USC also tends to accept students with an average GPA of around 4.0. However, USC looks more closely at class rank than at GPA. So if your godsons 2.88 GPA puts him in the top 10% of his class, his GPA could be attractive to USC. (But his SAT score would still be low for that...
However, there is one blemish on my record which I am not proud to claim, my C grade in the UT Austin Onramps Pre-Calculus class. I do not want to make excuses but want to explain this grade which is not at all in line with who I am as a student. I am diagnosed with ADHD ...