USC Merit-Scholarship Question + some others!!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>For the Trustee and Presidential Scholarships, is it necessary that BOTH your ACT AND SAT score are in the 1 to 2 percentile? I thought USC (and all the other colleges) looked at the stronger score regardless if it is ACT or SAT. And for international freshman academic scholarship, do you have to qualify with only SAT score and not the ACT? </p>

<p>And if I didn't write that I will be taking ACT on December on Part 1 app, how can I do so on the Part II app? Or do I have to call them and tell them that I will be taking ACT on December? Also for the course load info, you are not allowed to designate honors courses as AP/IB right? What about community college classes taken during high school? Can I designate that as AP/IB or no? </p>

<p>Also I have taken weekend Korean language classes outside of high school, but the institution I took it at does not have a CEEB code. However I received grades for those courses and they are in my high school transcript. So can I say that I took the Korean classes at my high school? </p>

<p>Sorry for asking so many questions~</p>

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<p>Oh and does USC recalculate GPA based on the grades we provided? If so, are 9th grade grades factored in? And are only AP/IB courses weighted, if at all? Do we have to add PE grades?</p>

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<p>They take the highest score, but they look at everything you put on your application. They look at all years, including 9th grade. PE? I don't think you need to list that. They will get your transcript, see what you took, and then it is out of your hands. Don't worry about what they weight, turn in a strong application with a rigorous schedule and hope for the best. I do no think USC has a published GPA calculation like the UC's do. I suppose at a private school, some things can stay private. One of the benefits.</p>

4

<ol>
<li> Each year the criteria for Trustee/Presidential eligibility will change, so there is no formula. If your SAT or ACT scores fall in the top 1-2% (not necessarily both), your grades are well above the mean for accepted students (3.8 UW in 2008), you have extraordinary EC involvement, awards, or leadership, and excellent letters of rec and essays, <em>and</em> you do a killer audition/creative supplement if required for your major, you have a very good chance -- but not a guarantee -- of being invited to interview for one of the major merit scholarships. Considering that USC is an excellent private university with many departments ranked in the top ten in the country, this is a phenomenal opportunity.<br></li>
</ol>

<p>If you have the ACT send USC your scores from the Dec test session, USC gets it electronically as soon as it is available. Will USC consider Dec ACT scores in their early deadline scholarship eligibility? Make sure to read the website.</p>

<p>Even though you self-report courses and grades, USC will use your official high school transcript when calculating GPA. They know all the high schools, so they take into account the rigor of the coursework that way. Since there's nothing you can do about it, don't worry. Community College courses are not AP, so you list them as College classes taken in another part of the application.</p>

<p>As for the Korean courses, you might want to call USC Admissions with that question. And while you're on the phone, you can double check all your other questions as well. They are very helpful.</p>

<p>Good luck and don't panic.</p>

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<p>If you are a National Merit Finalist and put down USC as your FIRST choice school, then you qualify for the presidential scholarship pending acceptance to USC. At least, this was the case last year.</p>

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<p>Okay so for both presidential and turestee scholarship, they use either SAT or ACT so they will look over a bad SAT score if ACT score is good enough? What about for international freshman scholarship thing? Do they only look at SAT for that?</p>

<p>And yeah USC will consider december scores for scholarship consideration</p>

<p>And when calculating GPA, would they use PE grades? I did horribly in PE and it drastically brought down my class rank. And 9th grade is factored in this GPA right?</p>

<p>I will call the admissions for the Korean courses, thanks guys.</p>

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<p>@madbean: how do you know what's required for your major? please post link/url. I want to major in political science.
thanks!</p>

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<p>If your SAT score is better than your ACT score, then why send in your ACT score? My son only took the SAT and was accepted.</p>

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<p>I'm not sure any of us really knows how USC calculates GPA--whether they count PE grades and/or count all electives. If someone does know, please post here. </p>

<p>No matter what you list on your app, the adcoms will take the grades they count off your official HS transcript to calculate a GPA, so all students, no matter what school they come from, are compared using this standard USC criteria (although, as I mentioned, I'm not sure exactly what is counted). </p>

<p>For those high schools who report class rank, the number they report will be the number USC will use. They won't recalculate it (how could they? They don't know everyone in your HS class) by leaving off the PE grades or whatever. But many schools do not report class rank. Just the breaks. Although class rank is just one of many things the adcoms will look at.</p>

<p>USC does include 9th grade grades in your GPA (this differs from the UCs and Stanford--which don't). If you had a meh 9th grade but picked up and really did much better after that, it will be noted favorably. Adcoms love an upward trend. If you had a truly horrible 9th grade, perhaps you might explain what happened (had to help with siblings, too many ECs, family problems, ill health, whatever) in the extra section of the application if you think it would help them understand your turnaround. </p>

<p>orangemonkey, if you are applying to the School of Cinematic Arts, Theatre, Thornton Music, or Roski Fine Arts, find the department online (through the USC website) and see if they have special requirements for auditions, tapes, slides, or supplements. There may be additional requirements for Creative Writing as well. You just have to look up your major for any college to which you want to apply to make sure you don't miss any important submissions. </p>

<p>Take heart. Stats are just one part of the picture. You can make a great impression by writing a wonderful essay, getting recs from a teacher who really knows and admires you, and honestly expressing a strong passion for those things you love to do. Go out there try your best and you might just get a wonderful merit award. And don't forget, in the past USC has been generous with financial aid for those in need, so if you are accepted and qualify, you may find help that way.</p>

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<p>So if I were to apply for the USC scholarships by DEC 1 can I still take the Dec SAT and ACT in time?</p>