skaterperson88

I'm only a sophomore in HS right now but I need some help on figuring out what I need to do to even stand a chance for usc. As of now my gpa is 3.5 and my only activities are track, and Italian club which doesn't stand for much.

kenf1234

You need to improve your GPA. That is the most important thing you can do to improve your chances for getting into a good college.

liek0806

To get into USC, i recommend you start preparing for the SATs, like do practice tests now to see what your sat scores will look like, because in my opinion if you lack in your extracurricular activities, then you better have
higher sat scores and gpas than the average scores of the student body to make you stand out. i remember a guy in my high school who was the valedictorian, or salutatorian, whose extracurricular activities were basically non existant and who ended up with a 1500 out of 1600 on his sat scores. back then the average at usc was like 1300-1350, and USC was one of the few schools that accepted him. UCLA, UCB, and some prestigious privates including Uni of Penn all rejected him, and i imagine it was due to his lack of extracurricular activities.

you should also be adding more meaningful extracurricular activities, if you love track, then do more than that, start a track club, volunteer at a local elementary on a track team etc, start competing in community races, do walks for non profit organizations or take your italian club further, help teach italian in your community, become a tutor, anything that keeps you busy. you should also be doing things in high school during the summer, try getting work expereince even if its at a retail/fast food chain.