<p>Hello, USC is my #1 school and I have been dying to go there since my sophomore year of high school. I already submitted the application and had an interview with an admissions officer. I feel like I have done every thing I can, but I really want to take that extra step to ensure that I get in. Can someone please help me, what else should I do? I was thinking of emailing my regional officer, but I don't want to be bothersome.</p>
<p>About me:
I am an out of state student.
Attend a STEM school.
4.2 GPA
2080 SAT 2150 Superscore
Major:Neuroscience Alt: Psychology </p>
<p>I appreciate any advice. Thank you so much in advance! </p>
<p>Don’t bug the regional officer. It’s the holidays and they are swamped with applications. </p>
<p>There is nothing else you can do. The application is in, USC will take it from there. They don’t want students bombarding them with a lot of extra stuff to make their case. There are more than 52,000 applications coming in. And you had an interview when many students didn’t. So that was your extra. Now just relax and focus on other colleges because the odds for everyone interested in USC are low - so you want to make sure you have a good back-up plan just in case.</p>
<p>There is no extra step to be sure you get in unless you want to buy them a building or something and not even that does it sometimes Listen to @ArtsandLetters, there are 50,000 striving for the same thing. Take your finals, enjoy the holidays, and make sure you have applied to other great schools, it can be a very long ride until April for most applicants. Putting all your emotions into a school like USC is very risky, make sure you have others you would like as well.</p>
<p>Okay thank you guys so much @cadreamin and @ArtsandLetters !! Do you think I have a shot considering my stats? Once again thank you guys so much for the advice</p>
<p>Stats are a tiny part of it and to be honest, thousands applying will have similiar stats, and many will have better, and some will have lower. USC is the fortunate position to take kids with great stats AND great stories to tell. They use a holistic approach meaning the look at the whole person. A kid with fabulous stats and a laundry list of endless ECs frankly, isn’t that interesting, because that is everybody nowadays. It depends on your entire package and how you fit into what they are looking for. No one on this forum can say you will or won’t get in, we don’t see everything and even if we did, we don’t see what USC Admissions, by school and by department, is looking for this particular year.</p>
<p>You need to find more schools you love, it is too risky to bank on USC. </p>
<p>Being that you posted the same question on three different threads on the same forum, I want to be nice but somebody has to say it - calm down. You can do nothing at this point - like the thousands of others that have applied. As my mom use to say - go outside and play, find something to do.</p>
<p>I agree with all the comments above. I don’t think you should bug any admission counselors or anyone affiliated with the admissions committee with any sort of extra email or supplement. It might not even be seen. Just trust in your academic and extracurricular accomplishments so far. </p>
<p>Haha sorry I will calm down now @CADREAMIN I’ll take your advice and just let it go and see what happens. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t making a bad decision in not perusing, as many of my friends have already emailed for other schools and they got in. I’ll look for other schools but USC will remain my #1. Thank you so much for all your help though I really do appreciate it! </p>
<p>^Some schools take demonstrated interest into account in admissions decisions. USC (and many top 25 schools) does not. You have done your part so far - continue to achieve during your senior year since you will need to upload fall grades when they are out. </p>
<p>^^^ camomof3, that is completely and totally wrong. I went to an admissions event for alumni (nieces and nephews coming up now) and the VP of admissions and planning, Katherine Harrington, said flat out that it’s a matching process and they’re looking in part for students who WANT to go to USC. I don’t know where you got your information from. USC has also automatically offered half tuition scholarships to National Merit finalists/winners (?) who indicate on the relevant forms that USC is their first choice school.</p>
<p>To be fair, every school has plenty of students who want to go to school there, so the university is spoiled in terms of applicants. But to suggest that the desire to go to a school (a finely-crafted application rather than a generic one scattergunned to 25 different schools) plays no part is ridiculous, at least in the case of USC. Yes, every school is different, but most schools are “looking for some love” on the part of applicants - why specifically their school, rather than just clamoring to go to any ole prestigious school. Schools all have individual personalities and are not interchangeable.</p>
<p>Beyond that, the above comments about not smothering admissions officers and looking for multiple fits IMHO is spot on.</p>
<p>@USCAlum05 - I’m a current parent and visit campus quite often. @camomof3 is not wrong. I’ve heard those same statements verbatim myself in just as many sessions. So while - yes - USC wants to identify students who really want to go there, they have more an overabundance of that right now. Not every student has the economic means to “demonstrate” interest. And there aren’t enough interview slots for every student who wants one (our D applied early and couldn’t get one.) That is precisely why interviews are not required and having one or not doesn’t weight the application. Although we used frequent flyer miles so my husband and daughter could visit USC and other east coast options, most kids don’t have that in the budget. </p>
<p>So here’s what matters more…</p>
<p>“Demonstrated” interest is not bugging an admissions officer - it’s applying. It’s showing in your extracurricular and academic work that you are on target with USC’s mission. It’s showing in your essays you understand how the two connect. And even then USC accepts twice as many students as they have spots for because they know half of those students will turn them down.</p>
