@inglebert Don’t drop it. By dropping a class you’re showing that you can’t even last a year. Taking a W can get you rejected just as a B can too, but the latter is a much better option. @penntousc You can get rejected too having a 4.0 so there’s no guarantee for anything. The best thing to do is stay in your class and do the best you can. If you’re getting a C tho, that mite not be good.
@Skepta Some people seem to get lucky and are able to switch schools before they even start classes, but I think Viterbi wouldn’t be one of them (along with schools like SCA). You basically have to take the foundation classes for your major and maintain a B average. I recently learned (in the CS major at least) that if you get a C- in any of the courses, it doesn’t count and you have to take the course again. For people already in the CS major, if you get a C- twice, you’re at risk of being kicked out of the major. I had a B+ and C+ in the intro courses (CS 103 and CS 109), so I doubt I would have qualified to switch over to Viterbi if that was my goal. I found CS to be very competitive, but maybe that’s because I don’t have a strong background in math (I actually didn’t know how to do the second lab assignment because it involved trig and any knowledge of that had been wiped away long ago).
@Skepta My boyfriend is currently attending USC as a CS major, but his first year he was a History major at Dornsife. It wasn’t hard at all to switch majors as it is completely normal for students to change their majors. He was able to switch majors his second year, first semester. I know that SC gives you a specific advisor during your years attending there and will guide you through the switching process and will make your schedule for all the years attending. Like @zettasyntax said, all you have to do is maintain good grades, B’s aren’t the end of the world but always try to aim higher. Hope this helps!
I am about to finish my first year of community college with a 3.667 GPA & 33 credits, would I be at a disadvantage for transferring to USC due to my GPA? Would they still look at my grades for my second year?
@filopj1097 The average GPA admitted is a 3.7 and your GPA is close to that. Honestly, the only one who really knows the answer to that question are the counselors that review our applications. Some people get in with lower GPA’s and some with higher. Remember, grades aren’t the only thing they look at. You might get a SGR and that is normal, let’s just hope for the best, don’t get discouraged!
@Psawyer113096 Haha, I know a guy (an orientation advisor) that went from being a computer engineering major to a history major. I found that to be a relatively interesting/unexpected major change. I always thought it was harder to go from any major outside of Viterbi to Viterbi, but maybe they’re more lenient than their website makes them out to be.
@zettasyntax Haha, that’s an interesting change! I know, I thought the same thing but I believe the same goes with any major. I know some people who change their majors on their third or fourth year there. Oh, but say the person is a History major and wants to switch to CS, they have to apply to Viterbi, they don’t just switch majors. It’s a short application with maybe two short essay questions, one which asks why you want to change majors, then they notify you like a month or two later.
@lexluther96 They do, but fortunately they are one of the few institutions that take people who are don’t have all of the “standard” requirements. That being said, I will warn you and this goes for anyone else coming in, once you have transferred in you can’t take GE’s anywhere else (I.E: going back to a CC, but ironically you can take certain other classes like physics, or some basic econ classes) and they can take up a good chunk of units, so if you have free units in spring quarter/ summer I’d recommend just knocking as many out as possible
@Irishrider Thanks!
@penntousc @itslife123
Thanks for the advice! I’ll just push through and hopefully I can get an A but we’ll see.
I can’t be the only person here that just clicked the drop my application tab just to see what the page looked like ? Hahah
@zettasyntax noo not trig again haha, but then again CS is math heavy.
@Psawyer113096 thanks for the info! Its a relief to hear that they actually have a process for those who want to switch to viterbi. I just searched the Viterbi page and they actually lay out the steps and classes to take, just gotta get the B average.
@jjcc77 this was the first time I submitted my winter grades.
@Skepta Did you recently decide to change to Viterbi due to a sudden interest? Or is it from the fact that its simply easier to switch rather than being admitted to Viterbi directly? Just curious.
@itsalife123 Yea my original plan has been to switch to viterbi once admitted. I didnt apply as viterbi because it would have taken me 2 years to finish all the pre-reqs at my cc and im trynna transfer in 1. I applied as econ and will have done all my major reqs and 6/8 GEs done by this spring, so much higher chance of being admitted as an incoming sophomore. Worst case I dont get viterb, I major in econ and minor in CS which is still also a good combo for finance/tech industry. However, viterbi has a special page just for those who wanna transfer from dornsife to viterbi and they list out the exact steps plus the counselors that help you. Basically if you get at least a B average in the engineering courses you are guaranteed transfer. lool my only concern rn tho is being admitted.
@Skepta I definitely agree that if you want to get into Viterbi that way it probably is the best way. But I really think the learning curve is gonna be extremely huge. People who go into Viterbi taking Electromagnetism, Differential Eqns/Linear Algebra and a CS class tell me its no JOKE! I guess you’ll see then, but your challenge isn’t getting into Viterbi, its survivung it.
@itslife123 yea that definitely true, in terms of math iv been following the viterbi math reqs, since the math required by econ I was able to clear with ap calc ab. Im mostly worried about the physics classes as Iv never taken a college level physics course. If i do get admitted tho u know what il be studying in the summer (sadly) haha.
how much do they care about essays? I wasn’t planning on applying here, as I was aiming for UCLA and UC Berkeley, but just in case, I just submitted an app to USC last minute, and did all my essays in like an hour, I’m pretty sure they were pretty poor quality.
Also, how much do they care about SAT scores? I have pretty good scores so I’m wondering how much it would boost me, or are they like UC’s in that they don’t care about SAT scores for transfer.
@UCLAorUCBTRNSFR if you have or will complete 30 or more transferable units by the end of this spring semester, your test scores and HS grades won’t be evaluated in your application. As for essays, they’re only as important as you need them to be. They allow the admission counselors to learn about the applicant from a perspective other than what their grades and course work have to show. I don’t really have any extracurriculars, so I used my essays to express my interests, academically and non academically, and so that I could tell them more about myself. Since I don’t currently have much to offer other than what I’ve done academically, my essays were pretty important to me. You’ll probably be fine with your essays as long as you didn’t make grammatical mistakes.
Has anyone heard back?