Hi, y’all ! I applied to RHP for the 2018-2019 school year, and I was accepted. I just wanted to make this thread for students who were admitted into the program for future applicants to come and get a feel for the profile of students accepted into RHP. Feel free to also leave any recommendations that you may have for future applicants !
SAT: 1530 (730 R, 800 M one sitting)
– don’t stress about having a certain score; a good score just gets you through the door !
APs: APES (self study), AP Spanish (native speaker), AP HumanGeo, AP World → All 5s; taking AP Psych, Bio, Chem, US History, and English at the time of application.
– again, 5s are nice, but ultimately they’re not as paramount as your application as a whole !
Rank: 1/488
Weighted GPA: 4.81091/5.0000
Unweighted: 4.0
Major: Biochemistry, PreMed
Extracurriculars:
Choir: secretary, all region choir member, all 3 years of HS.
Multicultural Club: president, all 3 years of HS.
NHS: officer, 1 year
NHHS: officer, 2 years
Waiter at a Vietnamese restaurant
Volunteer at Perot museum
Hobby: language learner
I want to say here that the key to a successful application is to have themes to it so readers can really get a sense for who you are. My themes (and these were the words I chose for my USC supplement) were Curious, Courageous, Compassionate. Let me explain what I mean:
Curious: I mentioned various times about how I enjoy exploring new things like languages and new cultures (ties in w/my hobby, multicultural club, waiter job).
Courageous: I wrote one short answer over wanting to going back in time to visit the Stonewall riots, some of my RHP essays were about venturing out of my comfort zone even in applying, and again having the intrepidity to explore new things.
Compassionate: one of common app essays was about choir and how the love and acceptance I’ve been shown there has molded me into a more compassionate person, I also mentioned how I’ve learned to empathize and accept others for who they are (mentioned multicultural club again). I married compassion at curiosity together by discussing how I want to help others through medicine and practice medicine in areas of need in local languages.
Overall, my best advice is to sit down and figure out who YOU are as a person, choose three main things, and then your entire application reiterate and weave those notions into what you present! In all honesty, my stats are good, but extracurriculars were just like okay yea (IMO, compared to other applicants I saw). Just be honest and genuine and let the readers get a feel for who you are. DO NOT JUST SPLATTER THEM WITH INFO ABOUT YOU ! If you tell them every facet of yourself instead of honing in on a couple key points about yourself, it’ll just hurt you !
Luckily, USC is a perfect match for me as a student, but definitely do your research and play to the readers on why you should be at USC. You want them to be able to envision you on campus. In essays/interview (held via video conference in January btw) I mentioned their Problems w/o Passports for endangered languages (relevant to me and shows I did my research) and talked how USC’s promotion of double major reflects me as a student (Curious)! Again, you need to create an image to the readers so they know who you are!!
Interview: this is your time to sell yourself to the interviewer. Mine was in January via video conference and lasted around 20 minutes. Just be yourself, but make sure you prepare yourself by knowing things about yourself that correlate with you being at USC. For example, I mentioned wanting to potentially double major in vocal performance and how USC would allow me to do that, and also mentioned their choirs by name. Just showcase that you’ve done your research and that you belong on campus !
Essays: again, correlate your essays to the overarching themes about you. Anything you write for your application, make it unique while also not compromising your identity. For example, on my dream job I put “Time traveling actor who ONLY stars in vintage romance films—preferably in French,” and my theme song: “Non, je ne regrette rien” - Édith Piaf. Here, it ties in with my love of languages and (for you francophones) my courage and curiosity (the song title means I regret nothing HAHA!)! One of the RHP essays was about a book we recently read and I mentioned one of the stories written in 20 strange tales by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombian author, as a Colombian, I highly recommend his work!) that dealt with being too afraid to let yourself truly live. Be unique and don’t be afraid to get personal !
One last thing: I turned my application in about 3 days late because I did not realize you had to submit the writing supplement separately on the common app. Even so, I contacted the program, explained the situation, and they were extremely gracious in accepting my application. Then, during my interview, the interviewer tells me that they haven’t received my letters of rec (error on behalf of my school >:( ) but I should just send them to her. I mention this because I want to demonstrate that really doing the three main points about yourself and showcasing them throughout your application works bc I would’ve rejected myself for being so unprepared HAHA.
Best of luck and leave any questions,
Nico !
