What are my chances for getting into USC?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello, my name is Evan and now I am officially a senior. My dream school has been USC ever since I have been a kid. Here is what I have to offer and I would appreciate any responses on my chances into getting into USC. If you have any other recommendations on where I should apply please feel free to leave it in the comments below. My other top choice is University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Let me know :slight_smile: Thank you so much for taking your time to read this.

Gpa:
3.3 UW
3.75 W

ACT:
33 ( 34 English, 32 Reading, 30 Math, 36 Science) and an 11/12 on the writing

Sports:
I have been playing basketball and tennis for over 8 years, I have around 40 trophies. At school, I have been playing varsity tennis for 3 years.

Music:
I have been playing piano for 9 years and still play till this day. I graduated from a Music Academy which took me 7 years to accomplish. I also played trumpet and french horn in middle school, however, I did not have a chance to play in high school. I also produce music for various artists. I love creating and composing music. I have also played a few recitals and at a Jazz Cafe in Croatia.

Languges:
I completed 2 years of Latin at my school.
I also speak 5 languages fluently ( Slovenian, Croatian, Macedonian, English, and Serbian)

Leadership:
I have been part of ASB for 2 years (10th and 11th) and now its going to be my third. This year I got elected to be Treasurer of my school for my senior year. I have always been a leader since I was young. I love taking on difficult tasks and after the hard work with my team members their is no other way of expressing the feeling of successes… I am also a part of four clubs at my school. I have done community service around the city from feeding the homeless, working blood drives, and helping at my church.

Business:
I have known what I wanted to study since I have been a little kid. Finance. In the sixth grade I started my own technology accessory business which I bought my supply from China and sold it for a much cheaper price then the main retailers. From the profit I made, I started to learn how to invest in the stock market in the seventh grade. Since then I have been trading on my own and in the tenth grade I meet my business partner and each week we recapped about the different stocks we would each invest in. Soon enough, we realized that our strategies were very similar yet successful. We decided that with our skill set, we should create our own business out of it. On April 2014, we incorporated a public hedge fund. We have been running it for over a year now and we have an office downtown Santa Monica. We also started the Entrepreneurs and Investors Club at our school which each week we would lecture about the stock market and follow a yearly lesson plan where students can learn the basic fundamental about investments. At the end of our lesson, we would hold an annually paper trading competition and the winner would have a chance to work for our company. I plan on bringing this club to USC to help inspire kids about finance. This year I have also been asked to be the CFO of a brand new magazine company coming out in 2016 based on baseball and fitness. I have also created numerous websites for artists, photographers, teachers, and other individuals. I am in the process of releasing a new project I have been working on for over 5 months this summer.

Hobbies:
I love to travel. I have visited over 17 countries in Europe and love to learn about different cultures.
I am also an avid photographer. I used to run my own blog where each week I would go out and take photos around the streets which I mainly focused on street photography.
I am learning how to code which has interested me a lot since learning HTML 5 helps me create my websites.

That is just all that I could think of at the moment. I know I don’t have the best GPA but that’s because I am super busy and I work on my business a lot. I think my test score can make up for it a bit as well as my business endeavors. Once again thank you guys for your responses. Wish me Luck!

2

Do you have an upward trend with your GPA?

3

Its a neutral trend.

4

It’s actually very difficult for me to chance you. You have very extraordinary EC’s.
You have traveled to 17 countries, was that from your own money? I’m assuming it is, but just making sure. If it’s not, then you may be portrayed as a privileged person instead of a hard-working and dedicated businessman.

UMich School of Business is very hard to get into. If you’re out of state, much harder. They might just look at your GPA and just reject you based on that.
USC, also very competitive but has holistic admissions. It’s rare that someone has these grades and yet achieves so much outside of school, so I don’t know how that will work out.

is your school known for being extremely cutthroat and competitive, how is your class rank, did you take the most rigorous courseload possible? Those are some things that might help explain your GPA which so far is probably your only major weakness.

5

Starting a business in HS is quite unusual and mitigates your GPA. I would emphasis that in your supplementary essays. You will have to sell it to the adcom, but it sounds like you are very good at selling already. Ross is very understanding and actively recruits entrepreneurs, though it is usually for their MBA program. Your ACT score is very good and shows you are capable of handing the workload.

Ross admits very few people directly. Most students transfer in from another UMich college (LSA, Engineering, etc.) and transfer during or at the end of sophomore year.

6

the only thing you’re really lacking in is GPA, but your EC’s are amazing so really emphasize that in your essays (esp. your business club thing. if you’re interested in doing business internationally, you should probably incorporate the fact that you speak 5 languages and travel a lot into your essays as well). ACT score is good, but retake it if you think you can raise your score. overall, just put a lot of time into your essays, and try to get good rec letters.