Hi everyone!
I am a highschool student and I have done a lot of extra curriculars throughout high school. For example, club officers, member of a club, competiting in international competitions with my school and winning individual titles, awards from my school, studying abroad for a year, varsity athlete for one year, and the lists goes on. I have put so much dedication in my extra curriculars that my grades are mostly A’s and B’s and I made a C in honors chem 
I also have to retake the SAT bc my first scores were truly embarrassing.
But I love the colleges I have listed above and I know they are hard to get into. My question is really… what do these colleges really look at and do I have a chance?
There are people on the board who will guide you in detail once you have retaken the SAT.
As a general answer, UMiami and other schools are looking for general ability and college readiness and then ECs to see what interesting qualities you will bring to the campus. They get plenty of applications from very highly qualified students and you need to do all you can to be competitive. Be sure to have safety and match schools identified that you would be happy to attend and the family can afford. Don’t let “dream school” stick in your brain.
RE: USC, are you in California? I’ve read several threads where OOS students could not get sufficient financial aid to attend.
@TQfromtheU USC is a private university and being OOS is irrelevant. USC is not part of the University of California.
@TomSrOfBoston LOL I made the same mistake others make about UMiami.
If you want to know what parts of a student’s profile/application these schools consider – and each variable’s relative importance – search for each school’s Common Data Set. That will tell you, at a topical level at least, what they value.
I can tell you that most good private schools care about both quantitative (GPA, test scores, etc.) and qualitative (ECs, essays, letters of rec, interview, etc.) factors.
At many places, “hooks” are also considered to help them shape the class to look and function the way they want it to: race/ethnicity, state of residence, legacy, athlete, 1st generation college student, development case (relatives will donate or donated a lot of $$$), etc. The importance of the hook depends on the hook and the school’s needs, but it could prove badly be said that a hook can turn a B application to a B+ or A-. Sometimes a powerful hook, or a combination of hooks, can turn a C app into an A app.
You could have a sub-standard SAT and GPA but if you are the top clarinet player who applied, and the school orchestra needs a clarinet, that could be a hook. You get the picture…