Which one are you?

Colleges & Universities University of Southern California
21

<p>okay so we’re not in the same boat. gawd this sucks.</p>

<p>sat I: 2250
sat II: math: 750, us history: 720, chinese: 760
GPA: honestly i do not remember but i had a 4.4 weighted average junior year? i don’t stare at my unweighted because it’s horrifically low. it tends to happen to a lot of the students at my school. competitive school. i had poor grades freshman year which were partly due to family circumstances and whatnot which i wrote about in my essays…</p>

<p>my recs should have been pretty well written. my business rec was great.</p>

<p>umm. i had a lot of ec’s. active in clubs, plenty of community service, and 4 years in orchestra.</p>

<p>honestly though gpa scores vary depending on the school you go to. if you notice on the collegeboard site, usc places secondary school rigor above gpa, meaning they care more about the school than the gpa. basically, if the school’s not that great, then the gpa doesn’t tell much about the student. if you go to a competitve catholic school and usc knows it’s competitive, you shouldn’t worry too much about gpa.</p>

22

<p>I don’t think that’s quite true. If the school is known to be relatively easy, they expect you to have a high GPA. If the school is known to be relatively difficult, they expect you to have a lower GPA. Since they care more about the school that the GPA, the distance between the higher GPA and the lower GPA they expect depending on the school will be greater. If they cared only about the GPA, they would expect most people to be in a narrow band. So if you go to a difficult school, they expect your GPA to be a bit lower, but not low.</p>

23

<p>haha i think you basically said what i meant to say. i didn’t mean to say you you could have a LOW gpa. there’s never an excuse to have a LOW one. but overall, your gpa will be lower if you go to a harder school. basically, what i’m trying to say is, getting a 4.0 unweighted overall or something like that is reserved to the top 5% of my school. if you get even one b, you immediately fall to the 2%. those that are in the top 5%, even top 10%, typically get accepted early with a scholarship. for them, sc is no reach, or even 50/50. those in the top 10% of my school that get in with a scholarship normally don’t choose to go to sc because they get accepted by some sort of ivy.</p>

<p>besides, overall gpa actually isn’t a great indicator of your capability. suppose a student had high grades freshman year but decreased year after year to a 3.0 their junior year. take another student however, that started out at a 3.0 and worked their way up to a high gpa. their overall would be the same, but their situations are drastically different.</p>

24

<h1>3. presidential.</h1>

25

<p>I’m a number 8 as well. Should I send in my mid year report anyways?</p>

26

<p>did you apply scholarship mrspam?</p>

27

<p>it sounds like y’all are ordering from a combo menu…</p>

<p>…um yes i’d like the #2 with the biggie fries please…</p>

28

<p>hahah hillyrae</p>

<p>im #7, i got both the no scholarship and midyear request letter</p>

29

<p>It gets better hillyrae. Would you trade a sure thing #5 (guaranteed Dean’s w/o interview) for a #2 maybe Presidential (depending on interview results) maybe not? Deal or no deal?</p>

30

<p>I’m #1 and flying up to USC next Monday but I’m sooooooo nervous I can barely even think about it.</p>

31

<p>d is #7, with no scholarship and MY grades requested; I think both were in the same letter</p>

32

<h1>8</h1>

<p>(10 chars)</p>

33

<p>

</p>

<p>Anyday!</p>

<p>(10 chars)</p>

34

<p>I’m #7… with just 1 no-scholarship letter that requested midterm grades, no other specific letters received…</p>

35

<p>Well I’m already a number two, so I think I’ll pass on the 5, even though combo #5 is my favorite at Chick-fil-A</p>

36

<h1>2…</h1>

37

<p>d is #4 I think - she has been accepted and is a NMF, but has not received any scholarship letters</p>

38

<p>4 =] (10 chars)</p>

39

<h1>1 and heading down tomorrow night… eek</h1>

40

<h1>2 - going to the March 1st/2nd session.</h1>

<p>I know presidentials can get bumped to trustee, and trustee candidates can get presidential, depending on how well (or not so well) the interview goes. So wouldn’t it make sense that there’s a dean’s safety net if things go well for #1 or #2, but not well enough?</p>