of me. [/noparse]
[noparse]
Counselor Rec: She basically equated me to Jesus [/noparse]
[noparse]
EC highlights: Strong leadership in SGA, tennis, and over 1000 hours of service.
[/noparse]
[noparse]Location/Person:
[/noparse]
[noparse]
State or Country: MD[/noparse]
[noparse]
School Type: non-competitive[/noparse]
[noparse]
Ethnicity: Asian[/noparse]
[noparse]
Gender: Male
Other Factors, hook?: X[/noparse]</p>

<p>[noparse]General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: Fight on! Will be attending. [/noparse]</p>

95

<p>Posting for Son:</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Date applied: Late November</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: Arrived March 28th</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC:
Viterbi School of Engineering
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (Games)</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT Total: 2300 M: 770, CR: 800, WR: 730,
ACT: NA
SAT Subject Tests: Math II : 780, Physics : 770, Chemistry : 720
GPA-UW/W: 4.0/4.4
Rank: NA
AP/IB classes: Chemistry, World History, English Language, US History, Physics B, Calculus AB - all 5’s
Taking CompSci, English Lit, Physics C, MacroEcom
Concurrent College Calc CD</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: Have no idea
Teacher Recs: I think they were good (never saw them)
Counselor Rec: Probably very good (never saw them)</p>

<p>EC highlights: Android App Game Design Summer Internship in foreign Language/foreign country. FTC Robotics, reached World Championship. Key Club Volunteer. Surfer/Skateboarder. Plays Piano, Guitar and Ukulele. Animation/Drawing in spare time.</p>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<p>State or Country: California
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Latino - mixed race everything under the sun.
Gender: Male</p>

<p>Other Factors, hook?: National Merit $2500 Scholar, USC NMF Presidential Scholar. Never had a ‘B’. Consistency. </p>

<p>General Comments: Chose USC (over UCLA) due to the Game Design Program that can harness technical and artistic skills.</p>

96

<p>Decision: rejected</p>

<p>Date applied: 30/11</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: really late bcs international applicant and snail mail</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: psych</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT Total: 1900</p>

<p>ACT: </p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests: </p>

<p>GPA-UW/W: 3.8</p>

<p>Rank:</p>

<p>AP/IB classes: full IB diploma (36)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: about being bullied and getting over it</p>

<p>Teacher Recs: from eng teacher; apparently fantastic</p>

<p>Counselor Rec: i didn’t know this counselor. yup.</p>

<p>EC highlights: many interests, volunteered very often, Japanese Culture Club leader + founder, fencing, reading (won book report awards), drawing (won art competitions), often went on overseas volunteer trips (60+ hours each: China, Cambodia, etc.), volunteered at hospital, volunteered at church, volunteered at various other organizations (WWF, SPCA, Habitat for Humanity, etc.) total 200+ hours</p>

<p>Location/Person: Central North Carolina. The South.</p>

<p>State or Country: international</p>

<p>School Type: private</p>

<p>Ethnicity: asian</p>

<p>Gender: F
Other Factors, hook?: </p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: shame, but too expensive to attend anyways</p>

97

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Date applied: 1/14 sometime.
Date decision postmarked/received: May 28th.
Accepted at which school/major at USC: Dornsife; Pre-med; Psychology </p>

<p>Stats:
SAT Total: Nope
ACT: Nope
SAT Subject Tests: Nope
GPA- 3.44
AP/IB classes: None. </p>

<p>Subjective:
Essays: I think this is what did it for me, I do believe my essay hit it home for me because I got all personal and what not.
Teacher Recs:None
Counselor Rec: None
EC highlights: 100+ Volunteer hours</p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: CA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Armenian
Gender: Female
Other Factors: They do love their minorities and first generation college students. </p>

<p>General Comments:
Strengths: I also think my leap in grades and drive from high school to CC did help too.
Weaknesses: No recs and such.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I believe my interest in the school and my dream to attend their med school played a role in me being accepted.
Accepted: CSUCI and Humboldt.
Waitlisted: None.
Rejected: None.</p>

98

<p>Decision: Accepted </p>

<p>Date applied: Before Dec. 1</p>

<p>Date decision postmarked/received: Received 3/28/2014</p>

<p>Accepted at which school/major at USC: Viterbi School of Engineering, Undeclared Engineering</p>

<p>Stats:
ACT: 31 (didn’t send)
SAT: 2210 (770 M, 750 WR, 690 CR)
SAT Subject Tests: Math II 800, World History 740, Physics 740
GPA-UW/W: 3.81/4.61
Rank: School does not rank
AP/IB classes: AP Physics C Mechanics - 5, AP Physics C Electricity and Magnetism - 5, AP Calculus BC - 4 (5 on subscore), AP Microeconomics - 5, AP World History - 5, AP English Language - 5, Still waiting on US Gov, Macro, Psych, and English Lit from this past year. </p>

<p>Subjective:
Essays: I thought they were well written. USC does a good job of asking good questions, both short and long answer, which makes it easier to write with your “own voice.”
Teacher Recs: Didn’t read; I imagine they were above average but not exceptional.
Counselor Rec: Same as above. </p>

<p>State or Country: FL
School Type: #6 Public in nation, 197 in graduating class
Ethnicity: White (Middle Eastern)
Gender: Male </p>

<p>Other Factors: National Merit Finalist, no hooks. </p>

<p>General Comments, scholarship chances, status info, going to USC…?: I thought I had a good shot at getting in but I wasn’t overly cocky about it. To me, I saw SC as a match/high match. One of the main reasons I applied/am m going is that USC gives noncompetitive half-tuition plus $1000 annual scholarships to national merit finalists if you name them as your first choice school, which is nearly $100,000 total for signing your name. Add external scholarships and financial aid and you’re looking at quite the bargain. In fact, it’s about $50,000 cheaper for me to go to SC than (f)UCLA! Go figure. </p>

99

MODERATOR’S NOTE:
It’s also last year’s thread. Closing.