<p>tbibbs: That’s pretty cool- do you still live in the Bay Area? I’ve lived in Danville pretty much my whole life, so I tend to miss it when I’m down at school 
Anyway, please give me some time to send my paper and read your own; I’m currently studying for a midterm (just taking a break), but I should reply by midnight.</p>
<p>mxbile: They probably won’t, but like I said, I’m neurotic. Besides, I also may want to keep my paper for next year, in case I do not get in- I wouldn’t use it word-for-word, but the same theme may linger. Don’t worry, I’m positive you are fine.</p>
<p>I’m in viterbi!</p>
<p>hey, is it stupid for a 3rd year student to be living in a dorm filled with freshies. haha, i dont know if it would make me feel really old </p>
<p>Also, what are ur plans? You guys planning to live in a dorm or off campus? Please help. I am so so so confused</p>
<p>@mxbile- Thanks a lot for that response. If you have anything you want me to read, let me know.</p>
<p>dreamingUSC - for sure man yeah I really miss it. Good luck on your midterm. Thanks for taking the time to read it. I don’t live in the Bay Area anymore, I live in Granite Bay its up by Sacramento. But my family goes back pretty often to visit friends and our cousins still live there.</p>
<p>@OOSstudent I would try to get into on-campus apartments if I were you. Then you’d be with a sophomore or possiblyy a junior, and you still get the experience of living on campus.</p>
<p>@ mememeusc</p>
<p>I like how you connect your academic interests to the real world.</p>
<p>@ wghiller</p>
<p>No problem…</p>
<p>Ya sure why not… give mine a read. PM?</p>
<p>@dandie: when u say on-campus apartments. What do u mean? Is that done through housing.usc.edu??</p>
<p>I know this was addressed a while ago but did we ever come to a consensus about how students from community colleges vs universities are reviewed?</p>
<p>I’m a first-year applying from UCSD with ~3.6 (less than .04 short of that) The only way to get a 4.0 is to have straight A+'s (I think?) and I wasn’t sure if it worked like that at CCs too. Ideas?</p>
<p>Yep, PM is good.</p>
<p>@ dandie</p>
<p>Most schools have a different GPA scale. plus / minus or highest possible is A or no plus minus</p>
<p>USC will use their GPA system to calculate your cumulative GPA. It will be consistent for all applicants.</p>
<p>@oosstudent yeah if you check out undergraduate upperclassmen and scroll down on the right side there is a list of apartments (webb, tuscany, etc.)</p>
<p>if i’m correct only second-years and older can live in those. parkside is the exception because it houses special-interest floors like (SChalom Floor, Muslim Floor, Rainbow Floor, and a few others)</p>
<p>@oosstudent- Dont worry about it, I’m going to be 22 by the time fall 2010 rolls around and I’ve applied to dorms/suites. I personally want to experience that lifestyle and all that comes with it since its something ive never been able to do personally yet. I’ve already lived in student apartments before and Id rather have a suite or a dorm for at least one semester just to get that experience and to be able to integrate into the university as fast as possible.</p>
<p>@tbibbs- I’ll read yours if you read mine. ;-)</p>
<p>southOCtrojan and dandie,</p>
<p>hey which dorms on USC u guys looking at?</p>
<p>SouthOC… You gonna be a junior?</p>
<p>im not looking at the housing website this year since im straight up just too scared, but i remember that from applying from high school last year.</p>
<p>also just because you don’t live on campus doesn’t mean you cant be involved. it for sure makes it easier to get to know people, but that isn’t everything. joining clubs i think is honestly what counts the most, because for people to come out to meetings means they are really passionate and interested in that activity… or that there is free-food. usually both. 
