Hi all, my D has been accepted to USC Viterbi (presidential scholarship) and few other schools. We are leaning towards USC but were wondering are there people here who are not considering USC anymore or unfavorably due to the recent scandals? Thanks
If anything it should INCREASE the chance one attends and make one realize how special you are if USC accepted you. The two sisters who got in the “side door” were from a family worth hundreds of millions and their parents were friends with the wealthiest and most powerful trustee and they still could not get in through the front door but from bribing some athletic personnel who were willing to falsify documents when admissions started sniffing around. That may be a bizarre take but it does not make it an inaccurate take. The door has been closed and I pity any who try going forward. USC has an excellent admissions department and they will now have the tools and power to sniff out those who try and cheat the system. USC is a school on the upswing and they were already starting in a decent spot. A spate of scandals has passed and new blood on top with a new transparency will prevent a repeat. When you look at class size, academic reputation, location, the alumni network and many other factors it would be rash to not choose USC.
Well what about Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the other schools with similar incidents? USC had more applicants and coaches involved, and there are legitimate concerns about institutional control, but none of that affects the quality of education and the opportunities USC affords.
@dmama2019, my son was also admitted to USC (Thornton School of Music). To be honest, I did have some concerns over the current scandal but even more so over the past scandals that were rehashed when the admissions scandal broke. It was almost off our list for our son until he was admitted. Watching him experience the joy of being admitted to a school that is a great fit for what he wants to study along with an unexpected Presidential Scholarship had a bif impact on our thinking. I think the Class of 2023 has reason to be optimistic. A new president who will be motivated to restore any hit that USC has taken to its image along with the fact that when they graduate in 4 years, this scandal will hopefully be a distant memory.
I concur with @JohnGaltIII 's comments above.
And from the best I can tell, the current students there (at least everyone that my daughter knows) all seemed to take it in stride. If anything, they seem to think that it casts a better light on their decision to attend USC in the first place. As they see it… look how popular attending USC is (nearly 67K applied to do so just this cycle) and just look at the lengths and the amount of effort that individuals and their families extend toward achieving the goal of admission to USC - even to the extreme in the case of some foolish uber-wealthy parents desperate to see their kids Trojans too. Most current students seemed to find it even a little humorous, as of course none of them got in through any side door methodology. They instead got in based on the individual strength of their own candidacy. If you were one of the fortunate few, only 11%, that got in this cycle (and of course also got in the right way) and are weighing your options, I simply suggest evaluating USC based on the realities of what it is and can mean to you over a four year period and beyond, once you join the ranks of the Trojan Family / Network… the 300K+ alumni who go out of their way to help their own.
Thank you all for your thoughts. I wasn’t worrying about it until came across this article. Good to hear reassuring words.
USC is a great, great, great school and the bones of the university are solid. The scandals are frustrating to say the least, but I wouldn’t have a problem sending a kid there if it was the right school for my son/daughter and we were able to get a solid financial aid package. You parents considering sending your children to the engineering and music schools have solid choices for your kids, and what’s nice is that USC (like all 4 of the big 4 schools in California) really is the total package in terms of great academics, great social life, lots to do on and around campus, Division I sports teams, etc.
Thanks @USCAlum05. The school is a good fit for my daughter from what we can tell but sometimes doubts do creep up especially when I come across an article such as posted in my original post.
I suspect some people will withdraw applications, while others will now decide to submit applications after seeing USC constantly being mentioned alongside Stanford and Yale. As an alum. I love the school, but have gotten sick of the, “Money and prestige over ethics and education” culture that started under Sample and continued with Nikias.
Penn State recovered from its scandal pretty quickly. I suspect USC will get beyond this very quickly, too.
Scandals hit a lot of top colleges - this one here at USC just got super extra press coverage because of the celebrity element and FBI. Has anybody talked about this affecting Duke? Are students reconsidering Duke for this? https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2019/03/duke-university-settlement-research-fraud-president-price-announces-research-fraud-settlement-with-substantial-payment-to-u-s-government
USC will recover and in some sense will have a higher academic regard by many from being mentioned with Yale and Stanford and being called an “elite university”. There are parts of the country that don’t realize that.