I WANT TO GO TO USC SO BAD!!!Help me get in!

Colleges & Universities University of Southern California
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<p>OKay so I want to get in to USC…BADLY.
Like I love this school. I have visited 800 times and gone on the site every morning (okay maybe I am exaggerating, but I have just really been on this school’s jock okay.)</p>

<p>I love the atmosphere of the school, the strong Sports force, but yet there is also a strong sense of art too. I love the Party Hard, Study hard thing going on…I MEAN I LOVE EVERYTHING…(okay maybe the dorms need a little bit of redo but i can live)</p>

<p>Anyway, I really want to get into the School. I go to a boarding school in New York and I’m a junior. I have yet to take my SATs(take them in March, and then again in June…See how I’m doing.) I’m taking SAT classes…and thats going cool. I’m doing so much better.</p>

<p>I have a challenging class schedule this year(well I go to boarding school, so what do you think?) lol.</p>

<p>1 Problem I am dealing with is, only 2 have EVER from my school, gotten into USC…I’m originally from California…And I really really really want to go to USC. I don’t know if that matters or not though?</p>

<p>Another problem is that, I repeated my sophomore year to come to this school. In public school, I had like okay grades. I got 3 Cs in my public high school career( in the most non factor classes ever. 1. In Geometry Freshman year. 2. In Spanish Sophomore year 3. In PE Sophomore year.)</p>

<p>I wouldn’t have gotten Cs in Sophomore year if it weren’t for participation(I was absent a lot cause i fell sick)</p>

<p>Any way, besides that. I was an A student in public school. In Boarding school…that is a different story. I got one 76(in Physics) but brought that back up to a high 88 in the 2nd semester. In Junior year, so far, I am a mostly B+ student.(The ish is hard man…boarding school is not a piece of cake, classes are so difficult.)</p>

<p>Anyway, besides my grades, I am in a pretty rigorous schedule. This year I am taking 1 AP(Calc) and then a rigorous class my school only teaches(American Studies) special class, very difficult, and is equivalent to an AP.</p>

<p>So what should I do? I really want to go to USC, but I don’t know if going to boarding school helps or hurts me. I am African American and, even though I go to boarding school, I make under 60,000(I’m on full financial aid here) Should I go through Questbridge? Does anyone know of any other resources that can help me. I have talked to my college counselor, and she suggested I look for programs on my own also. </p>

<p>I would appreciate it so much! I want to become a Trojan so badly(Its an obsession guys)</p>

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<p>Grades and SAT’s are important, but so are your other activities. Do youhave a passion? Are you involved with sports or clubs? What makes you unique? What is your strength? If you have a demonstrated strength and passion, I think that makes you more attractive to any school, and I think USC is looking for that in its applicants. Work as hard as you can to bring up those grades, do as well as you can on the SAT’s and be sure to demonstrate your passion for “your thing” (sports, art, film, whatever it is). If there are USC events in your area, go! Speak with your admission counselor and get to know him/her when they visit your school or area. When you visit the school, try to speak with him or her at that event too. They are great resources for you in how to present a good application.</p>

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<p>I know this is going to sound cheesy but make it easy for them to say yes.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1112/USCFreshmanProfile2011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1112/USCFreshmanProfile2011.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Grades and test scores are a big factor (freshman Geometry and sophomore Spanish count, the PE probably won’t hurt). If you haven’t seen it, the above link shows you the averages. UW GPA: 3.8, 50th%-tile ACT 32, SAT: 2130. Anything above those numbers makes it easier for them to say yes. As an African-American you’re a URM, that makes it easier to say yes. Maddenmd makes good points - show USC why you’re special. </p>

<p>But I’m going to take it one step further, show USC how you’re going to make it a better place by attending there. Hint: Being suited to the California sunshine, sports force and a play hard/work hard attitude isn’t the answer. What can you bring to USC that few others can? How will you leave a positive mark on the place that no one else will?</p>

<p>See if the USC rep is coming to your school. If not work with your guidance counselor to make it happen. If not find a way to get to his/her presentation at a local school. Or work to set up a private meeting with you and a friend or two. </p>

<p>If you can’t make it easy for them to say ‘yes’, then make it impossible for them to say ‘no’.</p>

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<p>My thing eh?</p>

<p>well that’s the thing…I love everything I have tried…I love photography (have my own business for events and weddings)…</p>

<p>But like you say a positive mark? Like meaning how I plan to be successful?</p>

<p>Well if I can be honest, I really just want to be financially wealthy but love what I am doing. When I tell people what I want to be in life…they look at me and say “thats different”</p>

<p>Because honestly, what I want to do(my ultimate goal) is to build an amusement park, preferably a resort too, and own some restaurants(with my family’s recipes) and like create a Big chain of entertainment things(kind of like Disney). I’m talking about the McDonalds of entertainment…however I’m afraid to put this on my application because people think I’m crazy.</p>

<p>But I’m also realistic. I want a real job, like something cool like working for the government internationally or maybe a huge company and coming up with marketing strategies, or maybe even an investment banker. I am very ambitious. lol.</p>

<p>But yea, I want to put the amusement park thing, and how I fell in love with it, but I think it might be too weird…and that will just make me look too…out there…</p>

<p>Or is that good. cause I have a strong passion for amusement parks(like every state I visit, I have to go to their amusement park before I leave=D)</p>

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<p>I had to laugh at your statement 3 c’s in the most “non-factor” class ever.</p>

<p>BRB Geometry is funamental and useful
BRB Have you seen LA lately. You should know some Spanish to get around. Not to mention most big schools (ie, USC) are branching out globally.
BRB the only way you got a C in PE is if you A) didn’t participate whatsoever B) didn’t dress everyday C) ditched everyday</p>

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<p>Your response #4 is precisely the wrong answer to my questions. Everyone wants to be successful. Everyone wants to win, (and thankfully many people still define success outside of the limited parameters of financial wealth - though that’s a discussion for another time).</p>

<p>You want to go to USC? Explain to them (us) how USC is going to be a better place because you will attend there? </p>

<p>Given your screen name that shouldn’t be a hard question to answer; though given your first attempt I suspect you still don’t “get it”.</p>

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<p>Talk about your business, how you started it, what you love about it… how you contribute to it, and suggest how that will translate into what you will do at USC.</p>

<p>It’s OK to dream about developing amusement parks! But if you talk about that, also talk about how that desire will make you a better student: your drive? Your ambition? Maybe talk about your love of your family recipe’s and how your could use them to build a restaurant, then an amusement park, and then an entertainment empire. No reason NOT to dream big. But a school will want to see what you have done so far… not just that you have big dreams, and how what you have done paves the road to that dream and how you will contribute to USC on the way to making that dream happen.</p>

<p>And… the tricky part: saying how great you are in a modest way. It’s hard to SHOW your accomplishments, not TELL about them. Find a way to write about them that shows who you are without saying "I am an X, Y OR Z, Tell a story of what you have done to start your business that SHOWS us your ambition and drive.</p>

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<p>Anywho,maddenmd…
I see what your saying…</p>

<p>Should I try to aim and make my personal statement more like a narrative than a “i have done this, this, and this.” </p>

<p>I wonder if it can be third person…nahhh…I would do first. First is better and more personal.</p>

<p>madden…do you go to usc? or no you dont</p>

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<p>MODERATOR’S NOTE: This thread is being closed because of the bickering and discussion of moderation.</p>