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The thing with college applications is they use actual GPAs rather than theoretical GPAs or the GPAs you wish you had.</p>
<p>According to your opening post, you are a rising senior so *your college application GPA is what it is. *It would be a waste of time to wonder what your chances would have been with a higher GPA (I am guessing that the “3.5” listed in post #1 is a bit higher than your actual GPA).</p>
<p>To answer your question in post #15: A lower GPA results in lower “chances” at any school to which you apply. The key is to include 2 or 3 safties where you are confident your *actual qualifications *will result in admission (and there are LOTS of those on the tuition exchange list) along with schools like USC.</p>