Scholarship Chances? Presidential or Trustee is the goal...

<p>Filipino/White guy from Southern California</p>

<p>GPA: UW 4.0, W 4.55 (13/498)
SAT: 2310 (770 Math, 740 Writing, 800 Critical Reading)
SAT II
Molecular Biology- 780
US History- 690
Math II- 790</p>

<p>APs:
US History- 4
Calc BC- 2 (garbage. it still hurts me)
Biology- 5
European History- 5
English Language/Composition- 4</p>

<p>I also took 5 community college classes:
Math 150 (Calc)- A
Math 151 (Calc2)- A
Political Science 101- A
Political Science 102- A
Spanish 102- A</p>

<p>Awards:
1) National Merit Commended
2) AP Scholar w/ Honor
3) Rotary Youth Leadership Award
4) UT Scholar-Athlete
5) Honor Roll (stupid but I put it)
6) Boys' State
7) American Legion Community Service Award
8) Football Coaches' Award
9) American Legion Oral Advocacy Finalist</p>

<p>Leadership:
ASB Secretary, Commissioner of Athletics, Site Governance Rep
MUN Treasurer, Chairperson for conference + JMUN
Academic League Vice President, Captain
Varsity Soccer Captain
Youth Group CORE Team Leader
Peer Educator
I also went to a bunch of leadership conferences...</p>

<p>Other Extracurriculars:
National Honor Society
Model United Nations
Academic League
Varsity Soccer
Varsity Track
Used to do football and cross country</p>

<p>I've done adequate but not outstanding community service</p>

<p>Ive had a formal job for a year and a half and before that I was babysitter and a soccer referee</p>

<p>Recommendations should be above average (I'll likely get the "top 5%" box but not "best ever- top %1")</p>

<p>Essay is unique. I'm rather proud of it but you never know I guess.</p>

<p>I apologize for the horrifically long post. any thoughts appreciated</p>

<p>I'd say you have a pretty good chance at being selected to interview for one of them. With those SATs I'd guess Trustee. What is your intended major? That will also play a factor.</p>

<p>Didn't want to 'bring up your post?'</p>

<p>Since you are from S. California, your high school has probably a good number of kids who were accepted. Can you possibly ask your high school college guidance counselor your question?</p>

<p>haha, i admit i didnt feel like bringing up the old one, but i also wanted to get the scholarship opinion this time and have it in the headline</p>

<p>actually, only 2 people have gone there from my high school in the last 4 years (not counting athletic scholarships) and i know that neither of them were interviewed for presidential or trustee. usc is not popular at my school, most of the advanced students are applying only to ivies and ucs.</p>

<p>thanks for ur thoughts so far</p>

<p>Well, I'm an applicant this year and my stats are actually pretty similar to yours. I was looking around CC for what type of stats qualify a student to be interviewed for these awards and found it very difficult to find a definite answer. We all know there are plenty of trolls out there that just have fun saying stuff like "I know a student with 2400/5x800 that didn't get interviewed."<br>
You have obviously read the USC description that says something like "applicants are in top 1-2% of ACT/SAT scores." It would seem reasonable that these two awards would be their way of attracting the 2300+ and 35 ACTs - in which case you should be good.
I suppose we will know in late January/early February.</p>

<p>Just out of curiosity, what is your intended major?</p>

<p>thanks for ur input chief, i agree. i am interested in engineering (what i put on my app) but i am also interested in business. yourself?</p>

<p>You can check out this thread: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/454785-stats-only-usc-official-decisions-fall-2008-a.html?highlight=2008+decisions%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/454785-stats-only-usc-official-decisions-fall-2008-a.html?highlight=2008+decisions&lt;/a> Most who posted the last week of January and the first couple days of February were Trustee or Presidential candidates.</p>

<p>^^^ how do you know that?</p>

<p>sadface- </p>

<p>In the past, the students who were notified of USC acceptance first, in January and early February, were invited to interview for Trustee or Presidential candidates. We assume that will be the same this year. The rest of the acceptances come out in late February to early April. The date the application was submitted seems to have no bearing as to when the acceptance is received. The rejections come out last- in early April.</p>

<p>Last year, the ones that received Trustee were invited to earlier dates of "Explore USC" than the non-trustee admits.</p>

<p>Hi sadface!
I don't really "know," but as cc411 says, that is how it worked last year. I was one of last year's applicants and (lucky for us) Nikara and cc411 kept us informed throughout the process. It looks like they are doing the same this year. They are GREAT sources of information. Good luck!</p>

<p>Last year's thread is a good place to look, but be sure to read beyond the early posts. It's easy to see comparable stats and tell yourself you're in that ballpark, so you also should expect a Trustee or Presidential interview. But if you read the posts in March, you'll see more than a few kids who had high SATs (2350, e.g.) and/or National Merit Finalist status who got admitted along with regular folk, and were not interviewed for the big scholarships. It's really hard to predict what will get you in that scholarship pool. But OP, your stats are definitely great, so you have a chance.</p>

<p>you might not even get in. No one is guaranteed admission by any means. A lot of really qualified people got rejected last year</p>

<p>thanks for the link to that thread, that was very helpful. and thank everybody for your input so far, im so anxious bc i wont be able to afford usc unless i get a scholarship...</p>

<p>If you are accepted to USC, you can apply for financial aid and see what USC offers you.</p>

<p>I'm interested in business (what I put in MY app) but am interested in Engineering as well..</p>

<p>srabiee90, you're right that no one is guaranteed admission but.. I'm pretty sure CC is a place for predicting chances based on past data..
That being said.. this kid is almost certainly in.</p>

<p>OP,
Aren't you a NMSF (from your grades & test scores, it looks like you should be)? If you complete all your paperwork & are designated by College Board as a NMF and USC admits you, you automatically will be offered NMF Presidential, which is 1/2 tuition, unless things have changed greatly since my S was admitted in 2006. The scholarship is for 1/2 tuition & renewable for 4 years if you maintain at least a 3.0 and make satisfactory progress toward graduation. This can happen even if you are not interviewed or offered Presidential or Trustee initially. That happened to my S & several other students I know who entered in 2006.</p>

<p>HImom-
Was it a requirement that the student list USC as 1st choice school to NMF to get the 1/2 tuition scholarship?
Thanks</p>

<p>Himom,
i wish! i scored a 213 on the PSAT (i had a bad day i guess) and the cutoff for california semi-finalists was 215 so i am only commended. i wish i was though. and andorra, i looked into it and u need to list usc as the first choice school</p>