<p>What are my friend's chances at USC? He wants to apply to Marshall Business School undergrad.</p>
<p>1400 SAT / 2400
2.9 GPA weighted
Played Basketball for 3 years in high school
He's not a very good writer (390 SAT) So I don't know what his essay will look like
Founded a company his Freshman year of high school
3 generations of his family went to USC and he says he will likely get in. His dad is friends with a trustee. I don't think he has much of a shot but what do you guys think? Do legacies matter that much? Thanks,</p>
<p>I’m honestly not joking. I think SC would be a reach for me (2140 SAT, 3.6 UW) but he says since his dad knows a trustee it is possible. I really didn’t think that they liked legacies that much…</p>
<p>Given then SC, has an almost unheard of 55 trustees (corporate governance on steroids?) that would be like almost one in six people in LA ( joking, but you get my point)…</p>
<p>I highly doubt it. And I stand corrected, with SC including their lifetime trustees, they exceed over 80 in count. That’s a lot of folk, all who might be cashing in on a favor or two—so unless, its Steven Spielberg himself (yes a SC trustee) I highly doubt it—endowment gift would need to be in the 8 figures at that point.</p>
<p>Years ago, legacy was very important in admissions. In fact, it may be that his parents experienced this. I think USC has moved on, and maybe his parents’ thought-process is frozen in the past.</p>
<p>That’s what I was thinking. I know it used to have rolling admission, be known as U of Spoiled Children and that if you were well off, had some connection or played football you pretty much got in. I also know that the school has changed a lot and climbed the ladder in prestige so to speak and it seems you agree. Just wondering and thanks for the answers! </p>
<p>Steven Sample, the (ex) president, made seismic changes over the past 25 years, with a stated goal of gaining the reputation of “The Stanford of the South,” of California, that is. He had the mandate of the trustees, and between fundraising, strategic hiring, scholarships, and other structural changes, largely realized his dream to change the trajectory of the school.</p>
<p>It used to be deserted on weekends (everyone was in Palm Springs?)- now it is much more residential and the undergraduates are serious, like the graduate school students always were.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. My friend went on his third visit today…he is pretty set on USC. We’ll see how it goes haha. I will be surprised if he gets in</p>
<p>OP, I wish you luck with your USC application. No offense but I can’t say the same about your friend. My D is a high stats applicant who just submitted her application, lured in by the present day reputation of USC as a highly selective, academically challenging institution. If your friend could get in with such low stats (390 on CR portion of SAT???) simply by virtue of being a legacy and family friend of a trustee, then to me that would mean it’s still the University of Spoiled Children. It’s one thing to use holistic admission to admit low stats students who have experienced hardships or lack of opportunities, but it’s quite another to admit low stats students just because of who they know and who they’re related to. I think (and hope) that your friend is kidding himself.</p>
You have a better chance than your friend, but like I seriously hope your friend is kidding as well. That’s ridiculous. Maybe if he was directly related to the trustee, and even then, again that trustee would have had to donate so much money for them to even consider getting him in. Also, even if your friend was admitted, I doubt he’d be able to keep up with the academic rigor here. Also, Being undecided is even more competitive, because you’re competing with an even wider range of applicants for the limited # spots as undecided major.