<p>First of all -relax! No one has guaranteed admission to USC, but for a freshman -you’re doing great. </p>
<p>GPA: USC looks at unweighted GPA only, actually. A 3.9 is fantastic.</p>
<p>Course rigor: You’re expected to challenge yourself, but only in the context of your school. If AP courses aren’t offered, you won’t be penalized for it.</p>
<p>Test scores: You’re ACT/SAT score increases every year in high school -not because you take them so many times, but because your abilities naturally improve. A 27 at the freshman level is good. It’s sort of frowned upon to retake tests more than twice, so I’d wait till end of junior year for that. Keep taking practice tests to measure your improvement, though.</p>
<p>Essay: Essays are vital. They tell USC about your character, which they use to determine how well you’d contribute to the student body. You should start working on them at the end of your junior year.</p>
<p>SCA: Don’t know much about the film school, so I can’t help with that, except that it’s very competitive. However, if not admitted to SCA, you could still be admitted to the college of letters & sciences (Dornsife).</p>
<p>Of course, with holistic admissions, no one can really chance you, but don’t worry so much about the academic side. :)</p>