<p>Okay, so I realize all the colleges say they do a holistic review.... But do they really???? like seriously, how important are GPA's. Because frankly, my GPA sucks beyond belief but everything (including my SATs) are good. Im freaking out because I feel like this whole "holistic review" thing is only said to be used to ease our stress/tension levels! Am i wrong?!? lol Am i just being paranoid?! as always :(</p>
<p>Refer back to my last post on Tired of waiting. My thoughts on the matter</p>
<p>from what i've heard, usc is truer to the "holistic review" approach than, say, the uc system. numbers are a factor, but it seems like usc really is looking at the whole person. </p>
<p>good luck! i hope you get the big red folder soon!</p>
<p>awww thanks so much :) I appreciate the encouragement and opinions. What would I do without all u CC'ers</p>
<p>While I can't speak for low SAT scorers, I can speak for those with a low GPA. I've never been one to really care for grades and sometimes I do get a bit lazy when it comes to work I feel is stupid/busy work. However, I did get accepted despite my relatively humble GPA. I do feel that some schools say the "holistic" just to get more application fees from us (or I may just be a bitter MIT reject...oh well). Anyways....</p>
<p>It was just recently that I figured out how to calculate my GPA. And due to average freshman and sophomore years (3.2W, 3.3W), it came out to being 3.58W and 3UW at application time. However, In my senior first semester I got a 3.8W, 2.9UW. </p>
<p>I think that if you have a low GPA that they like to see a steady improvement and a decent senior year GPA.</p>
<p>A minor disclaimer, I am African and my SAT was 2190 so that may have helped me even out the low GPA. </p>
<p>So in conclusion, if your SAT, essays, and ec's are good/very good I think you should still have a shot.</p>
<p>yayyy! thanks so much for your response. I appreciate it a lot :)</p>
<p>annakimwta, </p>
<p>move away from your computer :)</p>
<p>Just kidding.. i'm such a hypocrite!</p>
<p>you'll be FINE!!!</p>
<p>HAHAHHA wow, this is halarious. I know, im such a freak about this whole college process but HEY, you were once in my position too :D</p>
<p>so then what do you have to say for someone who is in the situation, where they have strong EVERYTHING (3.95 unweighted)</p>
<p>except an average SAT score??</p>
<p>Holistic review just means that they do not have definite limits on certain parts of application. Colleges won't reject a Nobel prize laureate just because he or she has low SAT score.</p>
<p>GPA is good but my SATs and rank are mediocre. EC's rock though, so it does show that they look at the whole applicant.</p>
<p>I've heard from some people about who've scored as low as 1740 and got in. I don't know what their majors/gpa/details were though.</p>
<p>I've heard that the average SAT from last year was like 2070ish, so once you account for that</p>
<p>I think a score above 1880 shouldn't harm your chances too much *especially if the distribuition of your scores suits your major.</p>
<p>So, a 760 Writing score should help me getting into a writing major? I wonder if it makes a difference? Cause I only got a 550 on the Math and a 720 on the Critical Reading.</p>
<p>The average SAT from last yaer was a 2050.. an admission officer who visited my school last October told me that..</p>
<p>
[quote]
1880
[/quote]
</p>
<p>why not 1870?!! :(</p>
<p>StressedOut -
Oh, I'm just speculating, based off my experiences.
Keep in mind that what I say is only based off the small amount of USC admits I've heard from (primarily on facebook though), so it may not be entirely representative.
Also. 1880 is just a personal estimate.</p>
<p>On collegeboard.com they report that the incoming class had a mid 50% of SAT Total of 1920-2180 and a mid 50% SAT CR/M of 1280-1460. So you should be close.
Also, according to the 05-06 profile they had a 33% yield from admits. So now they probably have around 30%. The low yield may help you gain admission as the amount of acceptances should be about 8,400ish. If you have other strong features to outpower the average SAT, things may turn out well for you.</p>
<pre><code> Sorry I didn't mean to add to the stress....
</code></pre>
<p>jcfisher1
I do think that distribution of scores is somewhat important, as I'm an engineering major and high sat1/2 math scores seemed to do a lot for my application (I'm in high level Math courses but I mainly get 80's as I don't really care for HW).
However, this probably varies a bit in each school, so listen to my advice with a bit of caution.</p>
<p>In my opinion the concentration of your scores should show the admissions committee strong lingual skills. (Lets hope that's how they interpret it)</p>
<p>Oh well, that's it for this attempt at being a wannabe admissions counselor.....</p>