I’m a high school junior and I just received a letter from USC that goes something like:
“According to the information we received from the College Board, your achievements suggest you would be a strong addition to our student body…”
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Is this another scam/general letter that they send to everyone?
Should I get my hopes up?
AFAIK, this is most likely a general letter that they send to a lot of people. USC probably farms data from CB and sends out emails to anyone with an SAT greater than X and a GPA greater than Y.
You may receive letters or information brochures from various universities/colleges as you start your search. These are no guarantee of admission.
You will get tons of these letters/brochures once you start taking the SAT or ACT and they continue through the application period. It makes you feel good to get them, but don’t take them to mean that much, apply where you fit and where you like. You can learn from them but don’t let brochures suck you in. Many kids interpret them as a sign the school really wants them and are disappointed come decision time. They are simply marketing the school because your test score is in a range of being acceptable to them, or you indicated something that triggered it on the questionnaire section of College Board. There is so much more to getting in a school and schools like to get lots of applications, they make money and it makes them look good. So, they send out lots of brochures.