Welcome USC Trojan transfer hopefuls! This is a new thread for those who will turn in their app by Feb 2022 in order to commit (fingers crossed!) to USC for fall 2022 or Spring 2023.
It is always a little sad to see last year’s thread end and say goodbye as people move on…transferring is such a long process at USC and posters can really get to know each other. But of course it’s exciting to see so many successful in their quest to transfer! In the past years, this has always been a super helpful and supportive community - a lot of friendships have been forged at USC that started here on cc in the transfer thread.
I would suggest reading through past threads for some good info. You can search 2021-2022 USC Transfer - or earlier years as well, we use the same naming format each year so they are easy to find.
USC has a ton of great info on the transfer process on the website. Go through everything they have there - it’s really helpful and answers so many questions.
Hello everyone! I will be applying to transfer for the fall of 2022. I am a rising sophomore from a T20 who is a prospective math major and went through the transfer process last year without success, but this is my first time trying for USC. My GPA isn’t great (3.80) but I am hoping that because I am currently at a pretty rigorous school the USC AO’s might forgive that.
This new topic showed up in my inbox-- I was one of the grumpy parents in the freshman admission thread whose son didn’t get in to USC a few months ago despite 36/4.65/11 APs. He’s still considering TTP and met with the SC counselor online in June to go over his freshman schedule. I’m hoping he’ll just bloom where he’s planted, which is a school that’s ranked higher than SC, more Nobel winners on the faculty, smaller classes, etc but will support him either way.
The question that I can’t find an answer to is whether many transfers get merit? On SC’s reddit, they listed 40 quarter tuition scholarships but it wasn’t a recent thread. If transfers were presidential/ trustee scholar material in high school and continue to do well at an elite four year university, do they have a legit chance at merit or is it just a tiny chance? Are TTP applicants less likely to get merit scholarships? Are the 25% tuition scholarships the top awards? The skeptic in me figures that TTP is a way to get national merit scholarship winners to pay full price but the 8000 comment transfer thread and the TTP threads on CC don’t have much information about just how plentiful and competitive transfer merit scholarships are. This decision will be up to my son but if there is just a miniscule chance at merit it will make the process less heartbreaking to know from the beginning.
Second, your application isn’t just about your GPA. Their appliaction process is very holistic. My daughter got in with a 3.81 transfer GPA, two "W"s on her transcript and very few ECs. They look at you as a whole and not just a GPA.
Sad to say that the 40 scholarships for 1/4 tuition are the top scholarships for transfers. I share your skeptics in many things there when it comes to scholarships v. financial aid v. national merit, etc., and who gets what and when they get it. I think there is a lot of covering two bases going on, but that is just totally out of anyone’s control, and they can do what they want.
Totally get being grumpy, those are amazing stats and that burn can be haunting for quite awhile. He may let the mental investment in USC go well ahead of you letting it go, which would be great actually - it means he is loving where he is. But if does decide to apply to transfer, I would be glad to toss some ideas out however I can. Feel free to PM me with anything, even just the grumps - been there, done that.
Thanks again CADREAMIN. My son has overcome some real adversity during high school and he and I are both totally fine with everything. He’s just following through and considering TTP as a back-up plan if he doesn’t like the great school that he’s attending. He and all of his friends are packing and getting ready to move away to college (including his friends who got into SC- nice kids but none of whom even graze my son’s overall qualifications) so aside from CC’s email algorithm sending me your new thread yesterday, it’s all been brought up again recently.
The lack of housing help and the loss of the freshman experience is a factor for all these TTP kids to think about as well but I guess as we all get further into college, that matters less.
One last question- any sense of whether TTP applicants have a better or worse chance at these quarter scholarships? Again, the skeptic in me assumes that TTP kids should plan to not get a dime of help. He does have a few private scholarships that would come with him but it sounds like if he doesn’t love his school, TTP is a very expensive back up plan. Thanks again with helping on this thread and the forum. You do a great job balancing excitement about SC and the possibilities there with the schizophrenic admissions process that they need to overcome to get to SC.
Hello Everyone!
USC hopeful here hoping to transfer from Cerritos College, GPA 3.95 starting sophomore year, Vice President of the Accounting Club, Cal CPA school ambassador, serve on the student life committee, volunteer at the food bank, and am in an invite only program for business students on campus.
Used to be a mentally ill homeless but I’ve turned my life around for the better. I hope we all get a place at USC and whatever you do, don’t think about the “will I get in/what are my chances” traps that we applicants fall in. Start the fall semester off right, focus on what is going on at the moment, you got this!
Fight on!!!
Hello everyone!
