Curious - which of these do you consider matches?
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For larger schools she is particularly targeting honors programs to shrink the universe. For smaller schools we are looking for merit aid to make the $ math work. Ideally my daughter wants a medium sized program but with an opportunity to expand her horizons with student organizations, sports, campus events, etc. She will likely be in school for at least 5 years including graduate studies so $ matters.
From my perspective, USC - and each of the similarly ranked top colleges and universities - can no longer be considered pure āmatchesā by any applicantā¦ and regardless of stats. It is simply much safer to deem all such schools as āreachesā.
My main advice to future college applicants, and especially to those seeking USC, is to start the application process early and to ask the important questions now and up to the time that you actually submit the application. The time to gain some potential insights and to work out your own unique and specific approach to applying is now and up to your submission dateā¦ and not thereafter.
With recent USC admit rates in the range of 11-16% and with even 90% of all legacy applicants and 4K+ applicants with 4.0 unweighted GPAs and test scores in the 99th percentile among those not gaining admission each year, an applicantās success will instead likely depend on too many potential factors for anyone to correctly evaluateā¦ making predicting admission nearly impossible. But this also shows that they admit many without perfect grades or test scores. They are after all seeking to craft a well-rounded and diverse freshman class comprised of those who actually have a strong affinity for or connection to USC. They do aim to admit those who they project will thrive well at USC and bring something unique to the campus environment.
It is not the case that USC is looking for a freshman class of circa 3K comprised necessarily of well-rounded students. They are instead looking to craft a well-rounded class comprised of unique individuals who might bring something interesting and specifically needed to campus. So I would certainly recommend using the admission process to demonstrate that. Let the readers understand what USC may be gaining by admitting you specifically.
Your individual admission decision will likely come down to a composite and holistic analysis of your stats coupled with writing ability / essays, ECs, potential leadership roles, potential other unique qualifiers (URM, First Gen, geography, demographics, etc.), your Why USC? explanation/reasoning, etc. And that āWhy USC?ā explanation is likely the most important single component of your application. You do need to provide a well-thought out and well-researched answer as to why attending USC is truly significant and important to you specifically. And moreover, USC does want to gain a sense as to what you will be uniquely contributing to the greater USC community if admitted.
Before applying, I suggest reading through the very helpful insiderās guide to USC admissionsā¦
https://tfm.usc.edu/a-guide-to-uscs-college-admissions-process/
Good Luckā¦
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Think of all the individual attention/coddling that lone History major gets!
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However, NCSU has competitive secondary admission to engineering majors after a student enters as engineering-first-year.
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Very True; one of the reasons my own D20 chose OOS over NCSU 
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That is interesting. My daughter was talking about her love of the humanities during her MIT interview last year, and the interviewer told her if she really loves the humanities then MIT is not the place for her.
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Overall, I think that your list looks good, but IMO it consists of too many schools. I am suffering from application burn out just looking at it. In addition to the number of schools, the most competitive schools also have the most time intensive applications. Good luck to your daughter!
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My daughter was told the same thing about Humanities by Stanford coach and AO - small number of peers in those subjects, so you better like them and the smaller number of professors teaching those courses too. She ended up at an Ivy with significant more options in the humanities.
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Wondered if you had an update? My D23 just finished w/apps. ACT 34, 3.9 GPA, solid but not extraordinary ECs ā ballet, environmental. Wants engineering. We wanted to stay mostly in MW, so applied Wis, Mich, Purdue, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Rose, Notre Dame, Case, Fordham, & at last minute applied with dance supplement to Duke (Env Policy) & Harvard bc of non-major ballet opportunities. She knows these last are extreme long shots. Accepted so far to Notre Dame, OSU Honors, Fordham. So a list primarily of likelys and reaches. Her ātargetā was Case, which deferred her.
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Those are some great acceptances. Congratulations to you daughter
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