Full disclosure. My wife went to USC and it’s a great school but I never considered it on the level of Stanford UC Berkeley or UCLA. However after a number of kids at our local high school got shown the door by USC while getting accepted to those other schools. The Stanford one was WL but got in but still rejected from USC. My niece had a 34 ACT 4.5gpa admitted to UNC(OOS) BU(honors college) and WL at Claremont but rejected at USC! Has anyone noticed this trend and care to comment??
A rise in ranking has already occurred. Presumably a rise in prestige may follow, though that takes more time and is more gradual. Have a look at the most recent rankings and admissions stats compared to those other schools. It is not on the Stanford level, but it has become quite selective and accordingly is tied in the USNews rankings with UCB and UCLA.
It seems highly unlikely that someone who got into Stanford will be rejected by USC unless they didn’t finish their USC application or didn’t provide other requirements. Those schools are simply in different leagues. USC is an excellent school and becomes a school of choice for many Californians since it getting almost impossible to get into UCLA and other top UCs and for many current environment at UCs is not a fit.
Admit rate at USC is lower than at Cal or UCLA so i don’t think it’s a matter of kids going there who can’t get into top UCs.
USC Class of 2021 middle 50 percentiles for GPA UW, 3.77-4.0, ACT admitted 31-34, enrolled 30-34, admit rate 16% (I think class of 2022 was 13%)
UCB Class of 2021 middle 50 percentiles for GPA, W 4.15-4.3, ACT admitted 30-34, admit rate 17% overall
UCLA Class of 2021 middle 50 percentiles for GPA, W 4.13-4.31, UW 3.88-4.0, ACT admitted 30-34, enrolled 27-33, admit rate 16% overall
I’m not sure the various reported GPAs are directly comparable. The UCs might weigh GPA more than test scores compared to USC, but generally, USC seems fairly similar to the UCs for admission. (Stanford is another kettle of fish altogether.)
It’s too simplistic to say Stanford is in a different league than USC. You want to study the arts - USC outshines Stanford - especially in cinematic arts and music. USC holds its own in engineering as well (especially at the graduate level). USC also has programs Stanford does not, like Dance and the innovative Dre and Iovine Academy.
In addition to the top 25 ranking in US News, USC has top rankings in Entrepreneurship at #6, #15 in most innovative universities, and #2 in Public Affairs. There are plenty of students that would pick USC over Stanford based on their interests and goals.
I was starting to hear stories about people being rejected by USC, but accepted by Berkeley and/or UCLA several years ago. Seems like students have similar chances of being rejected or accepted by any of these three schools now.
I can imagine cases where a student was accepted by Stanford but rejected by USC, but it wouldn’t happen very often. USC isn’t quite where Stanford is, although it’s closing the gap.
You are forgetting about yield protection.
USC is definitely on the rise but that is in part because UCB and UCLA are on the decline.
I think USC sees a good amount applicants of Stanford caliber. Everyone who attends on Mork Family, Stamps and Trustee scholarships most likely also got into top 10-12 schools.
Yes, USC uses merit scholarships to attract top quality applicants away from those other schools. You’ll know they have 'arrived" when they no longer need to offer merit scholarships and just offer FA to meet financial need.
I’ve seen this “movie” before. =;
Doesn’t make it any less true. [-X
Repeating the same opinion over and over again doesn’t make it any more or less false either. It’s still false. For our new readers, @cu123 recites the same “public schools are in crisis” in literally every thread he/she posts. Why not be a renaissance man/women and try posting on a different topic occasionally? You might find it liberating. :-q
Here’s some news. California has a “surging budget surplus” of $8.8 Billion. And we’re now the 5th largest economy in the world. Up from #6.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article210903954.html#storylink=cpy
This still doesn’t come close to making up for the discount given to in state students, this is the real problem over the long term for all public universities. 2+2 will never equal 5. Privates universities get the market rate, or at least get to set there own tuition rate, public universities don’t (or at least have to go a state legislature or other political body to get approval which is very unpopular for them to do). Guess what happens when CA has the next recession.
BTW did you notice even with the 3% boost in funding they are asking for more…
Define “not enough”? Do you know what’s enough? Of course they’re asking for more. Who wouldn’t? I would. You get as much as you can while the getting is good. .
BTW did you notice that Governor Brown is building a HUGE “rainy day” fund for a few years now. CA is already planning for the next recession.
Why do you focus on USC’s rise instead of constantly ranting about public schools in crisis? It’s old dude. Move on and maybe take up crocheting or something.
What school, private or public, is satisfied with the amount of money they have?
According to our private college counselor showing “demonstrated interest” at USC is very important for admissions.
FYI- in 2002, USC’s admission rate was 45%. For fall, 2018 it’s 13%. I would say “USC is on the rise”
@socaldad2002 - according to their CDS, USC doesn’t take demonstrated interest into account. With 64,000 applicants, they don’t have to count if you came to visit campus or contacted an admissions officer. That said, I do think they care about how much you want to be at USC and how that is shown in the USC supplement. They seem to be able to sniff out the kids who are applying there just as a backup option or not near the top of their list. My daughter is an example - she didn’t interview because we are not local and just couldn’t fit it in with her academic schedule in the fall, but she showed her love in her essays. That and her academics and she was accepted. It has probably changed in the past 15+ years. Similar to CMU - I believe I read that they will be removing demonstrated interesting from their list because they are getting so many applicants that they will focus on fit.
After going through USC admissions four times, I strongly believe that demonstrated interest is huge, whether they acknowledge it or not. Especially for kids outside the super high stat range or even in the sea of super high stats that all seem the same. Essays are great, but when a person is truly passionate about what they do or if they an interesting slant to their story, time spent talking to people at USC gives them a chance to show them this in person. Personality can certainly trump stats which can’t always be seen in an app. DI is not anonymous tours, it is connections made anytime there and interviewing.