<p>OK, I got a 31 on my ACT, so I am by no means a long shot when it comes to appyling and getting accepted to USC. However, let's say I get accepted there. Princeton Review says that students say that they stand for the University of Spoiled Children. I really would like to no if this whole spoiled rotten brat rumor has any substance to it. Sure, I can assume that at every schools there will be <em>those</em> kinds of kids, but is USC entirely populated by these kind of people? I am talking about the kids that walk around pretending that everyone they meet is the hired help, a loser, or non-existant.
A response on a 1-10 snob scale would be good with 5 being about average (there, but not outwardly noticeable). Thanks for any help.</p>
<p>7 is probably what they have. Not as bad as Virginia but not as diverse as Berkeley.</p>
<p>Yeah, I am not a racist, but I am definitely not a big fan of diversity. I am a more Republican conservative sorta guy. Now that I think of it, I am looking for a school where everyone doesn't try to rock the boat or violate personal bubbles.</p>
<p>The "Spoiled Children" label is an outdated stereotype that arose in the 1980s. It's really quite ridiculous.</p>
<p>On a different note, USC is one of the only schools in CA that isn't overly liberal. In fact, USC leans more towards the conservative side of the political spectrum. That is in major contrast to UC schools (especially Berkeley).</p>
<p>Getting a 31 on the ACT puts you within the middle 50th percentile (28-32) of both admits and matriculants for Fall 2006.</p>
<p>Alright. That calms my nerves a little bit. I just had to know about this, and a campus tour really isn't going to tell me much about the people that would be my peers.</p>
<p>Oh, I really want to know what the dif. is between admit and matriculate. I googled it but came up with: An admit is a first time college applicant and a matriculate is a transfer student?</p>
<p>I recommend looking at the freshman class profile: <a href="http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/docs/admission/Freshman_Profile_2006.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/docs/admission/Freshman_Profile_2006.pdf</a></p>
<p>Back about 15-20 years ago, "University of Spoiled Children" was probably a good way to summarize the student body, but it is now far more diverse. </p>
<p>According the the freshman class profile, 60% of freshmen receive need-based financial aid. I also heard President Sample in a speech say that the average income of the families of USC students is now lower than at many UC campuses. </p>
<p>On the campus, you will definitely see "those" students but you will also see a very diverse student body representing many other groups. </p>
<p>For rating, I don't know..maybe 4-5...</p>
<p>Thx for the link. I already had discovered it and printed it :P. I kinda sorta on a warpath towards college. I have a whole folder with stats and opinions on all my app. colleges.
I kno this could be considered another post, but do I have any chance at all of getting merit based rewards? I do have a 4.0 UW GPA and a 4.8 W GPA, valedictorian (out of 600 in my class), and 200+ hours of community service. But my SAT was only a 1970 (28 ACT equiv.) and my ACT was a 31. Reading the description of their merit-winners, it sounds like they are all 34 ACT superstars. And unfortunately USC tuition is able to be payed by my parents, but not easily. I will probably get FAFSA cause I have an older bro going to college (100% out of pocket cause he was un-FAFSA-able), but a scholarship would really lighten the load.</p>
<p>USC is pretty generous, and it seems like you might be at merit-level, but I really don't know. I would probably try the SAT again, aiming for a bit higher score as the average for admitted student is about 2090.</p>
<p>admit = getting admitted
matriculate = actually enrolling</p>
<p>Colleges admit a lot more students than matriculate. For a selective university, a 33% yield rate (percentage of admitted students who choose to matriculate) would be fairly typical, meaning that the school would have to admit three times as many students as it actually intends to have enroll in order to get its freshman class. Accordingly, if you see SAT and GPA stats for the school, they might be somewhat different if you're considering the stats of the pool of students who were admitted as opposed to those who have chosen to go there.</p>
<p>Don't worry so much about the stereotype, USC is huge and therefore has all types of students. In my opinion, and i know a lot of usc students, so this is legit, USC attracts top notch students from all over the country. many choose USC over ivies/ ivy-like schools due to the generous amount of merit aid they recieve. It is really difficult to get into USC if you are not an athlete or a legacy, so the non-connected kids are mostly extremely accomplished and not very snobby. HOWEVER, the alumni kids are often really obnoxious and a bit overzealous about school spirit, some to the point where it's not even fun anymore. By the way, I had the same ACT as you and received a small but decent amount of merit aid from an alumni organization, I didn't apply for the university sponsored ones- too lazy! Overall, usc was my second choice school (even over Berkeley!) that i was admitted to and it was really hard to turn it down because i know so many great kids that go there and love it. good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the help. I prob. gonna retake the SAT this Oct. after blasting 3 months of study on it. I am not really sure if USC should be my top choice. I like their academics (engineering), but don't really know if the 30k price tag is worth it. My other choices are Stanford (reach), UCSD, Texas at Austin, and U of Ariz. Each has decent engineering programs, but everything at UCSD and below are pretty much >85% acceptance prob. for me.</p>