@itslife123 dude I’m having the same problem. I submitted the additional information two days ago however I received an email at 2am saying that I never submitted the documents??! I’m confused as to why this is happening. I have confirmation emails showing that I submitted them but the portal still shows up as missing 
@itslife123 @DirtyDonut thats odd because I submitted 2 things on Monday night (7est) and they were both updated as received within 30 minutes… I’m also a little worried though about having additional info, I’m waiting on my noncustodial parent waiver to process, but if they don’t approve the waiver, it will leave me relatively no time to complete the noncustodial parent info, which is difficult enough as is. I think they will likely make exceptions for those who have had additional information requested within the last week or two, since FAFSA and the CSS Profile are the two primary forms
@penntousc best of luck with your situation. I will be calling the USC financial office momentarily to see what is the deal with my situation. I hope my documents process soon. I have confirmation emails showing that they have been submitted but the portal seems to be delayed
Hello, guys!!!
Now, I am a California CC student and I plan to transfer to USC in fall/2018 as a Junior. I am also going to apply to Dornsife school as a Math major. I hope somebody to give me some information about junior transferring.
First of all, To be a competitive applicant, I want to know which one is the most important things that the “Highest GPA”, “Good Personal statement” and “Distinctive ExtraCurricular”.
Furthermore, How many GE did i take will affect my admission results? I think i will be able to complete my major requirement except for some GEs.
Moreover, do you think Dornsife school is less competitive than Marshall and Viterbi?
I mean, Can applicant who applied to Dornsife school get admission even with relatively low specs?
Thanks!
@johnleee here’s a basic rundown of areas of importance, from most important to least important:
- University requirements (math and writing are a must, diversity is recommended before transfer but not required)
- Amount of credits that transfer (Full time, 12-15 per semester)
- GPA (average incoming is a 3.7)
- Major prerequisites (not the same as requirements)
- Amount of GE curriculum completed, aim for as much as possible
- Major requirements
- Writing Supplement/Personal Statement
Now, these are all VERY important, with the top 5 being without the MOST important. Some of these are interchangeable based on how you perceive their admissions, but these aspects are what matters. If you do well in all or most of these areas you will be competitive. *****Note that I didn’t even mention EC’s, and that is because in USC admissions, they do not have an impact on decisions. I’ve been told this directly by my USC counselor, and I’ve seen it in other USC transfer videos on Youtube. However, they do help to show the admissions committee what type of person you are, so if it is something that you are interested in go for it! One of the main things that USC will look for is whether or not you are a good fit for the university, so they want to see who you really are. Smart thing you’re doing here, searching for info before it’s time for you to apply. You’ll find a ton of info that will be useful in preparing you for this process, so I would definitely recommend sticking around and reading what others have to say throughout the process as well. That is what I did at the end of the spring last year, and I feel as though I couldn’t be in a better position to be admitted, thanks to the active members on last years thread. Best of luck in your preparation!
@penntousc wow… i sincerely thank you for your amazing advice 
This is probably going to come off as dumb and doesn’t even apply to transferring USC. But, I’m in an image design class and for a project I’m supposed to show dark tonality and full tonal contrast in an image. I’m colorblind and have difficulty seeing or even understanding what that means and my professor can’t explain it. Anybody able to explain what those mean or an idea of how I could capture it?
@scriavel So I was lurking 
and I can confirm that the financial aid calculator is rather accurate for transfers too. It estimated I would pay 8K out of pocket per semester and that’s exactly what I had to pay. I think what (still) confuses me is their line saying they meet need. It doesn’t only include gift aid - it can include work study, loans (student and/or parent loans). I think this is sometimes an area where a lot of students get disappointed. I didn’t particular want to do work study, so I didn’t mind taking out a loan to help cover what gift aid didn’t.
@zettasyntax just curious, is out of the ordinary for students to stay on campus through graduation? If I happen to be accepted, I’ll definitely be looking to stay on campus the first year (I live in PA) and I’d probably be interested in a work study job with admissions, so I feel like I might also have an interest in just staying on campus especially with the addition of the village. After a year there my mind could change completely, but just curious!
@penntousc Well, I happen to know a surprising number of commuters like me haha but I think it’s fairly common. This one guy I know from Chicago (he’s currently a junior) has lived on-campus (well technically near campus now since he’s in some apartments right across the street) his whole time at 'SC. I don’t think it’s all that common for students to suddenly decide to move to say Venice and start commuting after they’ve lived on-campus. Unless of course, they just can’t find any housing. Although, with the new housing coming in, I think transfers will at least having a fighting chance at decent on-campus housing and be placed in the older buildings while continuing students get first dibs on the new places. With the way USC works, I’m betting that’s exactly what might happen
@zettasyntax that’s what I’m thinking as well. The Village is said to open up 2500 more spaces for students, and since the majority of people moving into the village are going to be students who had already been living on campus, there should be plenty of room for transfers, since there are only 1500 (+/- 200) transfers that typically attend. There are a lot of solid options for off campus housing, but on campus housing is obviously more convenient in terms of setup, and I think that being on campus for the first year can help a lot with acclimation. First step though is to get accepted lol
@penntousc yeah first step is to get accepted. To me I could live in a cardboard box and attend USC. I just want to go to USC :(( haha
@Pantafootball lol same here, I didn’t grow up a USC fan or anything but after all the energy I’ve put into this I don’t think I’d be content anywhere else
@penntousc
you said:
- University requirements (math and writing are a must, diversity is recommended before transfer but not required)
what do you mean by diversity? what is that?
@alienman1234 it’s a GE requirement. It is recommended for transfers to finish it before going to usc
@alienman1234 I’m not sure how to describe it, it’s listed on the transfer brochure. It’s in the same sort of category as the university writing requirement and math requirement, I’m pretty sure most people fulfill the diversity requirement with one of the courses from GE-C (social analysis). I fulfilled mine with intro to sociology.
@penntousc I was looking at the beginning of the transfer thread when we were freaking out about whether or not Marshall would accept our Econ classes or what our accounting courses were worth in terms of credits… haha time has flown by!
@penntousc I mean I was freaking out and you were considering taking econ*
@Pantafootball They accept econ and accounting classes. However, if you finished both financial and managerial accounting, you’ll take this accelerated accounting class that is infused with both financial and managerial concepts. Otherwise, you’ll have to take their financial and managerial classes once at usc. They require students to take business economic which is not the same as regular economic. Based on my school articulation they recommend that I (my school) take both micro and macro economic, It was recommended, not required I emphasize. I’m guessing that by taking economic and getting an A shows that you’re able to understand econ concepts and won’t struggle taking bus econ which I heard was extremely hard from other transfer students. One transfer student from reddit questioned his ability to even continue studying at usc, despite only having started his first semester at usc.
@pomeranian4rich yeah I became aware of that after investigating more although at my prospective transfer day the Marshall admissions councilor was telling us there was no point in taking economics at all and to focus on everything else like required courses and as many GEs. But I’m still taking microeconomics anyways since I wanted a full time schedule and already have more than enough GEs completed. I’m even taking a ceramics class cause I couldn’t think of anything else to take lol.