Decision: Accepted (Spring 2018)
Date applied: 12/01/2016
Date decision postmarked/received: 3/24/2017
Which school/major at USC: Viterbi School of Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering
Scholarships: None, but I am a National Merit Finalist
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1550 (760 Reading, 790 Writing, 21 Essay)
ACT (breakdown): 34 (34 English, 34 Math, 32 Reading, 34 Science, 8 Essay)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 800 Chinese w/ Listening, 800 Math II, 710 Physics, 770 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.82
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Not sure, but probably top 10%-15%
AP (place score in parentheses): 3 Art History, 3 Physics, 4 Comp Sci, 5 US History
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Chemistry, AP US Government & Politics, AP Statistics, Honors Political Economy, Calculus, Contemporary Literature
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): IUSD CubeSat nano-satellite program, school theatre production (sound crew), swim team for 2 years, MUN, Voting Involvement Association (Event Coordinator)
Job/Work Experience: 2 week unpaid internship experience in India, brief web design work
Volunteer/Community Service: 25 hours w/ Irvine YAT during Junior year
Summer Activities: iDTech Programming Academy (robotics, 10th grade) UCLA DMA summer camp (9th grade)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App Essay 8, talked about my previous travel experiences & focused on internship experience in India; Engineering supplements 8, about my CubeSat program & favorite website (YouTube); other supplements 7, about growing up in a multicultural environment & why USC, but I felt those two were kinda bland/run-of-the-mill
Teacher Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Did not see them, but probably around 8.5, one of them was my Comp Sci teacher/CubeSat program advisor, while the other is my 11th grade English teacher/TA for all 4 years
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): Did not see but probably around 7.5, counselor is in charge of a lot of students in a large public school, didn’t talk much with her initially but we started to know each other just before/around app season
Additional Rec (rating 1-10, details): N/A
Interview: N/A
Other
Applied for Financial Aid? No
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: High
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
Reflection
Strengths: Standardized test scores (SAT I, ACT, SAT II), somewhat unique extracurriculars
Weaknesses: Relatively low GPA, not many leadership positions, OK but not exceptional essays
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted probably because of my standardized test scores & unique ECs, bumped to Spring probably because of relatively low GPA & not very exceptional essays
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Accepted to UCSD, UCSB, UCD, UCI, UCR, Boston U, Rensselaer Poly Institute, Cal Poly, UW; Waitlisted by UCLA, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon; Rejected by Duke (ED); Still waiting for UC Berkeley, NYU & Tufts
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Getting into USC was somewhat of a surprise because of my lower-than-average GPA, but I guess that my high test scores probably made up for it. Initially I was disappointed/confused that I got bumped to spring admission, but after seeing many students with better academic credentials getting rejected, I realized that I was lucky to have got in here at the first place. If you get rejected by your first choice college/dream school, please don’t give up because you will go to a great school!