I’m a student hoping to transfer from UC Davis to USC for their gerontology program! I’ve done some summer courses at Davis and thus far I’ve had a 4.0 at Davis. I really messed up my sophomore and junior years in high school because of some person reasons but I’ve maintained a 4.0 in my dual enrollment classes beginning senior year. I’m currently an undeclared in the CBS. I’ll also be applying to Cal, UCLA, and UCSD to transfer amongst some other non Cali options. I hope to get to know everyone here through our highs and lows!
Hey everyone! I will be starting my first year at sdsu and I plan on transferring to USC marshall. I know why I want to transfer (I want to do business and pre law and usc offers business research and consulting opportunities and it has a specific niche club for my ethnic background) but idk how to start the essays. Advice?
This story sounds a bit too relatable. I was a National Merit Finalist and National AP Scholar, left high school with a 4.72 weighted GPA, 1550 SAT, 14 APs, and had lots of ECs with 2 varsity sports. I’m just in the unfortunate circumstance where that happened to land me with a class rank of 34th, probably a factor in my rejection. I’m starting class at UVA in a few days as a Rodman Engineering Scholar, with the hopes of transferring to USC Viterbi (and even more hopefully getting some sort of scholarship). Hope your son enjoys whichever path he decides to take.
I’m honestly wondering when I should turn my application in. I wanted to submit it Oct.1 since I was going to submit my fafsa in. But then I read that USC perfers to have your fall grades on the transcript, so I was wondering if I should submit it in December instead.
Oh and if anyone knows how to submit letters of rec on the commonapp, let help me lol, first gen over here
Hi there everyone! I’m new to the thread and from Foothill applying for CS Transfer! I graduated early from highschool after completing the CHSPE. I have a 4.0 GPA and am on track to complete all IGETC and USC admission requirements for CS Admission. I currently serve as President of Foothill’s CS Club.
I am curious to hear from @CADREAMIN to see if he/she has any advice for CS Admissions. I’m also applying to UCB, Cal Poly Slo, UCSC and Chapman.
Fight On!
I’m applying for transfer as a junior from Long Beach City College. My major is Communications, I’m in the honors program, full-time job as a home care provider, and my gpa is currently 3.2. It will definitely be much higher by the spring! I’ve been working on answering the USC questions and personal statement since July. I understand my GPA is arguably low in all honesty; however, I hope my essays and upward trend will prove to the AO’s that I deserve a spot.
My gpa is low because I had an urgent family emergency which led me to stop attending classes for a small period of time, and of course, resulted in W’s and low grades. I touched on it on my personal statement so I hope it explains that portion of my transcript, but I really hope they see how amazing I’ve been doing since then and how great I will do these next couple of semesters!
@CADREAMIN I’m wondering if there has been any consensus on if certain schools at USC are harder to transfer to than others? I’m particularly curious about Dornsife vs Viterbi vs Marshall, as I’m interested in CS/CSBA.
I read last year’s thread but didn’t see any info on that.
Hi! I am applying to transfer for fall 2022 for biomedical engineering and I am having doubts about my spring schedule.
I plan on taking:
differential equations (last math class) – might take during winter session
physics 43 (last one)
MATLAB Programming
electrical circuits & devices.
To increase my chances should I add a bio class such as Organismal Biology or Ecology and Evolution? or another engineering class such as Materials Science or Statics?
My daughter just tried to set up a time to discuss her current courses and the courses that she should take next semester and the admissions counselor told her that they can’t go over courses… may I ask who your son reached out to? TY
We could use some help… my kid is trying to talk to a admissions counselor about class selection and they said that they don’t do that. what do they do? what kind of questions do they answer? we need help. TY
Yes, they are not going to help you plan what specific classes to take, not even for TTP - but there are tons of resources to figure out what to do. First, read ALL of the USC Transfer Guide.
Have your student go through the website for the major they are interested in and get a good understanding of what classes are required. If you look up, for example, transferring to Marshall, there is great detail on what they expect a student to have coming in.
Try to find the current school in USC articulation agreements.
Also, a school like Santa Monica College (who send quite a few on to USC) also have a page dedicated to transferring to USC. Google all you can, there is a lot of information out there.
At first it seems overwhelming, but the more you get familiar with course required/offered and which ones transfer, it then becomes just like putting together a pretty basic puzzle. Math, English (writing), science - every major has basic pre-reqs they want to see from transfers.
You are on the right track, as taking the right courses is key along with a solid gpa. But a solid gpa won’t save someone who is missing the required math courses, say, to transfer to Viterbi. Your student should be the one getting really familiar with this - it is easier for them to pick up than us ol’ parents! Good luck, please come back around if any more questions!
