<p>I am a 10th grader who lives in Houston,TX. My GPA is 3.6. I am in honor classes (English, Biology,Geomentry,World History) I planned to take AP classes next year. I am in Debate, Track, and AFJROTC. I plan to volunteer at the YMCA. What do I need get on my SAT and ACT inorder to get accepted and what should I do this summer to make my college resume look good. Thank you!</p>
<p>My D wanted to go to USC and didn’t get in . If we had it to do over I would find the high school in our town that sends the most kids to USC and have her transfer there. In our area it is an upper middle class public school, by no means the most rigorous in town, but they seem to have a relationship with USC that D’s school lacked. To find that school talk to the seniors at your school, they will know where everyone is going.<br>
The other thing that seems to be the magic admissions buzzword lately is passion. Pick one thing you like to do and focus on doing that spectacularly-ie, if you like debate try to get a summer internship with a judge or start a jr debate club in an underpriviliged grade school. For ROTC maybe you do something amazing for overseas troops. It has to be more than just a one time trick though, you really have to show that you have picked this to be your life’s calling, and going to USC would help you fulfill that. So don’t pick something you think they would like, pick something you love to do- and if you don’t know what that is yet, pick something and give it a try, if it doesn’t work out, try something else.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice!</p>
<p>its going to be hard to say what SAT scores you’re going to need, as you will be applying two years from now. USC’s average accepted score rose 20 points this past year alone so if that trend continues, you should shoot for above a 2100 and a 32 ACT at least. still, i have been really impressed by the USC admissions process. even though i had average test scores (2100 SAT), they took the time to get to know me through my essays and extracurriculars and named me a presidential scholarship nominee, meaning i was in the top 5% of 35,000 applicants. they obviously didnt see me as in the top 5% of just test scores, so remember that those are just a tiny facet of the entire application. make sure you portray who you are through your essays and express your passion for sc, because the admissions committee truly reads these and takes the time to get a feel of who you are. in terms of summer opportunities, usc seems to really like students with initiative and leadership abilities. you could look into doing a community service project in a foreign country or organizing your own community service opportunity in your community.</p>
<p>My PSAT score was horrible i recieved 133 
but I have been studying for the SAT and ACT and I plan to take both of the tests later this year. I need to work on my vocab.</p>
<p>Do everything you can to get that GPA even higher and work to get the SATs up to at least the 1950 level. The other advice about being passionate about an activity or two is solid as is heg123’s advice about the essays. </p>
<p>What I will add is you want to be able to clearly and strongly answer the questions: Why USC? What makes USC special to you? What does USC have that most other schools don’t? What are you going to contribute to USC that others can’t? These are tough questions but your answers have to be more than “it’s a really good school and I’ve always wanted to be in Southern California”. You have to make it hard for them to say no to you.</p>
<p>I am very worry about my SAT and ACT tests.</p>
<p>take a prep course. the tests dont test how smart you are but how well you can take a test. if it really tested how smart you were, why would you be able to get a different score when taking it twice? theoretically you wouldnt be able to if it were truly measuring intellect. but like i said, take a course. i took a long prep course (3 months with 3 practice tests) and my score went up a lot on the SAT. also, my ACT score was considerably higher than my SAT score so take both tests because one will no doubt suit your test taking ability more. but when it comes down to it, USC is really into GPA. get the GPA up and that could counteract lower test scores because it shows your committed in class. having a high SAT score and a low GPA makes it seem like you are smart but dont apply yourself and thats not what they want to see. For example a friend of mine got a 2100 SAT but had a 3.2 GPA and was denied at SC. so the GPA is key.</p>
<p>Definitely take both the SAT and ACT. I never had the opportunity to take the ACT, but I wish I did as there’s a chance I could’ve performed better on that test. I took the SAT 4 times and was never able to do better than an 1820 in a single sitting. However, I had a 3.92 UW GPA when I applied to USC, so that definitely helped me get in. As heg123 said, GPA is key.</p>