@csumit I click on “Check the status of your financial aid application,” then I see 2017-18 and 2018-19. When I click 18-19, I see two tabs: Application Status and Planning Worksheet. Under Application Status, there are three sections. Eligibility Checks, Application Started, and Application in Review. Eligibility Checks and Application Started have the white and green check, while Application in Review has the orange and black clock. When I click on Eligibility Checks, I see two subsections: Citizenship and Satisfactory Academic Progress. I do not see what they see…
@csumit yeah what you’re describing is exactly what I see, but an additional third one under eligibility checks which is the one I described above. It may not mean anything, I think. I was just curious.
Would it be appropriate to email my admission’s counselor about this? Maybe I forgot to submit something? I have no idea… It says I do not need to submit anything else… Hmmm
@aznboi4981 I wouldn’t worry about it if says you don’t need to submit anything else. They probably just haven’t gotten to your app yet.
@csumit Or maybe the math thing I have been worried about really is an issue. :-S
@aznboi4981 Sorry, refresh my memory on that?
@csumit My first choice of major was Business Admin (Marshall) and my second choice was Econ (Dornsife). For Marshall, the prereqs are Math 118 or 125 (Fundamental Principles of Calculus or Calculus I) and Writ 150. In my additional info section, I wrote that I’d take Calc I over the summer if I had to at a community college or something. After I submitted the app, I learned that this was not allowed and I learned that Math 118 was pretty similar to a math course I took during my first semester of my freshman year. (Just as an aside, the math course I took at my school was recommended for ALL business majors). So, anyways, I emailed my advisor at USC and she told me she could not help with credits, and that the department that handles credits would make that decision upon admission. I was sort of confused by this since it was a prereq for admission to Marshall… Therefore, I sent in an additional supplement (directly through the portal) in a letter format to admissions stating that I felt the math course I took was rather similar to Math 118 (covered the same material and THEN some). I attached a copy of the syllabus, and I stated every topic covered.
Topics:
-Fundamentals of Probability
-Unions and Complements of Events
-Conditional Probability and Independent
Events
-Trees and Bayes’ Formula
-The Fundamental Counting Principle
-Permutations and Combinations
-Bernoulli Trials
-Expected Value and Decision Making
-Review of Algebra Topics
-Limits and Continuity
-Tangent Lines and Derivatives
-Differentiation Formulas
-Other Interpretations of the Derivative (Rate of Change, Velocity, Acceleration) -Graphing Polynomial Functions
-Optimization
-Indefinite Integral
-Definite Integral
Math 118 covers:
Derivatives; extrema. Definite integral; fundamental theorem of calculus. Extrema and definite integrals for functions of several variables.
Plus, I took Calc 1 in high school (not AP)… not like it means much lol
So yeah… I don’t know… Maybe they do not think I meet the requirement. Meh… I am so bleh because, honestly, USC is my top choice. I never applied in high school because I did not have a fighting chance. Now that I actually do, I want this more than ever, and I just feel like this is all going to come crushing down on me… I can see it happening… I am already preparing myself (but it isn’t working haha)
Sorry for how terrible this message sounds. I am half asleep plus anxious over everything haha
Hey everyone I have a quick question and I know this maybe a dumb question, but I hear it so often. Does being a minority as well as a first to go to college applicant boost admission chances up? Thank you in advanced. I only ask this because my school counselor who apparently attended a USC counselor meeting heard this and also that statistics somewhat back it up.
@aznboi4981 omg you need to relax! haha. Unless you get an actual denial, it is wayyyy too soon for anyone to be stressed out about whatever is or isn’t on their portal. Even if what is on my portal were to mean something (which it may or may not) you also have to remember that this is SUPER early and they review applications in waves. Please don’t stress yourself out, and be patient. We are all just desperate for clues and its making us a little crazy lol.
@ernesto98 It wouldn’t change a denial into an admission but it might help if you’re on the cusp. It’s exactly the same thing as being a legacy. It can help, maybe, but not by much.
I feel like almost everyone is hearing back from admissions. :(( Should I be worried if I haven’t heard back from them?
@dwightsbeetfarm Yup, I did end up going to USC. Here’s the (very) long story if you want to read it, haha.
