Decision: Accepted
Date applied: November 28, 2016
Date decision postmarked/received: March 24, 2017
Which school/major at USC: Pre-Med @ College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Objective:
ACT (breakdown): Composite 34 > Math 34, Science 34, Reading 35, English 35
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 710 U.S. History, 780 Biology E
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.7308
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): Calculus AB (5), Euro Hist (3), US Hist (5), Lang and Comp (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): Biology SL (5), other 5 tests to be taken this May
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov/AP Econ, AP Stats, Physics 1, IB History of Americas, AP Spanish, AP Lit and Composition, IB Philosophy
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Make-A-Wish (publicity), dance crew (lead choreographer)
Job/Work Experience: part-time job (supervisor position), dentist internship, optometry internship
Volunteer/Community Service: non-profit food bank, non-profit needy family assistance, church, library
Summer Activities: volunteering, work, internship
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9. Wrote two essays. First one detailed the source of my ambition and how I will pursue my goal at USC. Second one was all about my personality. Basically, both essays glowed with personality (which is good because these people don’t get to personally meet you so they have to rely on essays to learn about you)
Teacher Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Philosophy teacher (9), APUSH teacher (7). I was a top student in both classes. Participated in all class discussions and set curves on every test. They both were willing to write for me. I put a 7 for my APUSH teacher because I do not think he is as good a writer as my philo teacher.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):: 10, my IB counselor only has 50-60 IB students to write for so she was able to spend more time and effort on mine
Additional Rec (rating 1-10, details): none
Interview: None
Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public Magnet School
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $90,000-$100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation
Reflection
Strengths: essays, extracurriculars, grades, test scores
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: essays, extracurriculars
Where else you are applying or have already applied: UCI (accepted), UCLA (rejected), UCB (pending), University of Utah (accepted w/ scholarship), UCSD (accepted), UCD (accepted w/ scholarship), Stanford (rejected)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Like everyone else has said…make sure your essay really shows your personality. The topic may be trivial and may not show your success, but as long as it shows your personality and ambitions, the essay will be good. Trust me, admission officers are sick of reading plain essays so make sure it pops and screams out who you are (really makes their job less monotonous and makes you stand out from thousands of apps). Also, try getting into things that really relate to your major. i.e. I wanted pre-med so I did two medical related internships, did four years of three different sciences, and took SAT II subject for Bio. Lastly, don’t stress 