Decision: Rejected
**Date applied: ** I don’t remember (Nov. 30th?)
Date decision postmarked/received: March 25th (portal)
Which school/major at USC: 1. Neuroscience in Dornsife 2. Visual Arts (Roski)
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1260 (didn’t submit)
ACT (breakdown): 31C, 32 superscored
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math 2 (650) Lit (670)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.86
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/a
AP (place score in parentheses): AP Chem (3) APUSH (3) AP Lang (4)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Physics, AP Art, AP Calc, AP Gov
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
- International Youth Coordinator for Red Cross - helped fundraise a lot of money
- President of high school's Red Cross Club (11,12)
- Captain of tennis team (12) on varsity all four years
- Vice President of a research club at school (11, 12)
- Piano, (10+ years) ABRSM up to level 6
Job/Work Experience:
- taught piano
Volunteer/Community Service:
- Tennis Special needs olympics (10, 11)
- Volunteering at local hospital (100 hours+)
- Anything Red Cross related
Summer Activities:
- Neuroscience Program at UCSD, Academic Connection (11)
- Volunteering
- Took a bio class at local community college
Essays (rating 1-10, details):: 8-9/10
- Counselor loved it and said it summed up my passion for art really well. Spoke about how I used art as an escape which created an art block for me and after confronting my parents gambling addictions, i made a breakthrough in my art.
- I had a big drop in academic performance junior year and i explained that this was when my parent wasn’t home often and i ended up taking care of my brother while trying to juggle 4 APs and tennis everyday
- supplementals: 6-7/10, talked about sneaking into the neuroscience building (risky i know) and how i could see myself finding an interdisciplinary way to combine art and visual neuroscience
Teacher Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):: - 7-8/10- spoke about how mature i was for my age and briefly talked about my family situation
- 7/10- didn’t get to read but she was the club advisor
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):: big public school but we’ve had a couple really deep intense talks so idk
Additional Rec (rating 1-10, details)::
Interview:
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes but i don’t deserve any lol
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public (big-ish)
Ethnicity: Asian RIPPPP
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: <$300,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Single parent, first generation
Reflection
Strengths: Common app essay maybe idk, i didn’t get in sooooo
Weaknesses: test scores and gpa, Asian
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I think it was because of my mid year report: i ended up getting a C in physics and a B in AP Calc. Also, i feel like i didn’t convey how much I love USC and my passion for neuroscience well. My stats put me in the middle 50% which wasnt enough
Where else you are applying or have already applied:
- Accepted: UCI (w/ CHP), UCSC, UCD, UCSB, UW, SDSU
- Rejected: UCLA, USC
-Waitlisted: UCSD, Cal Poly - Pending: Cornell, Columbia lol, UCB
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight:
To be honest, I was completely devastated. USC had been my first choice for a long time and I would’ve been happy with Spring admit or Fall admit. When I saw that I wasn’t even offered the Trojan Transfer plan, I was just crushed, I had so much anxiety the week leading up to the release date. I think I’m going to try to appeal because I love this school too much to give up on it. Please apply to colleges you actually want to go to because I only applied to a couple that I truly liked and now I’m stuck with colleges that are amazing in their own way but dont fit me.