<p>Hi guys, I am a sophomore in a competitive catholic high school in California. My gpa first semester and freshman year was around a 3.4.(Yeah Horrible i know). I played tennis freshman year but probably wont be playing any sports for the rest of high school. I am a pretty good drummer and play for school bands. I am indian but my last name is "Fernandez". Ok now that you know about me... I need a reality check because my dad has been on my ass. I believe that I could get a 3.7 gpa for the rest of my high school years, and I really do believe that I could get a 2200 on the sat because I am already starting to work on it. I have my sights on USC because I want get a business degree. What are your guys thoughts about that?</p>
<p>Google “common data set” “usc” and 2011 … you should be able to find the stats of the admitted class for 2011. That will give you the best idea of how you stack up - much better than chance me threads. Find out if your school uses Naviance, another helpful tool in this area.
Good luck!</p>
<p>A general reach school. Not a safety, but not a huge stretch. A 2200’s good but your gpa is lacking as of now. Is drumming going to be your only EC? That and one year of tennis is not very impressive in the EC department for schools…</p>
<p>^^Amen to the Naviance comment. They have this thing called scattergrams where you can see the stats for people who get in and see yourself compared to them.</p>
<p>Yeah My ECs are pretty bad also. Will joining a few clubs be helpful if I do that next year?</p>
<p>Well it will help, but not as much as if you really show deep interest/involvement in one or two clubs. If you go out and join several clubs but are nothing but a member then its not that impressive. Example? I did chess club all of high school, 4 years varsity chess, and taught chess to kids. They mentioned my “passion with chess” in my acceptance letter.</p>
<p>I was also wondering if colleges will forgive freshman year and possibly first semester of sophomore year if I improve greatly?</p>
<p>Some colleges disregard your freshman year gpa and recalculate a new one with out it, but not many. Freshman year is usually considered the least important of all four years and improvement is always good. Junior year’s the most important. So if you show an upward trend and do well junior year then a 3.4 freshman year won’t be too big of a deal.</p>