<p>It says that it is optional, but it won't let me fill out Part II without doing Part I first? </p>
<p>And also, is it advantageous to fill out Part I or does it truly have no effect on admission?</p>
<p>No one here knows for sure if it's advantageous or not. There are stories of acceptances from people who filled out Part I and people who didn't. Admissions may use it to track interest, but...they may not. You definitely don't have anything to lose by doing it. It doesn't take much time or effort. And, at the very least, you save $10 on the application fee.</p>
<p>My son filled out part I of the application. What is the big deal about filling out part I? It should not be hard for you to fill it out. I don't work for USC but my guess is that filling out part I demonstrates interest and gets you into the USC computer system.</p>
<p>As VF08 says, it will save you $10, so go ahead and fill it out. They will also send your bar-code stickers when you do the part 1, which will assure that all the elements of your part 2 application (transcripts, letters of rec...) quickly get where they belong. Good luck!</p>