USC SAT Scores And GPA

Are you planning to get into USC? Know the admission criteria, USC SAT score, and GPA to lead your path.

University of South California: An Overview

The University of South California, popularly known as USC, is one of the best private research universities worldwide. In 1880, the University of South California came into existence in LA, California, the USA.

World’s famous personalities like Neil Armstrong, John Wayne, and George Lucas are USC’s alums. The University of South California has around 4000 faculties with various teachers, mentors, scholars, and researchers. Five of them are Nobel Laureates, and many others bag awards like the National Medal of Science, the MacArthur “Genius” Award, the Pulitzer prize, etc.

For every eight students, one faculty ensures personalized learning for all. USC follows a diverse curriculum that offers an incredible opportunity for interdisciplinary studies. USC offers an advanced learning environment to the students where they can collaborate with top researchers. You would want to get into USC, which is highly challenging and needs you to be well prepared. 

Let’s find out what the USC SAT requirements are

USC: Academic Criteria & Personal Characteristics

Like every other university, USC also evaluates your academic performance to offer you admission, which is the most determining part. Besides your SAT scores and GPA, your academic performance and personality characteristics hold colossal significance. Considering this factor, you need to be an active performer in your school classes and subjects.

USC will examine what sort of opportunities you had in your school and if you benefited from them. They will also evaluate your writing skills in letters of recommendation and essays. Esteemed universities like USC prefer to have students from diverse cultures and possess unique talent. When different minds collaborate, they bring out the best of anything and offer a different perspective to the world.

USC looks for three things in any student to evaluate whether they will prove to be an asset to the university and contribute to the world in any suitable way. They are leadership, achievements, and community involvement. Your application will most likely be considered if you have any of these qualities. 

USC: SAT Scores And GPA

USC SAT score criteria are incredibly high and competitive. The 25th percentile score of USC’s SAT is 1360, which means less than 25 percent of admitted students have a score below 1360. Whereas the 75th percentile score of USC’s SAT is 1530, 75 percent of admitted students have a score below 1530. The Average USC SAT score is 1445. It would help to aim separately for both sections’ percentile scores to reach the scoring target.

For instance, The 25th and 75th percentile scores for Evidence-Based Reading and Writing are 670 and 740, respectively. At the same time, the 25th and 75th percentile scores for Math are 690 and 790, respectively. If you observe, you will see that you need to score more marks in the math section. This way, you can plan your study and reach your target.

If you find you won’t be able to perform better in any of the sections, ensure to score higher than targeted in other sections. So that even if you didn’t perform well in one, you met the collective target score. On a scale of 4, USC’s average GPA is 3.73. Only the students who perform excellently and score ‘A’ grades in high school can fetch this much GPA. If you think your GPA for USC won’t be satisfactory, ensure to compensate with a higher score on the SAT. 

USC: SAT Score Policy

The colleges at USC estimate students’ test scores with a scoring policy that is unlike every other college. USC follows a method of “highest section.” This method is known as Super scoring, wherein the college will consider your highest section score across different attempts. To make you understand better, here is an example.

Suppose you took the SAT twice. The first attempt fetches you a score of 1450, wherein EBRW is 700 and Math has 750. On the other attempt, you fetch 1450 again as an SAT score, but this time you score 750 in EBRW and 700 in Math.  Now, the USC will estimate your SAT score based on Super scoring and will see that you scored better marks in Math in your first attempt and not in the second.

Whereas the second attempt gets you better marks in EBRW if compared to the first attempt. This way, your best score for each section will be estimated, making a composite SAT score of 1500. It will benefit you with 50 more scoring points. Hence, appearing for the SAT multiple times is advisable to enhance your chances of scoring higher in a composite SAT test. 

USC: Acceptance Rate

Just like GPA, USC acceptance rate is highly competitive, giving a cutting-edge for the applicants to get an admission letter from USC. All the prestigious colleges in the world admit fewer applicants as they are incredibly selective, which makes USC’s acceptance rate entirely on the lower side.

The USC’s ongoing acceptance rate is 11 percent, meaning only 11 out of 100 applications are accepted. The acceptance rate is expected to shrink more in upcoming years. In short, you need to work hard to perform well to score best in your academics and curriculum to fetch an excellent GPA and cover the rest in the SAT. 

USC: Additional Requirements For Admission

Below are the additional requirements for admission:

• Letter of Recommendation – the number of letters may vary depending upon what college and program you want to pursue.
• A writing sample, resume, and a portfolio.
• An Official standardized test result for the Writing supplement.
• An Essay for the Common App.
• High school transcripts.
• Students can submit their fall semester grades by common application or Mid-Year Report Form( MYRF).The response time to review and update you about your application is based on the curriculum you choose to pursue.

Conclusion

Getting into USC is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any student. USC offers a global environment for students to learn and an incredible stage to showcase those skills. No wonder why it is hard to get into it. Only those who plan well and study diligently will save their seats at USC. We wish you luck!