<p>Would being Hispanic and born from a teenage mother, but not very low In the income range be a plus for my application. Also would having family friends that
Have donated close to a whole building to USC help out. </p>
<p>-sent from my iPhone</p>
<p>It helps but I would say only if your SAT score is above 2000 and your GPA is at least 3.8. </p>
<p>As for the family friends thing, it won’t help unless they contact the school to give them their recommendation on your behalf. Otherwise USC would never know because that’s not the type of thing to write about in an essay, nor is there a box on the application that asks if you have “family friends” who went there.</p>
<p>I got in with a 3.69, so that GPA is not accurate. It helps if you have the stats, but I don’t think being hispanic is as big of an advantage at USC as it is while applying to most other schools.</p>
<p>packattack23,</p>
<p>USC uses a holistic method of considering applications for admission. The admissions committee is building a class. For the class entering in August the scores and GPA of admitted students rose, as it has been doing for years. I expect grades and scores to rise again next year. </p>
<p>Admission is based on various factors as mentioned at admission information sessions. Some are: rigor of curriculum, academic performance, writing ability, scores, grades, activities, community service, essay, unique experiences or talents, honors, awards and “fit” for SC.</p>
<p>That’s an interesting combination of under-represented and prestige hooks.</p>
<p>The easy answer is yes, Hispanic is always a plus. I wouldn’t mention your family friends, unless you know them well enough to receive something like a letter of rec…</p>
<p>Another thing is that I had some major problems with bullying freshman year that caused me to end up skipping school the entire second semester to avoid it which then caused me to fail all of the classes. I was a semester behind when switching schools sophomore year but was able to catch up on that lost semester in one semester. So my gpa isn’t as high as it could be around 3.3. But my transcripts definitely shows a positive correlation. My sat should hit 2000 by the time I send scores in and act around 30-33. I also don’t have very many EC’s but they all are very long term. I mowt likely will be able to get the donors I know to help me and my grandparents are thinking about making a donation to their cinema arts school</p>
<p>I wouldn’t mention bullying in your essay. That gives them a reason to think you’re making excuses for bad grades. </p>
<p>Also, if your grandparents are making donation just for the heck of it (to try to get you in), tell them to donate to Keck School of Medicine instead!! We need it more than the SCA!!! :D</p>
<p>Yah I wasnt planning on trying to explain my bad grades in my personal statement. I was more leaning toward talking about growing up with my mother being a teen when she had me.
Lol they had been planning this for a while cousin went to sca</p>
<p>Also isn’t there a supplement to explain your grades. It wasn’t only bullying. My first school was in a dangerous neighborhood and I had multiple police reports about my problems in the neighborhood</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s good. Just don’t turn it into a pity-party and definitely don’t mention the 3 letters “G” “P” “A” anywhere. I do believe adcoms like a good story though so it’s good that you’re starting to think about it already. You may go through several ideas, anecdotes, or hooks, and that just comes with time and luck. But you’ll get there. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. Are you a current usc student? Would you mind me askingwhat your stats were?</p>
<p>I am an incoming PhD student. My GRE score was about equivalent to a 1960 on the SAT 2400 scale (not very good I know) and my college GPA was 3.60. Grad admissions is a bit different, but what they have in common is that they care about numbers. In my USC interview, the Admissions Chair told us how they selected interviewees: they look at 1. The college you’re from 2. Your GPA. and 3. Your test scores. If those are good they read onto your essays. If they’re not good they still read on, but they’ve formed a bias against you. It’s very rare for them to invite someone who doesn’t fall above their averages.</p>
<p>FWIW, my numbers are average for my program. I really think it’s my essay that set me apart. I started with a funny story from my childhood but it took me I think 4 or 5 months to polish. So that’s why I suggested you try to have numbers at least at the undergraduate average AND a good essays. Good numbers will get you reviewed, and then a good essay will get you in. </p>
<p>I did not apply to USC as a high school student. That’s fine with me though. Now I get to go to USC for free and for 5 years!!</p>
<p>yung, I am a parent of 2 USC students and I would give some different advice. </p>
<p>1) I think your situation regarding bullying is compelling and should be told, in the proper context. It showed you weathered adversity, faced obstacles, and came back to later excel academically when you changed schools. This would work well in the optional extra information essay. It would also help if your GC or a favorite teacher, who knows your story, could write about it in their LoR to confirm how you have made such strong progress once in a non-threatening environment.</p>
<p>2) You only need one test source, so choose ACT or SAT (ACT seems to be easier for you to do well at) and focus on prepping for that one. No need to waste money and time trying to do both, as USC will only look at the highest, anyway.</p>
<p>3) There is no advantage AT ALL to having a LoR from a wealthy donor unless they are your parents and are currently giving an entire building or equivalent. Developmental admits do occur at most/all private universities, but the dollar amount must be high six figures to seven figures and be current, and be from parents, from what we have observed. Often, the university will expect there to have been a “history of giving” over many years. This is to eliminate any impression that one simply has to pay a university (Harvard? Stanford? USC?) a million dollars and their offspring are instantly admitted. And the donor’s son/daughter needs to have the rough ballpark stats to be admitted, as we’ve observed some who do not still be denied as freshman admits. </p>
<p>4) Your intended major/School at USC will have an impact on your admissions results. Those who want to attend one of the talent-based Schools (Roski, SCA, SDA, Thornton, Arch, etc) will have their portfolios/auditions evaluated and decisions on their admissions are less under the jurisdiction of the general USC adcom. In addition, those Schools are among the most competitive to get into.</p>