Agree, upward trend means a lot for any school you apply to. Will your gpa get up in the 3.5+ range by senior year? @JenJenJenJen brought up good point about UC’s not counting freshman grades, however, personally, we would never pay OOS prices for any public school. JJJJ also asked another good question - what is it about USC you like - the spirit, size, location, etc…cause there are a lot of private schools with engineering. They aren’t the big size and spirit school of USC, but if it is west coast you want…expand on what you are looking for and maybe others can give you some good direction as well. Also, very important - financial constraints or not?