Please Chance a Hopeful Rising Senior

<p>Hey everyone! I’m a pretty good student who really wants to go to USC but I’d like some advice on whether I’d have a chance or not. I mean everyone only needs one spot so we’ll see…any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I would never ask everyone to read through all of this but just a quick glance and opinion would be nice. I’m a rising senior at a top school in CA. Waiting for both my SAT and ACT scores…FYI I took Algebra-P (grade was an A) in the 8th grade.
My current weighted GPA is 4.33, unweighted 3.93. I’m ranked 4th out of 96 in my class.</p>

<p>Freshman year:
English 9-P: A+/A+
Spanish 1-P: A/A
Career Quest/Health: A+/A
Geometry-P: B/B
P.E. Body Works: A/A
Conceptual Physics XL-P: B/B-</p>

<p>Sophomore Year: (switched schools)
English 10-P: A/A
Spanish 2-P: A+/A+
Algebra 2-P: A/A+
Biology-P: A/A
World History & Geography-P: A+/A
Keyboarding & Word Processing/Computer Tech: A/A</p>

<p>Junior year:
Spanish 4 Honors: A+/A+
Trigonometry-P: A/A+
Academic Tutor: A+/A+
Chemistry-P: A+/A+
U.S. History-P: A/A
AP English Literature & Composition online: A/A</p>

<p>Planned senior year schedule:
English (Creative Writing 2nd semester) and Psychology at my local community college
Service Learning (required volunteer class)
Government/Economics
Film 1-P
Spanish 5 Honors
I also have a couple more class options for 2nd semester but I haven’t picked those out yet. </p>

<p>List of volunteer projects –
• Started a school wide recycling program to fund our school library that used to be nonexistent (built signs, put together book shelves, labeled books)
• Delivered food every Christmas to Veterans who couldn’t come to the shelter
• Participated in my city’s local “Costal Cleanup Day” 2008
• Assistant director to Activity Day for children with Horizon Arts Group, also was a ticket taker for their annual art competition ceremony (at A Stroke of Magic)
• Organizing young adult books at Vacaville Cultural Center Library
• Assistant director to weekly “Storybook Art” at the local library, helping children with art projects
• Helped with Solano Youth Theatre’s Summer production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”
List of extracurricular activities –
• Dance at Patty’s Studio of dance from ages 5 to 13
• Competitive dancing at Dance Direction from ages 13 to 16
• Ballet lessons at Vacaville Ballet senior year
• Piano lessons at the Young Artist’s Conservatory of Music – School of Piano
• Tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, hip hop
• Performed on a Caribbean cruise ship
• Academic Tutor for Spanish 1 students
• Assistant teacher for Spanish Enrichment children on Independent Study after school program
• Co-founder of “Service Corps” volunteer club – Vice President Sophomore year
• California Scholarship Federation – Secretary sophomore year/ Vice President junior year (attended Rocklin CSF Northern CA Conference & Petaluma Conference)
List of Work Experience –
• Babysat for two children (boy age 5 and girl age 7) for two summers
• Paid Teacher’s Assistant after school for Spanish teacher
List of Awards –
• High Honors Award – 4.0 GPA Sophomore year and 4.3 GPA Junior year
• Nominee for “Who’s Who in English” from the United States Achievement Academy
• First in category for “Bond” tap dance
• 2nd overall for “Land of 1000 Dances” in Kid’s Artistic Revue
• Scholarship for “Bangkok” from Company Dance Competition
• Honorable mention for News Article in Campus Star competition for the Vacaville Reporter newspaper sophomore year 2008
• Wildcat of the Month November 2006 freshman year at Will C. Wood HS</p>

<p>it looks like you have a good chance of getting in for sure but those SAT scores are key. USC loves a high SAT…your other stats along with good test scores would definitely put you in. both my gpa and extra cirrics were not as good as yours and i got a scholarship…</p>

<p>wow thanks! that’s hopeful! i have a friend who got in with a half tuition scholarship and she had a 5.0 in high school. so are you going to USC in the fall?</p>

<p>yes i am! going in as a business major…can’t wait!!</p>

<p>Do you have test scores yet? And what is your intended major? Everything looks great so far, just keep up the grades and start asking teachers about recommendation letters early. They’ll do a better job and thank you for giving them lots of time to work on it.</p>

<p>Test scores are coming out this week for me…so we’ll see how that goes. I will probably go in undecided. One of my downfalls is being a super indecisive person, haha. I plan on asking my teachers early. I have at least 3 who will be willing to write killer letters for me.</p>

<p>Be careful about going in undecided. Undecided majors don’t benefit from department-specific staff that can help you with counseling, both personal and school-wise. If you’ve got some idea of what you want to major in, find out what school it’s in and see if you can major in some very general major in that school.</p>

<p>Hmmm ok. I’m interested in English but I’d like to be able to keep my options open since USC has so many great things that they offer.</p>

<p>What I would suggest is spend your first year taking general education (GE) classes, stuff that every student is required to take. Get those out of the way, and take a few classes in areas that you think you would be interested. That way you don’t “waste” any time and get to sample the college life while still keeping your options open.</p>

<p>I have an acquaintance who was an undecided major this year, she says they definitely got the short end of the stick when it came to scheduling issues and counselor help.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone! Does anyone else have more opinions?</p>

<p>bump bump</p>

<p>I’m having a problem…I’ll probably retake them, but I just found out I got a 1470 on my SAT with an 8 on my essay, and a 22 on my ACT. I kinda think they’re not USC worthy scores…so with those scores and all my other things how do you think they weight scores?</p>

<p>Those scores will definitely hurt your chances. Is that 1470 out of 1600, or 2400? If it’s out of 2400, then, yes, it will definitely hurt your chances. The 22 ACT as well. </p>

<p>But keep in mind that USC superscores, meaning that they take the highest score from each category, from all the test sittings. So keep retaking the SAT to build it up!</p>

<p>Ok…I’m for sure going to retake both of them or maybe just one, but I’m concerned that I won’t get even close to USC worthy scores? Does anyone know the school’s average score?</p>

<p>Middle 50-percent SAT range: 1910-2200
that was for fall 2008 as stated on USC’s website</p>

<p>Thanks…although obviously my score would hurt my chance. I’ll retake it, but still. Did anyone get in with lower test scores?</p>

<p>2000+ SAT is probably average, 2100+ to be safe
28-32 ACT seems average, 32+ to be safe</p>

<p>The lowest SAT scores I’ve heard are 1700’s - 1800’s. </p>

<p>Your other stats look good though, so just get this up and you’ll have a good shot.</p>

<p>Ok, thanks everyone. I’ll try to work on my scores but I feel like there’s only so much improvement I can get through within the time I have to send in my application.</p>

<p>Brianna, your scores are a bit low, but don’t stress on it too much. definitely try your best. but if I can tell you anything. seriously work on your essays this summer. again and again and again. tell your story. if you’re different, SC will love that. my SAT scores definitely were not the highest but I had different accompllishments. N Interview! i definitely think it makes a difference</p>

<p>Thanks usc2013, that helps a lot. Can you give me any tips for a great essay? What did you write about?</p>

<p>Write about anything you’re passionate for or anything you experienced that seems personal and unique to you.</p>

<p>Personally, I wrote about my high school marching band. Well, freshman year last field show of the year. Band had been practically my LIFE in high school.</p>