at a four-year, since you’re already accepted to school, people don’t just arbitrarily join clubs as an app-stuffer. not sure if that made sense, but just my two-cents!</p>
<p>If anyone wants to give me constructive feedback as well as their thoughts on my essay I’d be happy to accept whatever you have to say, just be gentle - I spent around 30 hours writing mine and spent atleast 4 hours getting it down to the 750 word limit without abstaining from the overall feel and message of my essay. I didn’t know that most people didn’t use a title for their essay but I did for mine, here it is!</p>
<p>Edit: This is the first prompt, what matters to you and why, thanks Budlightyear.</p>
<p>Title: [ Painting in July: A Warm Summer Night ]</p>
<pre><code> It was a warm summer night in July when I was able to once again smell the sweet aroma of home. My mother welcomed me with her loving arms and congratulated me on my academic achievements in my first year at college. In the past year, I was able to attain meritable grades in the cutthroat battleground of college. My mother was jubilant to see me metamorphose from an apathetic boy to a self-driven man. After hearing of my successes in college, my mother became reminiscent of her youth and expressed that my iron will to triumph reminded her of herself as a young adult in college. Having realized that I had no knowledge of my mother’s early past, I curiously asked my mother to share her stories of academic progression in her native country, Taiwan.
My mother grew up in a poor household with five other siblings, and because her parents were always clattered with work, they did not have the time to cultivate and nourish her childhood for the future. Although my mother’s parents were negligent of her during her youth, her father coerced her to work full time as a local bank teller immediately after graduating high school. My mother had no choice but to comply with her father’s despotic demands, however, she still vowed to finish college while working full time. My mother worked and went to school day in and day out with no room for leisure. During the peaks of rush hour traffic, she rode her moped to school, and at midnight, rode her moped on the long lonely journey home. Though this tiresome routine went on for five restless years, my mother told me that she inherently knew that if she continued to deepen her determination, she would be able to reach any goal. Ever since my mother’s adolescence, she has always utilized her one modest, yet fulfilling dream to have a family which shared the ineffable bonds of unconditional love and understanding as the catalyst to motivate her through all her trials and tribulations. My mother knew that if she was able to achieve this simple, yet complex task, all other facets within life would inevitably flow to her favor. With my mother’s unwavering constancy and drive to face her adversities, she was able to make her dream of having a loving family into a reality.
I believed that fulfilling my responsibilities as a college student by always attending classes, taking notes, and attaining admirable grades were all on the account of my own self-drive and determination. I truly believed that my success in college was monumental, but after becoming utterly awed by my mother’s compelling story, I knew that in my entire nineteen years, I have not even come close to a fraction of the feats my mother surmounted in those five arduous years. After hearing the story, I could clearly see that the grades I have accomplished in the past year are not my accomplishments alone and not earned exclusively by me, but made possible because of my mother’s efforts. Without her years of dedication, sagacious guidance and influence on my academics, I would not be able to have the desire or fortitude to pursue higher education with an eagerness to learn and explore the vast horizons of knowledge. By understanding my mother’s struggles and past, I have been bestowed with a newer, more lucid perspective on life with an understanding that all my accomplishments were dependent on my mother’s commendable past. I finally understood that all of my forthcoming endeavors and successes in life would no longer solely belong to me, but shared and attributed to my entire family, for they give me the support, motivation, and strength to move forth.
On that warm summer night in July, my mother taught me how to paint. Although I doubt that I will ever be able to accomplish what my mother has in my entire lifetime, I will try wholeheartedly to pick up her brush and augment the already splendorous portrait she has painted. All families use their own medium to paint or sculpt the foundations of their lives, but it is up to each of its members to recognize their part in the picture and cherish the values they have built together.
</code></pre>
<p>hehehe so I’m guessing it’s ok to post our essays up now? I want to post mine up but I’m kinda apprehensive about it…</p>
<p>hey guys … I just needed to get this out of my mind… please let me know wut u guys think !</p>
<p>my first semester @ OOS’s University GPA is 0.9 … ( i know…but for MUSIC MAJOR )</p>
<p>but afterwards @ CC and now trying to transfer to USC my GPA will be 3.5 without the OSS transcript but with it is around 3.0 … </p>
<p>do you think I still stand a chance AT ALL ?!?</p>
<p>thanks !!</p>