Hello, so I am applying with pretty decent stats (33 ACT, 4.59 GPA, 5 APs) and my goal is to get into the honors college. However, several people from my school are applying with similar stats except with a slightly higher GPA and wayyyy better writing scores. I got an 8 on the ACT writing and a 590 on the SAT writing, but I know someone who got a 12 on the ACT writing with a 32 ACT, and someone who got a 780 SAT writing with a 33 ACT.
I saw that the new stats for the honors college for 2014 have the average ACT composite 31-34. It used to be 31-33.
How heavily does USC, especially the honors college, weigh writing scores??
Will USC compare me against people in my school or the applicants overall?
Do I have a chance at getting in to the honors college at all?!??
Your composite is strong. On the SAT, USC only considers CR+M so I don’t know how they consider ACT writing since they don’t break ACT down. That’s a question for admissions. So are questions about comparing you with other students at your school. I know for my older D, some HC classmates with lower scores/same or lower GPA got chosen for scholars weekend and she didn’t (but all of them got in honors) so I know it’s not straight stats. And I know they really look closely at essays.
My advice is to stop worrying about comparing yourself to others. Keep your grades up, take ACT or SAT one more time in fall if you want to (both Ds increased their SATs in fall of senior year) and work hard on quality essays that show why you can add something special to the HC class and to USC as a whole.
I know this is an old thread but- an admissions rep from the university specifically told me that writing scores (from both the ACT & SAT) are not used for admissions or scholarship purposes. I was really worried about mine as well (I got a 20/36 on the writing because it was the new essay) and he reassured me that it wouldn’t affect my admissions or scholarship/honors chances!! @GopherDog