USC

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

Alright, so I’ve recently been denied from Stanford, something I figured was coming, and USC is my next decision, and I’m seeing whether to be optimistic or not. My first choice major was CS and my second was International Relations.

My GPA is a 4.0 unweighted, a 101 weighted (I ran my grades through a 4.0 scale weighted calculator and it said 4.6, if that matters). My ACT is a 33 (34 E 34 R 33 M 32 S). I live in a semi-rural part of Georgia, and go to a High school with 3,300 kids. I’m ranked 18 out of my class of 550.

I play soccer, I’m the captain for my team, I’ve been playing there for 5 years now, and I referee for U.S. Soccer. I do pretty high-level youth games that most kids my age aren’t selected, I’m in the highest tier that an under-18 referee can do. I make pretty good money with that, but I also had a paid internship with a web design company over the summer, and now have another job. My parents are divorced, my dad walked out on us when I was 16, and my sister has a disability so I have to help make ends meet and pay for things. I’m also into app development, I’m developing a language learning app (I learned Portuguese on my own and Spanish at school + self-study) that’s community-based, which is taking a while because of all the complications of it. I was in band, but I had to quit because I couldn’t fit it into my schedule. I was pretty good, I made the district/all-state band every year from middle school until sophomore year.

I think my essays were good, I put a lot of thought into them. I think my recommendations were good as well, I got 2 teachers who really know me and my work ethic. Having a relationship with my counselor is tough considering she’s also the counselor for like 500 other kids, but I’ve spoken with her enough that I think her recommendation was good.

So, that’s basically my application. Should I be more worried about qualifying for merit scholarships, or is getting in period what I should be worrying about?

2

So, I’m not sure why you made another thread with the exact same post.

3

I meant to put this in a different forum, my bad

4

Refer to the thread “Reaching for USC” below and @WWWard 's reply. Even though your stats and EC’s are extraordinary, USC is considered a reach school for many. Also refer to the to the 1st thread titled “What are my chances. Read first” posted by @madbean, which details the USC admission process.

5

Did you apply to other schools other then Stanford or USC? If not, you need to do that. USC has an 18% admissions rate, so it’s going to be a high reach too. Keep in mind that getting in is only half the battle. Are your parents willing to pay $200k for a bachelors degree? That’s not including California living costs. If they can’t, then there’s no realistic way to go to USC or to most any California school.

6

Actually, not to be too picky, but USC acceptance is in the 12-13% range now, even lower for engineering and SCA, Thorton, etc.

7

I’ve applied to a lot of others. Some public, some private (publics are in-state). My dad hardly helps financially and fought a judge so he wasn’t liable to pay for my college. My financial aid should come in enough to be reasonable but a merit scholarship would help a lot.