FAQ for USC Admissions

<p>The recommendations can be sent separately (by you or by your recommender) or put in a larger envelope with your other materials. Recommendations must be *sealed by your recommender *in an envelope. Often a recommender will sign across the seal to verify that they sealed the recommendation, but that is not a requirement.</p>

<p>The FAX cover sheets are generally used for FAXing materials. Items mailed can just have your USC ID # written on them. The transcript cover form is for your registrar - they can include it, but it is not required - USC can match it up using your name, high school, birthdate, etc. Forms with your barcode have all the information USC needs and you do not have to write your USC ID on them.</p>

<p>Hi I have a question. I am an international student applying for USC scholarship (merit based because I am not eligible for need-based). In my SAT 2’s I got:
Lit - 720
Physics - 680
not great scores. So should I submit them or not? They say submitting SAT 2 scores is “helpful” for scholarship consideration but I don’t know if these will help me or hurt me. My SAT 1 superscore is 2310 and my single sitting score is 2260, to put my SAT 2 scores in context. My grades are pretty good too (42/45 for IB). So what do I do about my SAT 2 scores? I have to submit my app tomorrow!</p>

<p>Do you really find out if you’re accepted or denied in April like the admissions people told me? Or is that the absolute latest that students find out. If not April when do most students get a letter?</p>

<p>**Putturani, **you might try posting a “chance” thread - the people who look into this thread generally answer admissions procedural questions. Speaking of which, why do you have to submit your application tomorrow? The deadline in December 1st, and while I always encourage applicants to submit a few days ahead of the deadl.ine, there is no advantage to submitting weeks early. Take your time and perfect your application.</p>

<p>mclax8, see page ONE of this thread for a general schedule of admissions notifications. It is in post #10 by cc411. The schedule has been consistant for the last several years.</p>

<p>***There is a LOT of great information in the first few pages of this thread - take a peek!</p>

<p>sorry for being lazy! thanks alamemom</p>

<p>Hi! I was just wondering (because the website is vague to me), exactly how many letters of recommendations is needed for USC?</p>

<p>dacursednlucky,
One letter of recommendation is required, though many applicants choose to submit two or three.

[Freshman</a> Standards - USC Undergraduate Admission](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/apply/fresh_standards.html]Freshman”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/apply/fresh_standards.html)</p>

<p>Teachers are often overworked and underpaid. Some of these teachers write many letters each winter for prospective college applicants. It would be courteous to write a formal note of thanks when you are certain a teacher/counselor has written letters on your behalf to colleges.</p>

<p>I hope this question hasn’t been answered yet (because I did read through most of this thread) but should the grades be submitted as letters (A, B, C) or numbers (93, 87)? In the example they show letters but my school transcript lists all grades as numbers.</p>

<p>Also, if a class is a typical, yearlong course (August-May) should you list it in just the two semester boxes or all three boxes? The formal instructions were a bit vague about this and it would be quite embarrassing to make a mistake on something they will get an official report of.</p>

<p>You should list your grades as they are listed on your transcript-- so as numbers in your case.
Can’t look at the app right now to try to answer your second question…sorry.</p>

<p>In the example the grades are shown as A, B, C, etc. If the hs transcript shows minuses and pluses (A-, B+, etc.), should they be included?</p>

<p>You should list them as they are listed on your high school transcript.</p>

<p>My son’s USC admissions counselor (last year) told him not to include plusses and minus on the online application, even though they were on his transcript, so that’s what he did. I’m sure there are lots of people who don’t ask the question and include them.</p>

<p>I would recommend contacting your admissions counselor for any questions like this, though, and not trusting college confidential. There’s a form somewhere on USC’s website that let’s you identify your USC counselor.</p>

<p>If any of you do get an answer to this question from your admissions counselor at USC please post their response here.</p>

<p>I was always of the opinion that when in doubt it is best to list grades exactly as they appear on your transcript.</p>

<p>Does anyone know if the USC application site ever overloads on the 29th? kind of how the UC application site is known for overloading and people are unable to submit on the 29th and 30th?</p>

<p>A direct quote from the USC admissions director for my area:</p>

<p>“Do not worry about your grades being on 100 point scales. I work with mostly Texas schools and a lot are on that system so you can enter your grades as numbers as your school gives them. As for the year long courses, just enter them twice as if you received the same grade for first and second semester. So, if you got an 88 in Alegbra 2 enter 88 for first and second semester. Hope that answers your questions and please let me know if any other arise!”</p>

<p>I hope this helps someone! Happy Thanksgiving!</p>

<p>Do I need to send this? I know we have to post the inofficial SAT scores, but what about subject tests?</p>

<p>If so, how do I send only two of the three tests I did in one sitting?</p>

<p>SAT subject test scores help in scholarship consideration and only if you believe they will improve your application. otherwise they’re not required.</p>

<p>I have been getting different addresses to where to send my teachers recommendation and my unofficial SAT scores:</p>

<p>on the forms and FAQ page it says:
USC Office of Admission
University Park Campus
Los Angeles, CA </p>

<p>on the instructions for admissions page it says:
USC Office of Admission
700 Childs Way
Los Angeles, CA</p>

<p>and when I emailed them to ask which of the two above were correct they said:
USC Office of Admission
3601 South Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA</p>

<p>WHICH ONE IS IT? So confused.</p>

<p>ALL of them will work. I always quote the 700 Childs Way address, but if you emailed and they directed you to the Flower Street address, follow their directions!</p>

<p>ALL of them will work, so don’t worry, just send everything ON TIME!</p>

<p>

The USC application site had not typically crashed, but there were server problems last year and applicants were not able to submit from the afternoon of December 1st on, so USC extended the deadline by a couple of days.</p>

<p>To be safe, try to submit as soon as possible.</p>