For whatever it’s worth, my kid listed USC as his #1 in the Fall so USC knew his status (he also emailed them to let them know). He was accepted with a just slightly below average GPA (from a rigorous high school with rigorous course load) and very, very high test scores, with ECs to be proud of but nothing extraordinary in and of itself. He was a good match for USC though it seemed and it turned out they agreed. So for us, it all worked out.