My top 3 choices were Temple University, University of Southern California & Fordham. Accepted to Temple Early Action, won’t hear back from USC until April 1, and I was deferred to Fordham, where I’ve decided I don’t want to go anymore anyway. This sounds dumb but if you want to be involved, there was a lot of partying at my hs. And, I don’t want to go to a college where there’s less than at my hs. And that seems to be the case with Fordham. I want a BIG school and it’s smaller than I realized. While there’s like 8k students, there’s only 2k at Lincoln Center’s Campus and only about half dorm. While it’s a top tier school, I haven’t heard her about it being especially known for Journalism, which is my major. Temple may be a state school but it’s ranked #2 in the state for Journalism, right behind Penn State, which is nationally ranked for Journalism. I don’t like Penn State because I want an urban school.
Here’s the problem: Temple has a lot of students which = competitive housing. If I wait, I might not get in a dorm hall I want and not all of them are nice. Right now, a lot of people have not heard back from Temple yet. They are being extremely slow getting back to people. USC would be amazing if I get in because of their incredible financial aid but I’m not entirely sure I want to go there because I plan on ultimately living and working in NY. Flying from USC to Pennsylvania would cost about $9k by the time I graduate. USC is my reach and there’s a good chance I won’t get in. Their average GPA is a 3.8 and mine is a 3.3. Now, in my defense, I took honors and AP courses and I explained why I did poorly sophomore year. My GPAs by year are: 9th-3.5, 10th-2.7, 11th-3.8, 12th (first semester) 3.7. I did well for my interview. I had leadership, great essay, great recommendations, I won 2 awards. My SAT is 1750. CR: 670 WR: 630 M:450. USC’s average is 2050. I was deferred to Fordham but I think I’d be accepted if they saw my first semester grades, my SAT has gone up 30 points since I first applied, and I’ve been named an Outstanding Participant in the National Achievement Competition for the PSAT, which only 2% of test takers qualify for. And EA is more competitive than RD at Fordham. I’m trying to be real with myself. If I was deferred from Fordham, there’s a good chance I’ll be rejected from USC. Temple is a great school, I’m just not entirely thrilled about going to school in my home state and in Philadelphia but I appreciate its proximity to D.C and NYC.
Do you think it’s best for me to secure myself that good housing and enroll at Temple or wait until April to hear from USC?