<p>Sirwatson: What is your definition of a "selective school?" I find it amusing that you would define two schools that only accept 50% of applicants as "not selective." USD and UCSB may not be AS selective as say Yale or Harvard, but they are still relatively hard to get into and definitely can be considered "selective schools." And, I hardly think that studying at UCSB in a HIGH SCHOOL summer program qualifies you to speak about yourself as a UCSB student. </p>
<p>Yang, I am very familiar with admissions at USD. The most important factors they consider are overall GPA and the quality and rigor of your high school curriculum. If you have taken challenging courses in high school (APs, honors classes, topped out in math, science, languages, etc.), that is important to them. They also look for strong recommendations and extracurriculars. Diversity is becomming increasingly important to them as well. I would say USD is going to be a reach for you based solely on the bit of information you have supplied but I do not have your complete application in front of me so I can not comment further. If you would like to PM me with some more information about yourself, I can give you a better idea of your chances.</p>