<p>So I have a sort of unusual situation. </p>
<p>I’m 29, graduated from high school in 99’. I did well in high school and scored a 29 on the ACT. GPA around 3.0, haven’t dug up the paperwork yet. I never went to college and have decided that I would like to do so. </p>
<p>I grew up in a rough family in a very impoverished region of the rural southern U.S. I went to a high school that was not the best to say the least. There really weren’t many EC’s outside of band and sports and if there were college prep courses available, no one made the fact known to me. I took the basic classes, honors classes when available, and marched in the band. There were no volunteer or community based EC’s that I was aware of. Basically what I’m getting at is that I feel I’m at a huge disadvantage to kids from decent areas coming right out of high school since I never went through a system that educated you about and prepared you for college. </p>
<p>The decade since high school, I’ve basically worked whatever menial job I could find just to survive down here in tractor land. My life situation has simply not been conducive to starting college. My most recent job fell through after 2 months and I’ve decided to stop being a wage slave and invest my time and energy into something I’m passionate about as a career.</p>
<p>I am a film and video production hobbyist and have become determined to get into the USC Film program. I understand that this is a very prestigious school and that admissions are competitive. I’m wondering if I should even bother trying to get in, basically. Am I doomed to fail since I was set up by a bad situation in high school that I can’t go back in time and fix? I really don’t know much about the “going to college” process to be perfectly honest. </p>
<p>I’m a little lost as I try to work all of this out.</p>
<p>I’ve done some serious freelance work in graphic design and video production, at one point producing an indie music video that got into international TV rotation and a handful of decent short films. Would this stuff even be relevant to my admission? Or are they looking for months spent volunteering on a farm in South America? I don’t really feel I have any experience that qualifies as the kind of EC that I see on other people’s applications. Is there anything I can start doing now?</p>
<p>I guess, in a nutshell, I got this:</p>
<p>*1999 graduated from a small, rural high school in the top 20 with around a 3.0
*29 ACT
- 5 years marching and concert band (grades 7-12)
*(Insert 10 years of working in factories and retail stores)
*Want to go to USC</p>
<p>Not sure what to do now… I don’t want to waste a ton of time and money only to find out I’m not even close to being able to get in. I feel like I’ve been wasting my life up until now and would like to begin correcting that…</p>
<p>Thank you in advance</p>