By the way I’m applying for Fall 2017 as a sophomore applicant from a CC in PA, Business Administration major. Best of luck to all of you!
@penntousc great question I am also wondering because I took the first Econ class and it was a breeze. I did it mostly cause I also plan to apply to UC for back ups and they all want Econ complete ! But if taking the other Econ class doesn’t matter to usc I would rather just not take the course at all. I heard that they treat it as a elective course but I might be wrong, does anyone have any answers???
@Psawyer113096 thank you because my internship is with a very well known retina eye specialist in southern Cali with a very strong investment profolio. I’m currently managing his properties and working my ass off. I would probably cry if it was all a waste of time if I couldn’t get his letter. :-S
@awalksonman hi thank you for the help, I am actually following the whole transfer plan worksheet that tells me what classes im supposed to be getting down in each of the categories. I basically need my two science courses, and political science of international relations(which is the only course at my school that would satisfy the global perspective requirment or something like that), also have business calc which I’ll take in spring. That would be the completion of the whole ge requirments. In terms of the major prep course you’re right Econ and accounting is not going to be counted for my major prep work which sucks cause man that was not easy lol despite it being at a CC. I emailed them and I think they were trying to tell me that they will consider it as an elective only 
Hi guys! This is my first time posting here and I have a couple of questions.
-USC says they only focus on college performance if you have over 30+ credits, but is that by the time you apply or before you actually plan on enrolling? I’m going to be a freshman at an OOS university, so would it be possible for me to apply this year and have them look at just my college performance if I take 15 credits each semester? I was actually originally planning on taking 13 each semester so that I could perfect my GPA, but I’ll take 15 if that would satisfy the 30+ credits policy. Also, I have many AP credits(around 20 according to USC) but those wouldn’t count toward the 30+, right?
-I know that USC heavily weighs grades from HS and ACT/SAT scores if you don’t have 30+ credits. Would it not matter if I got stellar grades in college, but my grades and scores from high school are a tad on the lower end? If so, would it be best if I retook the ACT/SAT?
Thanks!
@Pantafootball One of my professors brought up transferring to USC as an option for me. She told me that transferring to Marshal will take 3 years to graduate vs. 2 years at a UC. I’ve heard this is because of the Econ class mostly.
@Pantafootball may I ask where you are attending school now? for the past two months I’ve been trying to get an idea of the what the transferability may be like with the accounting class i am taking (also intended on taking managerial in my spring semester)… so would you recommend that I not take it in the spring? Its pretty set in stone now that i take accounting 1 considering my classes start next week but if you think it would be best to avoid the risk and just take another general education course, I would love to know because Marshall has yet to respond to this question which I emailed to them
@penntousc right now I attend mount San Antonio community college in Southern California, and honestly what I’ve learned and researched is that usc will not apply it in our major prep course and will only treat it as an elective. Which is crazy because the class is very hard, so despite getting a B I regret taking it now.
@enpz45 personally I feel like it all depends on the student whether or not they finish in two years but yeah usc is very “anul” about having those major prep courses done at usc.
@Pantafootball that’s weird because on all the brochures from just a few years ago it says that they recommend taking financial accounting… That blows honestly because I’ve heard how hard it can be so I’m going to be real frustrated if it brings my GPA down
@Pantafootball they recommended taking BOTH financial and managerial on those docs***
@penntousc yes I have seen those and I guess they have updated since then. It’s very confusing and I get lost, but I contacted my USC counselor so I should get this question all cleared up.
@Pantafootball alright let me know what they say when you hear back. I asked my counselor about it awhile back and she said that she would think taking a GE requirement rather than taking accounting 2 would be a good idea, but then she also mentioned that if i don’t take accounting, econ may be a good choice (and I’ve heard just about everywhere but here that that is a bad idea). So it makes me wonder how left in the dark the counselors are in regards to transfer info for Marshall… They seem to be the one of the only schools within USC that is very vague about their requirements and recommendations
@penntousc Yes they are, I’ve heard everything from just get your ge’s they require done and do not even touch major prep courses. This could be to force transfer students to take their major prep courses at USC for financial reasons which would make sense cause those classes are very expensive compared to cheap cc classes and/or they just want Marshall students to focus all their attention on major prep courses at the two years of USC
If you’re a sophmore applicant, all you need to take is Calc 1 and do the writing requirement. You only need to take accounting 1 and 2 if you are a junior applicant.
