Things may’ve changed since last year, but the conventional wisdom is to NOT submit if your score is beneath the 50% threshold for testing (sorry for this). Having said this, there were schools that my daughter was supposedly not within the 50% for her test scores but submitted anyway and got in with merit $. Does he go to an above average high school? (admissions knows about school rankings). Do you live in a state that doesn’t feed a lot of kids to USC (outside of tri-state area?) His EC’s sound strong, along with GPA, so I think he has a good chance but it depends how competitive this year’s pool is. Good luck!
He goes to a boarding school (as a day student) close to home. It is ranked the best that type of school in the state of Maine. It is NOT however, a Groton, Andover or Exeter (but what is?) I have no idea if geographically Maine is of interest to South Carolina. I thought it was strange that the Honors College automatically sees his scores. He applied to several other honors colleges and in each case was given the choice whether to submit scores or not (notwithstanding whether he submitted them on his Common App). For example, at U Alabama, he submitted both his SAT and ACT to the university but only his ACT to the Honors College. Similarly, he submitted his ACT to U Minnesota but neither score to their Honors College. So it seems strange that once he submitted scores on his common app, there is no way to block them from the Honors College admission team at USC. This whole process is so counterintuitive sometimes.
So, it sounds like the school will be viewed favorably and while I have no data to support this, I have to think a student from Maine would be interesting as schools typically want geographic diversity and I haven’t heard (through social media pages I belong to for USC and class of 2028 specifically) that there are many students from Maine so this is likely another positive. As for the selective submission of SAT scores to HC, I honestly can’t speak to that as my daughter sent her SAT scores to all schools she applied to from what I recall. For my son, a student at another school, he was more selective in who he sent scores to as he was class of '22 (right after Covid) and most schools were completely test optional then.
It may be helpful for registration but our son graduated this May and he had never had a problem getting the classes he needed and he wasn’t in honors. He was a double major at Darla Moore with a data concentration. Helps to have backup options though–and to be prepared when your registration time opens up.
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Maybe something has changed as non Honors parents (lots of Darla and Nursing students) are expressing stress about scheduling classes this semester. To me, it stands to reason in a large state school this could be a challenge, but I can’t speak to the non-Honors experience at SC beyond what’s been widely communicated on social media.
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My daughter received her acceptance today. The last 2 years they have notified some early the Friday before Thanksgiving. I totally forgot but she got an email.
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Admitted! It was such a surprise because she wasn’t expecting it today.
Merit award letter to arrive in March. Instate, 4.0 UW, 1200, top 5% of class. Major Biology.
Good luck to everyone!
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Congrats! As an OOS I’m so jealous. Our state (CA) doesn’t do anything like this. And S25 has no interest in the UCs.
In state?
Yes. Sorry should have mentioned that.
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Congrats. Are you in SC, and can I ask her stats?
Instate?
Yes in state. 3.9 UW 1270 SAT. Class rank like 30%ish ( can’t remember). Major psychology.
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Congrats!!!
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Accepted with merit! 1400 SAT, IS, 4.0/5.389 gpa, 10 APs, ranked #7/354.
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Instate accepted! Woot! It’s DD’s #1 choice.
4.24 SCUGP scale, 26 ACT score. 0 APs. Class rank right at 30% at a very tough academic private school.
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Thank you.
Accepted EA in-state:
3.462 UW/4.154 W GPA; Top 31%; 1240 SAT; College of Arts & Sciences (PoliSci)
and
3.654 UW/4.738 W GPA; Top 10%; 1240 SAT; Darla Moore Business (Business Undeclared)
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Congrats to those who were accepted. Looks like all in-state so far. Any OOS accepted yet?
I believe OOS comes in December. Today was just in state.
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