<p>We attended a presentation about USC in the spring about the McNair Scholars program. The guy's name was Ed Black. It was a nice presentation, and we were especially impressed that we could get in-state tuition rates. It would be cheaper to go to USC than UVA or W&M in-state if my son were to get the $4,000 scholarship, which Ed said was a given for my son. My question to you is: does my son have any chance of getting the MCNair Scholarship? It didn't sound very promising, as only 40 are given out each year. Also, Will he have a decent chance to get into the Honors College? And, finally, it is hard to pick USC over W&M or UVA. Can you Gamecocks try to convince us that we should?</p>
<p>Here are his stats: 2130 on the new SAT, and has scored 5's on the AP French, AP Calculus B/C, and AP US History Exams. He also scored 800 on his French SAT II, 740 on the Math SAT II, and a 770 on the US History SAT II. He has virtually no extracurricular activities, except he was selected to attend the Virginia Governor's French Academy for 3 weeks this summer. His GPA is 4.6, weighted, not sure of the unweighted. For some reason, our school district does not put class rank on the final report card, but I believe he is probably 6th or so out of 500.</p>
<p>He is interested currently in majoring in mathematics or computer science, with a double major in French, and maybe picking up a minor in a more esoteric language, such as Arabic. He has the current career goal of becoming a cryptographer with the ability to work in foreign languages, possibly for the CIA or NSA.</p>
<p>He should have a 95% chance of getting into the Honors College. I don't know how much they weight extra-curriculars, but based on his numbers I imagine he has a pretty high GPA relative to his class and an oldish SAT score of around 1400? The Honors College requires an SAT of 1300 or more, I believe. For a McNair Scholar, they might want those extra curriculars - honestly, having no ECs is a big negative, but it all comes down to how you write it up. His numbers are pretty good, </p>
<p>I am a Carolina Scholar (instate version of McNair) and I was accepted into UVA. Because of Palmetto Fellows (state scholarship) and outside scholarships like Robert Byrd, I am getting paid to go to school at USC. At UVA with an out of state tuition, it was probably a final total of $30,000 a year. To me, you can hype UVA all you want, but I don't see that as being worth it. Especially considering that as a Carolina Scholar and in honors classes with 10-30 students I can stand out more easily that I could at a school like UVA, I am happy with my decision.</p>
<p>I have no doubt that your son has an excellent chance of getting into the Honors College. And I think he has a good chance at the McNair, too. Sounds to me like he has a passion for the French language...has any of the things he does outside of school (employment, hobbies) relate to language or cryptography? If you are interested in USC, by all means apply and take the time to do the McNair scholarship app, too. It is definitely worth the effort.</p>
<p>If your son does not get the McNair he could still get the McKissick which is worth $2000 and in-state tuition. It is worth applying there and then seeing what he is offered. I believe that the Honor's College is getting more and more competitive every year ( the average SAT's and GPA's are listed somewhere on the website and are pretty high) so I would say nothing is a given, but it sounds like he has a good shot.
My daughter loved the campus, the school spirit, and the size ( which brings a variety of opportunities). Good luck. Have you visited?</p>
<p>We are planning to go in August. I believe there is a $4,000 scholarship as well that Ed Black told us we would get with a 1400 old SAT score. My son is at 1380, but can take it again in the fall and try to get it higher. He got a 750 on the writing part, but I don't think the colleges are paying much attention to that score yet. I believe if my son gets a $4,000 scholarship, in state tuition, and gets into the HC, then we would probably encourage him to attend there. With the scholarship, but no HC, then we would probably tell him to go to UVA or W&M, just because the reputations of those two schools are so much better, and they are close by.</p>
<p>My S (who graduated h.s. in 2005) applied to USC during his senior year. He had a 1400 (old SAT) and a 4.6 GPA,ranked #6 out of 450,NM Commended,AP Scholar w/ Distinction. He did have some extracurriculars but none earth shaking, spent most of his time Jr. and Sr. year working 25-30 hours a week at his grocery store job.<br>
He was offered the $4000 Coopers Scholarship and also admission to the Capstone program which also carried some scholarship money.<br>
S chose not to attend (decided on our big state u instead because he changed his mind on the major he wanted which USC didn't have).
H and I were very impressed with USC during the tour and afterwards when they continued to send cards and letters. We would have been very happy to have our S attend USC.</p>