<p>Basically, I went to USC this summer, and fell in love. Those of you who have fallen in love with a college, you know EXACTLY what I mean. Those of you who aren’t in complete adoration, trust me when I say I waant to go very badly.</p>
<p>My issue is, of course, that USC is not easy to get into. My family’s stance on private colleges is this - if you love it, apply. If not, don’t.</p>
<p>So therefore, I’ll be applying to UC’s and CSU’s exclusively (and USC). I would prefer not to go to a huge school like SDSU. I live in SF Bay Area and would prefer to go farther from home.</p>
<p>GPA and SAT score wise, my gpa was atrocious at the end of junior year (3.3 unweighted, 3.4 weighted) and I haven’t taken the SAT yet. I know I can raise my gpa to a 3.7 weighted, so don’t lecture me about that and USC. But I do want to apply to schools that wont be a waste of time - so not UCSD or UCLA, which want at least 4.0. But what schools aren’t too big, and have a good student community and a good psychology department?</p>
<p>As for USC, if you apply by the early Dec 1 deadline, the admissions rep will not see any senior year grades, so your GPA is as it currently stands. They will ask to see your midyear grades, but there is only so much one semester of stellar grades can do for a GPA. As for the UCs, I believe they only look at soph and junior year grades, and have their own way of calculating. You can look that up easily, but it also shows that senior year grades will not be factored in. How were your PSAT scores? At this late date, you may want to prepare and take both the SAT and ACT (and more than once) to see which test gives you the best results. For the UCs and CSUs, they use a formula so your test scores can help balance your GPA. At selective private universities, it is not quite so easy to predict how they weight scores vs. GPA.</p>
<p>Perhaps others here will have suggestions for public universities that would be good matches. The good news is, lots of schools have good psychology departments. And if you really want USC, you can consider getting the best grades possible and trying to transfer.</p>
<p>If you are really in love with USC that much, you can always suck it up and go to community college and transfer after a year. USC is great in that it has a 1 year transfer program that other schools don’t, and granted you get respectable grades (and don’t repeat your high school performance since you have high goals and sites set on SC) you should be a trojan in no time.</p>
<p>As for public schools with at least a somewhat similar feel to USC, I’d say UCLA, but then that wouldn’t help you much since both schools aren’t easy to get into. Any school that has a pretty decent balance between academics and a hearty sports culture would do. I recommend transferring to SC though if that is an option. You’d also save a decent amount of money going the transfer route and would end up at your “dream school.” </p>
<p>If you really don’t want to transfer, I’d say look into UCSB and Cal State Long Beach; those would be realistic and sort of have what you are looking for.</p>
<p>^ I’ll have to echo UCSB and CSULB here. Realistically though: CSULB. It’s a pretty nice school with a great campus, and I’ll think you’ll like it. UCSB is stretching it a bit, and USC is an even bigger reach (but apply anyway, what have you got to lose?) Just gotta give your UW GPA one last boost with a strong fall semester and wish for lots of luck.</p>
<p>My son also wanted to go to USC really badly and did not get in. He had better grades than you and a 34 or 35 on the ACT. He went to a highly ranked public high school in our state (northeast). Getting the rejection letter was very depressing. However, he is very, very happy at a different private school. I don’t think he is sad about not going to USC at all.</p>
<p>What do you like about USC? My son wanted a good school with Division 1 football and it had to be in a city and he found that. What would your parents think of you applying to a school in another state like Arizona or Texas? I am thinking a big public. If you don’t need nice weather, maybe a big city private university like Boston University would appeal to you. It is easier to get in than USC. No football, though.</p>
<p>Can you describe in some detail what you loved about USC? You mention “student community.” More detail from you about what you like about USC and are looking for in other schools would likely help to provide you useful feedback.</p>
<p>So I don’t know how to edit my first post, so I’m replying. To anyone who has fallen in love instantly with a school, you know what I mean. I have visited a lot of college campuses - I was practically raised at UC Berkeley as well. So I know how they feel in general. I didn’t think much about USC. What I really want to study is Education (I want to be a primary school teacher), and they have a pre-professional one, but I didn’t look at it much.</p>
