<p>Just out of curiosity, does anybody know of anyone with lower stats that got in? And by low I mean about 3.5 UW GPA? I feel like USC's average GPA is lower than most schools of the same caliber.</p>
<p>Also, do schools like Cinematic Arts and Annenberg care less about grades than schools like Viterbi and Marshall? Do they have lower average GPAs? How much weight do portfolios have in portfolio-based programs? Does anyone know of anybody with lower stats that got into one of the portfolio-based programs?</p>
<p>An applicant to SC must first be admitted to the university. After that students in the schools of cinematic arts, music, fine arts and theatre have to qualify for that particular school to gain admittance. For example, the Thornton School of Music is still holding auditions for seniors. These last into February. The theatre school also needs to complete their audition schedule. Portfolios or additional materials are needed for the fine arts and cinematic arts schools.
For some schools artistry, talent, imagination and creativity are weighed more heavily than SAT scores. About 18% of the freshmen students at SC are majoring in the arts, including architecture.
A student with 2400 scores may be admitted to the university, but not to Thornton for the strings department if his/her audition reveals a low level of accomplishment on the selected string instrument. The criteria for admission to the schools mentioned above can be quite different from Viterbi or Marshall.
I have heard of students with lower SATs being admitted to Thornton or the Theatre schools, but they had the rare quality…exceptional talent. Keep in mind a student has to be admitted to the university and able to handle college level academic courses.</p>
<p>In reference to GPA averages…
These can be deceiving. What classes were taken? How rigorous was the subject load? How competitive was the high school or preparatory school? In rural areas of West Virginia and Georgia there are high schools where the standards are completely different from a preparatory school such as Deerfield, Westminster or Punahou.<br>
So much of the admissions process is subjective. Best of luck in your college journey.</p>
<p>^I always heard that the applicant is first admitted by their major (if portfolio/audition-based) and then the USC undergrad office has to at least ensure that the student meets the minimum threshold for USC, but you’re saying that they first have to be accepted into USC as a whole and then their applications gets reviewed by the majors/individual schools?</p>
<p>My understanding, after having spoken with people in both the general admissions office and the office of my school of choice, is that it is University first, then school.</p>
<p>I’ve heard, at least for SCA, that the school and University review the applicant separately and then the school tells the University if they want the student. Then the University decides if they want the student, and sometimes the school can appeal the decision… Er, someone on CC explained it that way but I don’t know how accurate that is.</p>