<p>So I got the letter on saturday mentioning that I was no longer being considered for the two main scholarships, which is fine because I definitely don't have the stats for that. However aside from that i noticed that they are only accepting 8,000 students this year, compared to last years 8,700 or something close to that number. Was USC just making a general statement in this letter, or are they actually cutting the admit pile by 700?</p>
<p>As I understand it, there were 35,000 applications for 2,500 freshman undergrad slots this year. That’s a little over 7% ??</p>
<p>How many applications did they have? Like, what is the official number.</p>
<p>ukfcra, does your letter say “8,000?” Another poster mentioned their letter said “8,400.”</p>
<p>Last year USC admitted 8,715 <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1011/FreshmanProfile2010.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1011/FreshmanProfile2010.pdf</a> , so if they are admitting 8,400 or 8,000 (whichever number turns out to be accurate from the letter) it does seem that they are cutting back on admits a bit. They may be expecting a slightly higher yield (number of admitted students who choose to attend) than last year due to the small rise in the rankings last August.</p>
<p>I know they got an unexpectedly high number of accepted students actually choosing to attend last year, so this year they may have cut down on their acceptance letters to get back to an optimal class size.</p>
<p>ukfra,</p>
<p>From checking previous admission profiles I found these numbers. It is correct SC admitted 8715 last year. With the uncertain economic climate other private universities increased admits by a small number. Last year the admit rate increased to 23.9% from a low of 22% in 2008. In 2008 7500+ were admitted.</p>
<p>Unofficial sources indicate the applications are up substantially. We will have to wait for official numbers to be released. I am guessing the admit rate has gone down this year.</p>
<p>Haven’t received any letters here yet one way or the other so still hoping for good news as son’s stats put him in the top 25%.</p>
<p>I have a brochure “Introduction to USC 2011” we were given at an info session USC put on last fall at a local hotel. Inside it includes “profile of admitted freshmen, fall 2010” states they
-received 35,775 applications,
-offered admission to 8,555 (24%) and
-enrolled 2,875.</p>
<p>My daughter got a letter today giving her the Deans Scholarship :)</p>
<p>She just has to maintain a 3.0 to keep it lol</p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS stalkermama! (And more relief for me, having mentioned Dean’s to admits w/o Trustee or Presidential interviews 
- I am so glad to see the posts confirming!!!)</p>
<p>Thanks alamemom!! Looks like many of us that got letters with no mention of a scholarship will be getting Deans. It just takes an extra few days to get the letter.</p>
<p>Best wishes to your daughter, stalkermama!</p>
<p>According to USC’s letter, they had a pool of over 22,000 December 1 applicants, and now narrowed the pool to 1000. This year, they expect to offer admission to 8,400 freshmen. So far, they have notified 15% (quick calculation makes that about 1260–so 260 unaccounted for in number of finalists for T/P), leaving roughly 7,160 more admissions to be sent out.</p>
<p>Actually, keeping a 3.0 at USC tends to be considerably more challenging than the higher GPAs the kids had in HS–the competition is much keener, especially in competitive majors. Kids we knew that had no problems with 3.8-4.0 UW had to work to keep their grades about 3.0 at USC.</p>
<p>Does USC care about any of the follow factors when it making admissions decisions…?</p>
<p>1) Whether or not you are applying for financial aid (i know they are “need-blind,” but many doubt they keep to their word)
2) Info Session
3) Interview</p>
<p>1) The financial aid and admissions offices are completely separate, so no.</p>
<p>You can’t trust them? Seriously? They give you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to your application, why not give them it? But it’s obvious that they are need blind.</p>
<p>2) No</p>
<p>3) It can help, if you don’t, it won’t hurt</p>
<p>To add to Jasonvdm’s excellent answer about USC being need-blind: The first round of admission letters have been sent, and financial aid applications are not even due yet - so there is no way those decisions could in any way be based on a students financial need.</p>
<p>As to:
USC is a highly-ranked private university that could choose - if they wanted to - to completely fill their entering class of 2,700 with VERY well-qualified FULL PAY students from their pool of over 35,000 applicants, but they CHOOSE to be need-blind. There would be no reason or advantage for USC to “say” it is need-blind if it isn’t.</p>
<p>Over 60% of undergraduates at USC receive need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>Isn’t the average financial aid package like $33,000-ish?</p>
<p>alamemom, so the first round has been sent? what kind of applicants do you think were in this round? do you think it was alphabetical order?</p>
<p>The first wave is usually the Trustee and Presidential Scholarship candidiates, the Bacc/MD candidates, and the Dean’s Scholarship awardees (USC says the admissions that have been sent add up to only 15% of the total that will be sent). In the past, more admissions followed in waves from late February through late March, but this year applicants have reported being told there would be one big mailing around the third week of March.</p>
<p>Good luck!!!</p>