3.3 GPA, 1520 SAT, applying comparative literature, do I have a chance for USC/Emory ED? [international in the US, D3 recruitable athlete]

Chance Me / Match Me
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1

Demographics

  • International student living and attending hs in the US
  • Competitive region in the East coast
  • Large public, competitive (2000+ students, ~1400 avg SAT)
  • Other special factors: D3 recruitable athlete

Cost Constraints / Budget
Can do full pay but also qualify as well as prefer to have aids/scholarships. Will apply financial aid for some schools.

Intended Major(s)

  • Comparative Literature for most schools
  • Also just humanities/social sciences like history, art history, philosophy, cultural studies related, etc.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.28 (upward trend+some kind of extenuating situations)
  • Weighted HS GPA: school not providing, ~3.7 self calculated
  • No Class Rank
  • SAT 1520 (740 reading; 780 math) single sitting

List your HS coursework

  • English: Honors (G10, 11, 12), regular english, ESL
  • Math: AP Calc AB (G12), Honors (G9, G10)
  • Science: Double-Enrollment Physics (G12), Honors Earth Science (G9), regular bio and chem
  • History and social studies: AP Gov, AP Psych, AP World History APUSH, regular history
  • Language other than English: Honors French 2 and 3, regular French 1
  • Visual or performing arts: AP Art History, regular fine art courses and dramatic art courses
  • Other academic courses: regular electives (including cs related, social science related)

Awards

  • John Locke Global Essay Prize- history category shortlisted *1, science & technology category shortlisted *1
  • National French Contest- Silver *1, Bronze *1, Lauréat National Certificate *2
  • Hockey State Championship Finalist (2nd place)
  • Regional Hockey League All-Star Award, HS Hockey Varsity Letter Award *3, team MVP *2
  • College Board AP Scholar and School Recognition Award

Extracurriculars (in no particular order and will not put them all on the application)

  1. 1. School Newspaper Writer: 3 years, 10+issues contributed
  2. Independent Published Writer: consistently writing in three languages for years; have 100+ pieces and self-published a collection of essays/stories on Amazon.
  3. Founder & Leader: Founded and led a humanities/social science organization with 50+ core members and 2 chapters; involved 300+ people, reached 1k+ people. Also created and served as Editor-in-Chief of a digital magazine under it.
  4. * Humanities-Focused Passion Project: Key themes- seeking and reflecting on humanity in the age of technology; reconnecting with nature and one’s true self; sensing mind and body in a “reset” state; etc. (Including website, social media account, independent research (not yet published), interview with college professor, community experiments and events with a total of 3k+ participants.)
  5. Volunteer / Contributor: Volunteer proofreader for Project Gutenberg; currently completed 50+ pages of work.
  6. Blog Co-Manager and Co-editor: Co-edit and co-manage a blog on literature & political thought; Write & edit articles, select artwork, & connect with readers; Reached 20k+ subs & 500k+ views
  7. Interdisciplinary Curriculum Developer: Developed an interdisciplinary, humanities-focused curriculum; 200+ downloads on OER platform and conducted multiple sessions for all ages at the local library.
  8. Athlete: 13 years of ice hockey; 4 years of high school varsity team starter; got most MVP awards on the team; Played as a starter for an AAA club (got onto the team w/o paying and as a rookie to the whole system (it was my first yr doing club in the US so i competed with 95% returning/predetermined players); played hockey in my home country and competed at the national level, currently signed with the national youth team.
  9. * Marketing Intern at a Sports Startup Brand: Worked on marketing for a sports startup, including outreach, social media management, market research, and hosting in-person events. (Later developed a sponsorship relationship between this brand and my passion project.)
  10. * Art History / Translation Project: Currently translating a catalog of a Louvre art exhibition from the 90s; Love the topic, which is also deeply connected to many other parts on my application (my essay for JL competition and maybe also my passion project)
  11. Regional Middle-School Debate / Speech Judge: Paid work as a regional middle-school debate / speech judge for 6 months.
  12. Student-Led Poetry Organization Editor-in-Chief: Served as Editor-in-Chief for a global student-led poetry organization for one year
  13. * Travel / Independent exploration: Deeply interested in () and the (); traveled throughout () and surrounding areas with two art books, visiting sites such as (). Used these travels as interdisciplinary research for my passion project, connecting history, art, philosophy, literature, and botany; documented observations in travel journals that later inspired several branches of the project. (Probably my lowest-impact activity, but one of my personal favorites :))
  14. Editor and Translator: Reviewed, edited, and translated dozens of articles for an underground literary journal with 30+ members and 1k+ readers.
  15. Moderator: Moderator of a specific humanities-focused topic discussion group on an online platform (6k+ members)

