Does anyone know how USC humanities progrmas are in comparison to UCLA. I am a History major considering grad and I really want to go to USC but more people are telling me that UCLA is more accommodating for my major. It seems that UCLA has a bigger department, I don’t really know if that is a good thing considering it will be targeted. I’m not really sure I’m in a wreck lol.
After reading this I definitely think my app is overkill, I went back and counted 42 extracurriculars/work experience/awards in the last 6 years (since freshman year of hs). Let’s hope it comes across in the app that I actually have direction and am not insane haha.
Are you gunning for IB too?
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Yup! Hope we both make it!!
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Okay. I might be really stupid. We’re we supposed to report activities from hs as well? I reported recent activities/accomplishments only meaning mostly college activities. Nothing I wasn’t still involved in.
No, they actually recommend you to submit the activities you did at the collegiate-level. But since a lot of us are first-years and we were limited to what we could participate in due to the pandemic, I wrote mostly high school activities.
You don’t need to
Ah I see. Thought I might’ve screwed myself for a second haha
Both UCLA and USC have great history programs. I don’t think you can go wrong with either one because there are well known and recognized professors in both programs. It really depends on what kind of history you are interested in. Yes, UCLA is a bigger department but again they have some famous names in U.S. history (especially African American history). USC is great though as well and has some recognizeable names. Pay attention to what the professors focus on in their research and what you are interested in! Good luck.
Common app for transfers is SO vague so I put them all just to be safe; there wasn’t any of the usual how long have you done this activity for? for how many hours? etc. so I wasn’t sure. That was my take on it but honestly idk how much they’ll take it into account since it looks like I vomited everything I’ve ever participated in onto the app.
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I think its also worth mentioning that a lot of the awards were repeats (dean’s list x3, multiple awards from different years for the same activity), so I wouldn’t stress if you only put recent things.
Just a question for the vets of the forum (@zettasyntax @CADREAMIN ) , I know there’s been instances of people with low GPAs (3.5 and below) being accepted in the past, do you know what their apps were like? Did they have strong EC’s (college or hs) to make up for the gap in academic achievement? I know its hard to gather from just a forum, but I’m just curious if they mentioned anything about their app.
It definitely can’t hurt your application! I wouldn’t worry.
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Thank you!! Even though UCLA has a bigger department I know I won’t ever feel limited at USC.
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Not at all! USC has some cool classes.
I know for sure that some of them are non-trad. Usually older students that took a break in their education for whatever reason. One of the most notable cases I can think of was a transfer who got a C in business calc, but he still got into Marshall (which was amazing considering that’s such an important pre-req). Of course there’s nothing wrong with a C or two, but it definitely a slightly different story when that C was in a pre-req class. He had started his CC career over 8 years prior and didn’t take it seriously. Bunch of W’s and F’s (and of course, USC doesn’t honor academic renewal). He really turned things around though and had 3 straight A semesters his second stint at CC. Perhaps that’s why USC was willing to overlook that C and those prior bad grades. From the people that actually take the time to post nice full stats/stories on the decision page, it seems like non-trads compromise one of the major categories of applicants where USC really takes a more holistic approach. I’m sure an especially impressive EC might help as well (and I’m sure it does in borderline cases), but I can’t recall any immediate examples. I know I’ve been impressed by some of the ECs mentioned on here though.
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An application that really comes together with an overall theme shown through both history and goals, that conveys direction and purpose, can overcome a lower gpa. ECs are only important if they are part of the overall story and committment of the application, just showing one was busy doesn’t mean much.
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Thanks for the thoughtful responses! That totally makes sense, many transfers are those returning to school after long breaks so I get it. I’m a rising sophomore with a 3.26, and I think my ECs, essays, and app in general have a solid theme, all revolving around a passion (turned internship/career) that I developed during the pandemic. I guess it’s just up to the AOs now to evaluate it. I think they’ll cut applicants a little slack for their grades during covid, but I think that applies more to 3.5s than low 3’s lol. Guess we’ll find out this week, I’ll be sure to post my stats/activities in the thread if I get accepted and maybe you all can use me as an example one day 
Good luck, hope you get great news soon!
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Awesome! All three of us received the Transfer Merit Scholarship. That was a great surprise!!
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