<p>What I loved? I went on campus and it resonated. I felt it within my very bones. I sound dramatic and like an immature high school student right now, but I loved it, and after the tour I turned to my dad and told him “I’m going here”. I do not care what it takes to get in. If it means transferring, I will do that. I went and it felt right, I felt comfortable like I never have felt otherwise in my life. It’s the right place for me. To those who are still skeptical, that’s how I chose my high school, and when I visit other high schools, they all seem woefully inadequate to mine - even if I like their programs, classes, or whatever better. I just connect, and when I do, it is the right choice.</p>
<p>To whoever knows more about the one year transfer - could you elaborate on that? It’s a program? Thank you so much to those giving me as much help as you can!</p>
<p>OP, I don’t mean this sarcastically at all – I’m wondering if there’s something I’m missing, and I’d like to know more. With three years’ worth of credits in the grade book, averaging a 3.3, how is it mathematically possible to move the average to 3.7 at graduation? Wouldn’t you need a 4.9 in your senior year?</p>
<p>I realize your specific question is seeking suggestions about schools that are like USC. I’m sure USC is unique, and I’m also sure you’ve checked out college board’s suggestions about alternate schools that are commonly targeted by those interested in USC. But interpreting your question a bit more broadly, trying to guess what some of the things might be that you like about USC, and what might also be feasible for you based on the facts you’ve given, I wonder if you’ve looked at Loyola Marymount.</p>
<p>OP said that she is willing to transfer to USC because she liked it that much. So at this point, talking about high school grades seems a tad unnecessary. Your passion for SC is admirable. Just apply, hope for the best, and if you don’t get in, start fresh and transfer (it’s easier than going in as a freshman). I know someone who only applied to USC and UCLA because those two schools were literally the only two places she ever wanted to study at, and she didn’t take no for an answer. She applied from high school, got rejected from both and didn’t care that she got 0 acceptance letters her senior year. She went to community college for just 1 year and is now a super happy and satisfied trojan.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! At this point, I have received my SAT scores, (1970 overall, 590 in Math, 690 in Reading, 690 in writing), and my unweighted gpa is a 3.67 (3.9 weighted). My extracurriculars are pretty good (internationally read music blog, a 5 year job that connects with my major of choice, a youth program, a Student Ambassador, and in Studen School Publications) I don’t have the best gpa, but so far it’s fair. Thank you especially to g0ld3n, I really appreciate your advice and telling me about your friend. If anyone has other thoughts (especially with the new info i just gave) I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>Demographically USC resembles Stanford; but academically we mirror Cal at the undergrad level and arguably UCLA. There are no other UofC ,or Cal State, counterparts, IMO.</p>
<p>UCLA, the rest of the UCs, and pretty much any other public school isn’t going to resemble USC very much. On paper it might seem that USC and UCLA would provide a similar experience given that both are ranked at #24 in the USN&WR rankings and both are both in LA. This assumption would be wrong. Both socially and academically, USC is much more insular and personal. Given that you have a much higher percentage of out of state students and the fact that USC is in a less desirable neighborhood, a much smaller percentage of USC students commute, and most move only a couple blocks north of campus after freshman or sophomore year. At UCLA the campus is enormous and not made for easy walking. It would be an easy stroll to get from one side of USC’s campus to the other, but for UCLA, it would be a heckuva hike. At UCLA, most of your freshman year classes will be lectures with over 400 students and largely as a function of budget cuts, it will be a painful struggle with bureaucracy to get the classes you need to graduate, get approval to change majors, or get academic consulting. There’s a reason why USC has a much stronger alumni network. That said, UCLA has a much stronger grad program and is much less expensive for in-state residents. I strongly recommend visiting both before making a decision. </p>
<p>No offense to SeattleTW (unless your area code isn’t actually 206), but Cal is much more similar to UCLA than USC RE huge lectures and a big struggle to get classes, advising, etc. Stanford, Boston College and Duke are more similar to the USC experience than UCLA, Cal etc.</p>
<p>We’re not in disagreement and I actually thought of mentioning BC, NYU, and Vandy, to name a few. Insofar as cultural and demographic makeup, USC is similar to all of them; however, our per capita stats are virtually the same as Cal. In short, aside from Stanford, one must go out of state to find a USC counterpart.
And your observation that we are composed of almost half out of staters is very significant and a distinguishing feature.</p>