<p>Also, USC doesn’t take every NMF that lists USC as their first choice. That’s a disservice to let students think that. They do offer aid to every NMF that they decide to accept - that’s a different nuance.</p>
<p>I’m sure there is a “tiny” modicum of logic in showing verbal or physical interest - certainly our daughter filled out the section that asked if she had visited the campus (she had) and when. What might have helped in that case was that it indicated that she knew - coming from across the country - what she was getting herself into (campus, size, location, programming). I probe for those same clues when I do college interviews - kids who know what MIT is - versus what its stereotypes and myths are. But most top colleges know that is also not a financial option for many kids. </p>
<p>I will also note that my daughter’s classmate did everything right - went to the summer film program (at $15,000 plus room and board), schmoozed with the right industry people and wealthy donors, produced tons of films, wore the t-shirts, drank the koolaid and pretty much did every thing possible to show interest. He didn’t get in. </p>
<p>So we just tell students - do your best. Because the time to be asking what to do is years before the application starts. Once you are in your senior year the die are cast. It is what it is. Adding “extras” now won’t do much more than irritate already swamped Admissions officers.</p>
<p>Nope- not wrong about demonstrated interest. USC does NOT expect students to visit and/or interview. This doesn’t help your application. Other schools do expect this. Neither of my kids did anything besides applying to demonstrate interest in USC and both were accepted in January and invited to interview for P/T scholarships. Applying to USC shows you are serious about USC. </p>
<p>The NMF is also not really relevant as the deadline to name USC is May 1, way after decisions have gone out. </p>
<p>I’ll just add that I have noticed, upon carefully sussing the comments from USC Admissions over the past 7 years, that some of their statements are, indeed, nuanced and usually framed in the most positive way. Of course, we here on cc try to find reason and sense beyond these general statements. USC, as most schools, has a tendency to tread carefully when speaking about admissions to alumni, for it is clear that generous alumni are the backbone of university development (giving!) as well as a vital part of the Trojan family spirit, and yet, no meaningful data is given to support the notion that offspring of alumni are smiled upon. </p>
<p>This was not always the case: today’s generation of parents faced a much easier admissions climate than their kids. So, I am not surprised that an admissions officer would speak favorably about the impact of an applicant’s enthusiasm to attend USC to an audience of alums. However, we have yet to see reports of numbers of applicants that show any correlation between their enthusiasm for USC (including Trojan legacies) and admissions. Anecdotally, we see many students who never visited campus, and never interviewed who are admitted and even offered scholarship interviews. USC Admissions states that interviews are ONLY informational, as they do not want to disadvantage kids who cannot afford to visit campus. Moreover, USC strategically uses Trustee/Presidential merit awards to woo excellent students to attend 'SC who otherwise might choose ivies and equivalent highly selective/higher prestige schools (in other words, less enthusiastic but highly desirable to raise overall SAT/GPA incoming numbers). If USC was only intent on enrolling a class full of enthusiastic Trojans, why give full and half-tuition awards to high achieving applicants requiring that they visit campus? Many here suggest that when Cornell/Stanford/Northwestern/Brown admitted students get to see USC at Explore, it’s often their first time on campus, and the experience, which is awesome, along with the financial reward is a wonderful final sales pitch. </p>
<p>Those who have read my many older posts will know my view is to have a very realistic attitude towards all college applications. Each admissions office is looking to fulfill their own institutional needs. When a competitive admission university receives a huge number of applications from high stat students, they can pick from among a great crop. But the adcoms are savvy. They don’t want to be dissed. My advice is to be careful with each application to every college, and make sure you show appropriate respect/interest in each one. Don’t be generic when it comes to answering what seem like short answers on the supplement–show admissions you’ve done your homework on their school. The jaundiced part of me suggests, however, that enthusiasm will not be the key to an admission.</p>
<p>Every college tip toes around alums and legacies. Boarding schools do the same even as they know they’re going to reject a substantial portion of their children. </p>
<p>@Dreamcatcher1 - thanks for the good wishes, but I’m speaking as the proud parent of a successful USC student who got through the application process in one piece. And she loves the university so we understand why so many students here want to be admitted. Our philosophy is “don’t apply equals a definite no. Do apply equals a maybe.” </p>
<p>So give it your best shot - let them see the real you. We speak from experience.</p>
<p>My advice: there is nothing more to do but be patient, grasshopper. Your credentials speak for themselves. </p>
<p>Don’t bug anyone, you’ll come across as desperate and annoying. You already sound a bit hysterical. Relax, turn your attention to high school, extracurricular activities, preparing for the prom, winter break, and finishing with a bang. </p>
<p>My son got in as a spring admit and will be starting in January. He had the same questions as you and decided to call the admission rep when he felt it was necessary or might increase his chances. An example was when an article was published about him. The rep was very friendly and didn’t seem put off at all. If you feel there’s some information that would help your chances, than by all means call your rep. Good luck. </p>
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