<ol>
<li><p>Does your current school have naviance or a way they track past students’ acceptances? If so, you should look at those scores/gpas as a guide. As a general rule, we would expect most students who are in the top quartile to be admitted – but there are exceptions of course. Those who fall in the top half of the 25-75% have about a 50-50 chance of acceptance those closer to the bottom number (25%ish) are a longer shot, and those lower than 25% most often have some compelling hook that brings some extra qualities to USC they are looking for. Truthfully, the stronger your stats, the less likely they will be a red flag no matter what school you apply to.</p></li>
<li><p>It’s been my observation (not official!) that students offered admission as undeclared were not originally applying to a Dornsife major. Some of the other Schools at USC are mega-competitive (Viterbi, SCA, Thornton etc) and may use talent as a criteria for evaluation. So, while a particular School may not have a space for a worthy candidate, in some cases USC will admit them to Dornsife undeclared. This typically happens for students who have excellent gpas and scores and essays, and bring their high stats to USC plus other desirable hooks (diversity, extraordinary leadership, national awards/honors). Again, I believe this applies mostly to non-Dornsife applicants with very high stats/hooks.</p></li>
<li><p>If Vocal Arts is a by-audition major, you may want to audition and see how it goes. It is possible that a talent-based major will admit a student despite (marginally) lower SATs over a science-based major (although your Math and Science scores rock). It can’t hurt to apply to both majors (USC allows 2) and see how it goes. If you do get admitted to Chem, but not to Vocal, I’m not sure if it is possible to re-audition after you matriculate. Be sure to check that out. However, if you are admitted to Vocal, you can add the Chem major without special applications.</p></li>
<li><p>The Musical Theatre minor holds auditions after you start USC. We hear it is competitive, but not crazy hard to be admitted to this minor. All USC students are invited to audition for the big Musical each year, and there are many independent musicals (student run) and a capella groups open to all as well. And I’ll also just add that USC is really encouraging to students who want to tackle wildly diverse double majors or major/minors. They even offer a large prize at graduation open only to students who do so.</p></li>
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<p>The above info is really only the best of my knowledge. Others who know more, please post corrections.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>