If you scroll all the way to the bottom of this link https://www.marshall.usc.edu/undergrad/acct/admissions and look under requirenents for transferring to the accounting program, you’ll see that they say Econ 351 (micro) must be taken at USC.
Also on this link http://students.marshall.usc.edu/undergrad/advising/faqs/ general question #8 reiterates that both micro and macro must be done at USC, so I wouldn’t worry about taking that either.
Hope that helps!
@Pantafootball yeah it does suck to have done all that work and not have it transfer, unless it gets accepted to other schools you apply to. Seems like you’ve got a lot the GEs completed which is good, but I strongly recommend taking regular calc over business calc. I can’t remember where I saw this, but I don’t think Marshall will accept it for anything other than an elective since their requirements say math 118 (which is calc 1)
–It’s if you have at least 30 credits at the time of application. Whether or not your AP scores will count depends on whether they’d be accepted for credit at USC which you can find here http://arr.usc.edu/services/articulation/adv_placement_exam_credit.html
–I really don’t think they “heavily” weigh your high school grades, so much as they use it to get a better sense of who you are as s student. If you do great your first semester in college, that’ll carry far more weight than a couple of bad grades in high school. Believe me, I got three Cs my senior year then worked my a** first semester of college. Plus you’ve taken 20 credits worth of APs which is pretty impressive for a high schooler.
–Unless your ACT is below 25, I don’t think you should retake it. Those tests are indicators of college readiness and since you’re already in college, it doesn’t have as much of an influence.
Hope this helps!
@awalksonman thanks for the help, I’ve been looking to get that clarified for awhile! However I am already set up for accounting 1 this semester, but should I be safe as long as I replace accounting 2 with a GE in the spring?
Hey guys! I just wanted to get some feedback from you guys on what I need to work on, as I would be transferring to USC after my sophomore year. I applied this past year and was not accepted, but I want to give it another go this year.
I attend a top 20 university in the US and am majoring in marketing and digital studies. My gpa for this past year was a 3.3, and I do believe that my gpa was what ultimately hurt my chances. I write strong essays and am extremely involved outside of class, so I am hoping to get my gpa up to at least a 3.5 this year. What would my chances be with a 3.5-3.6? This summer I worked a marketing internship with a very respected company in the DC area, as well as working retail and taking macroeconomics online through my university. I already have an internship with the Hillary for America organization, and I think this will really help my case. However, I am worried that 20 hours a week will hurt my chances at getting better grades. What do you think is most important? Also, I was involved in volunteering, writing for multiple publications, and a leadership role in my school’s Lean In organization. With this internship, I will have to scale back on extra orgs. Finally, will the fact that I applied in the past benefit me at all this time around? Is it easier or harder to get in as a sophomore transfer?
Thanks guys! Let me know what you think my chances are and what I can do to improve this year!
@cjm1996 honestly if you are truly interested in getting to USC, I would drop the internship or keep that and drop your EC’s so that your GPA is not affected by either of those. In transfer admissions, USC actually does not consider extra curriculars, jobs, or clubs AT ALL when reviewing applications. Their decision will be made solely based off of your GPA, essays, and general education/major prep progress. Since you will be a junior applicant (they actually admit more junior applicants to my knowledge) I would suggest completing Marshall major prep (sounds like you’re a business major?) which would be accounting 1 and 2 if you have not already completed those. I think that would give you the best shot at getting accepted; But no matter what you do, GPA has got to be your #1 priority in order to get into USC. To answer the other question, yes, it is possible to be accepted into USC with a 3.5-3.6, reference @awalksonman who was accepted with spring admission as a sophomore applicant with a 3.4 GPA… maybe he/she can elaborate on anything that I left out. ALSO to be safe, I would not recommend taking econ macro/micro as those are courses that must be taken at USC, according to Marshall’s curriculum… Best of luck to you!!!