USC Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Projected Application
I am from Washington State

GRADES (1st semester/2nd semester)
Freshman Year:
-AP Human Geo (B/A)
-Algebra 2 (B/A)
-Honors Freshman English (B/A)
-Chemistry (A/A)
-PE (A/A)
-Foundations of History/Computer programmming (A/A)
-Spanish 2 (A/A)

Sophomore Year:
-PreCalculus (A/A)
-Physics (A/A)(DID NOT TAKE AP SCIENCE)
-AP World (A/A)
-Honors Sophomore English (A/A)
-Spanish 3 (A/A)
-PE (A/A)
-Art 1/Health (A/A)

Junior Year
AP Comp Sci (A/?)
AP Physics C Mech (A/?)
AP Calc Ab (A/?)
US History (A/?)-(DID NOT TAKE APUSH)
Junior English (A/?)-(DID NOT TAKE AP LANG)
PE/Computer Tech (A/?)
Sat Prep/Art 2 (A/?)

Senior Year (Projected Schedule)
AP Comp Gov
Senior English-(NOT TAKING AP LIT)
Advanced Calc
Ap Chemistry
Cisco networking (2 classes)

My school is very good public high school and offers maybe around 30 Ap classes
I passed on a lot of AP Classes, which I feel is my biggest problem in getting to USC. I want to apply as an engineering major, so I did not feel the relevance in taking AP classes such as AP Lang.

Tests:
ACT 33
English 30
Math 36
Reading 32
Science 35
Writing 31

SAT Math II 800
SAT Physics 800

ECs:
-robotics (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) will be a programming mentor/co-lead for incoming freshman
-NHS (sophomore, junior, senior)
-Key Club (sophomore, junior, senior)
-table tennis club(junior, senior)

Going to get a job during the summer
140 hours community service at a local food bank

MY MAIN QUESTION IS HOW BIG OF A PROBLEM IS IT THAT I PASSED ON SO MANY AP CLASSES?

2

What do you mean, passed on so many AP classes? Do you mean getting 3’s across the board, or just passing too many? You only have 7 AP classes listed - not in a mean way, but 7 AP’s aren’t a tremendous amount. Also, just because you’re applying as an engineering major doesn’t mean you can just slack off on English and the arts. If the reason you aren’t taking AP languages/history is because you legitimately can’t do well in those classes, then I can understand, but you explicitly said “I did not feel the relevance in taking AP classes such as AP Lang.” A cliche that’s true: colleges like seeing students that challenge themselves.
However, taking into consideration your current transcript and test scores, I would say you have a pretty good chance at USC with a vast majority of A’s, a decent number of AP’s orientated towards the sciences, and stellar test scores.

3

USC likes to see a hard rigor in high school and you certainly do have that but there are so many other factors that determine admission at USC. Your major, ethnicity, and other things will play a role in your admissions process. You are a highly qualified candidate and the admissions committee will probably offer you admission but who knows. Just apply in the fall and wait, I know it’s stressful but if you just continue to do what you are doing you will probably get in.