Decision: Accepted
Date applied: 12/1
Date decision postmarked/received: 3/24
Which school/major at USC: Dornsife School of International Relations - International Relations and the Global Economy
Scholarships: IDK yet (will find out 3/27)
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1430 (740RW, 690M)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/505
AP (place score in parentheses): Music Theory (didn’t take), Biology (3), U.S. History (4), English Language (4), Psychology (5), English Literature (taking in May), Statistics (taking in May), Government (taking in May), Macroeconomics (not taking)
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Econ, AP Stats, AP Gov, Honors Physics I, Business Law, History Through Film, Creative Writing, Off-Campus Study Hall
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Hispanic Scholar
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Speech & Debate Club, Academy of Science & Engineering, Tri-Theta (paint group leader)
Volunteer/Community Service: Key Club (all four years), Youth Ministry Service Projects (freshman to junior year), National Honor Society
Essays (rating 1-10, details):: 10 - I really feel like in my personal essay I was able to capture how I’ve grown throughout my years in high school, as well as what I’m planning to do with the rest of my life. As far as the USC writing supplement, I was really real (aka I said my life anthem was Saint Pablo - Kanye West)
Teacher Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):: Didn’t read, but I know it was great; this teacher praised me all the time.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):: Didn’t read, but I’m assuming it was good.
Additional Rec (rating 1-10, details):: Didn’t read, but I know this one was great as well.
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
School Type: Mid-Sized Top 20 Public in Houston
Ethnicity: Hispanic, African American, White, Native American
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Middle-Upper Middle Class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, YouTuber (?), Harvey Victim (?)
Reflection:
Strengths: GPA, rank, essays, rec letters
Weaknesses: test score (only took once, but I was fine with my score; other people may think it’s low though), ECs (personally, I think my ECs are fine: I focused on things that were interesting to me, and put a lot of time into them. I also didn’t sign up for clubs just so I could put them on my application, but I’ve had other people say that my ECs are really weak, so you can be the judge).
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I definitely think my essays and rec letters played a big role in my acceptance. I didn’t focus on impressing anyone, I just told my story, and was super real about life and my experiences. The teachers that I chose for my rec letters were also great selections imo, because they really knew me – not just what I’m capable of as far as extraordinary projects and such go, but also who I am as a person.
Where else you are applying or have already applied:
University of Notre Dame (Accepted, Waiting on FA)
University of Texas at Austin (Accepted, Honors)
University of Miami (Accepted, $48k)
Fordham University (Accepted, Honors, Full-Tuition)
Tulane University (Accepted, Honors, $48k)
University of Georgia (Accepted, OOS $10k)
Vanderbilt University (Will hear on 3/27)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight:
I think people focus way too much on stats/numbers. I did one chance me thread after I got my first (and last) SAT score back, and someone said my score was abominably low. I’ve had people tell me that I need way more extracurriculars to get into any of the schools I want to go to. This application cycle, I’ve seen countless people with way higher stats than me get rejected from schools I was accepted to. So, I would just say to focus less on numbers. Enjoy your high school experience and do things because you love them, not because you can put them on an application. Make great connections with your teachers, so that when the time comes for recommendation letters, you have a lot of options from people you know are writing heartfelt letters about the type of person you are. That’s another thing – be a decent person. I’ve seen people with perfect test scores/GPAs get really salty about being rejected from numerous schools, but that’s not all the application process is about. A perfect SAT score does not entitle you to admission to whatever school you want to go to. If you manage to show (through your essays, extracurriculars, & rec letters) that you’re a humble, kind person (who also happens to be well-rounded and ambitious), you’ll do just fine. I’ll be the first to say that I wasn’t expecting to be accepted to USC or ND, but my main goal while applying was to show them what makes me different from the thousands of other people that they have to select from, and I guess it worked. Lastly, don’t bother with Chance Me threads. The people who reply to them can be unrealistically and unapologetically brutal. Hearing from someone else, that your SAT score is too low, or your fifteen extracurriculars aren’t enough can be really discouraging. Had I listened to people on CC, I probably would have either retaken my SAT five times, or not applied to a lot of the schools that I was accepted to.
Let that sink in. I’m not the “perfect” applicant, but I was accepted to every school that I applied to.
Don’t let numbers hold you back from taking a chance. More and more schools are reviewing applications holistically, and who you are matters a lot more that a few more points on a standardized test.
===============