I had already committed to UCLA because it was June 1st and I had heard absolutely nothing from USC – no rejection, no SGR, nada. Since it was past their “official” deadline to notify all students with some form of decision, I just figured that they forgot about me and were going to reject me anyway, so I made plans to attend UCLA. A few days later (June 6th), I get my acceptance and it’s bittersweet. I’m happy that was accepted, but really disappointed because I stuck around at CC for another year and racked up about 100 units. I didn’t want to waste more time, so I decided to stick with UCLA. I put money down for housing and made plans to attend an orientation session. My experience may be atypical, but that orientation was horrendous! I was especially horrified when it came to registering for classes. My student advisor basically gave me a list of classes to choose from and he said that I could only pick courses from that list. I wanted to take a Spanish class, but it wasn’t on the list and it also had a waitlist. He also stressed that one should never enroll in a class with a waitlist because nobody on the waitlist ever gets into the class, so he didn’t approve of my choice of Spanish and he asked that I remove it. At the end of the night, I had a schedule full of classes that I did not want to take. The next morning, I get an email from one of the department advisors at USC and he told me about a new major that USC was creating; it wasn’t even in the brochure yet. I told him how I had been admitted as a sociology major, but he stated that process to switch to the new computational linguistics major would be a breeze. I withdrew from UCLA that same day. When it comes time to attend USC’s orientation in the winter, I really can’t tell you how much of a difference there was. This was really apparent when it came to picking my classes. Nobody was telling me what courses I should take. I made a schedule that was entirely my own. I even enrolled in a Viterbi class with a simple phone call. This is really where USC being a private university shined. Compared to UCLA, none of the classes I wanted were full. I really did get the perfect schedule. The rest of the day was a blast as well. By the time the Trojan Marching Band surprised us during lunch, I knew that I made the right call to ditch UCLA. I started at USC in January 2016 and earned my degree in August 2017, so I was there for a little over a year. I actually wish I had slowed things down though and graduated in December 2017 like I was supposed to – I really fell in love with USC. My advisor told me that I wouldn’t be able to participate in the 2017 commencement if I didn’t graduate in the summer, so that was somewhat of a motivating factor for me.
@Rickyandmorty Are you a TTP applicant? Most of the people hearing back are TTP. Traditionally, the first big wave of acceptances comes around late April - Apri 20-something to be more specific. I wouldn’t start worrying yet. There’s still a very long time for you to hear back 
That’s really quite the story @zettasyntax
I am happy that everything worked out for you
@rgehr123 Can the CWS be a link to a portfolio site?
@StipendAwarded The application offers its own place to upload a personal website if you have one. That’s where your portfolio site should go.
Your CWS should be distinctly separate from that. It should be it’s own project that hopefully admissions can actually play for themselves (if you made a game). Your CWS can appear in your portfolio, but your CWS should be one specific project that you want them to look at.
Since you can’t upload full games on the SlideRoom application, I uploaded a PDF describing the project with a link to a Drop box page where they can download the game, screenshots, and a video. If you have a website though you should upload it there.
@rgehr123 What I worry about is that even if I made a fully developed game, they only have a short time to play through it. How would I make it stand out even within those minutes?
Also, for my Creative Works List, how thorough should the documentation be? Is the Creative Works List a separate entry from a portfolio site?
What would happen if I ended up finishing all my GEs at the other college before I transfer to USC?
@StipendAwarded Then you still have to take 2 there.
@csumit It’s going to be a long, long wait. I wouldn’t worry a ton about it until next month. Someone on this thread said that Viterbi started looking at applications last week, so it’s a matter of wait and see.
@StipendAwarded With regards to your creative work sample, the USC application says that they highly recommend that you submit a game project that they can play. It says that it should be something they can experience in 10 minutes or less.
I assume you mean portfolio list when you say creative work list. For that, probably a concise paragraph for each entry would do.
But again, they highly recommend that you submit a game.
From the USC SlideRoom Application:
“Creative Work Sample: The creative work sample represents your best or most relevant work. Choose a major piece of work that you are extremely proud of for your creative sample. If you have completed a game or animation project, you should strongly consider including this. Otherwise this work might be digital or analog, it or may be a film, photo essay, script or story. For visual art, you may submit a small selection of pieces. If you are uncertain that your software will run, include screenshots and a video play-through just in case.
Please send a creative sample that can be viewed, played or read in less than 10 minutes. Please limit the length of a written creative sample, e.g. movie scripts and prose should be no more than 20 pages. We are looking for individuals who show both talent and personal initiative. Use the creative sample to show us your best work and the portfolio to show us the breadth of your creative endeavors.“