Essays/LORs/Other

  • Personal Statement: 10/10
  • Supplemental essays: current ones would be like 8-10/10 overall
    LORs:
  • School Counselor: might be 5-6ish/10 (pretty generic)
  • APUSH teacher + Chem teacher: both not sure maybe 6-7ish/10 (not strong)

notes: Things in the Activity List that are marked with * are ones that are connected to my Passion Project; Extenuating situations include moving from a different country in 9th grade (language barriers and education system difference cuz I was not in an intl school or so), family responsibilities, and relatively unstable living condition due to financial and political factors.

Schools (not including safeties and some targets)
ED1: Emory or USC (help me choose please! only considering chance of acceptance because I compared ALL the other factors and still CAN’T decide on a clear preference over the other. Also please be honest, lmk if you think both are not likely and I appreciate a lot for school suggestions!)

EA: CWRU, Macalester College, NEU, UIUC, UW-Madison, UVA, Villanova

I know that my GPA is very weak, but just for context, here are some “outlier” Emory application results from our school over the past 5 yrs:

  • 3.31 GPA+1150 SAT (RD accepted)
  • 3.51 GPA+1150 SAT (RD accepted)
  • 3.37 GPA+under 1000 SAT (RD waitlisted)
  • 3.28 GPA+1560 SAT (RD waitlisted)
  • 3.53 GPA+1400 SAT (RD accepted)
  • 3.58 GPA+1510 SAT (RD accepted)
  • 3.55 GPA+1520 SAT (ED2 accepted)
    And there’s even more…
2

Interpret these data with caution.

Emory University recalculates applicant GPAs by excluding freshman-year (9th grade) grades & non-core classes like physical education.

You should recalculate your GPA the way Emory does, hopefully it’s >= 3.5 GPA.

I would avoid applying test-optional to any school.

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3

Are any of the colleges actually recruiting you for your sport?

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4

Yes but I don’t really want to go

5

Thank you! Do you know if USC recalculates the GPA too by any chance?

6

My sister attended USC.
She was an athlete, but she also had a high-grade point average and high test scores. She was admitted with full funding.

I know that they liked that my son was an accomplished athlete and had high grades, a very high SAT score and was a national merit winner. He was admitted.

They like full pay and they like athletes. They especially like national merit winners. All you can do is apply. They will happily take your money.

7

I see one LAC on your list (Macalester); you sound like a natural for NESCAC. Have you considered any schools in the northeast?

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8

Are you being recruited? Recruitable doesn’t mean recruited. But of course, that wouldn’t be USC. Don’t know about Emory.

You have data - so talk to your counselors.

But at a typical public, you’d have near zero chance for USC or Emory - unless you’re in the to 10% of your class.

Good luck.

9

I believe USC will also take into account grades earned in 9th grade. Emory will see the grades on the official transcript but won’t count them in their internally recalculated GPA during application evaluation.

10

If you can get any of these schools to want you for your sport, and recruit you, you might get in, even to your top two. Without being a recruited athlete, I think that your GPA is just too low for Emory and USC. Have you considered your safeties and matches?

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