Does anyone know what causes a student to be admitted for the spring semester? Someone suggested an interesting theory of not having many ECs, a “just okay” GPA and such, but I really can’t see the pattern with some students. I’m a transfer student that got in for spring and it really bummed me out. I still might end up going, but ucla also accepted me and I can’t really think of a good reason not to attend ucla in the fall instead of doing nothing waiting for usc. I’m a bit older (I’ll be 22 in the fall) and I have nearly 100 units done at my CC (they’ve told me basically to stop taking classes unless I pay for them all), so do you think age has something to do with spring admits for transfers? My GPA is currently a 3.9(ish) with 91 units completed. I only ever got 1 B, but it was in a relatively easy math class, so I’ve wondered if maybe USC is concerned about my academic ability if I couldn’t ace a simple stats course or that I could maybe affect their fall stats.
Thanks for any help guys. If you’ve ever heard of any success stories getting bumped to fall, that would be nice too. I’ve been getting such to the point responses from various admissions people that it’s not going to happen
Remember, many colleges have waitlists. The Spring admit option is just a new (and more humane) version of the waitlist. So why do people become Spring Admits? Well, the first thing you have to remember is that they definitely decided that they want you there. Never forget that. The second thing is that they just didn’t have enough room. (compare this to a waitlist, which says you “may” get in if room opens up. Spring Admits definitely get in). Now why you vs. someone else becomes Spring Admit, well, that can be for any number of reasons…the major is exceptionally competitive that year, there were 10 people just like you, and the luck of the draw had 2 admits, 1 spring admit and 7 rejections, they had a lot of other people from your school, geography, EC focus, etc. etc. Your record seems great, so I seriously, seriously doubt is has anything to do with getting 1 B out of 100 units.
But remember.
And never forget.
They made the determination that they absolutely want you to attend and they found a creative way to make that happen.
Period. Full Stop.
Lol, they don’t have room? Are you kidding me? As I’ve mentioned before, there’s plenty of room in the mansion at 1550 Oak Grove, San Marino, CA. That house belongs to USC and can easily house the few Spring admits in the fall. Please write to President Nikias and ask him to explain why his daughter was allowed to matriculate in the fall but not you.
@SeattleTW Do you really recommend writing a letter? When I asked my admissions counselor, they had never responded so harshly until that point - almost as if it was illegal to ask about switching into fall. I’d write a letter for the heck of it. It’d be interesting if I actually got a response back.
I would. Send me a draft via the private email and I’ll review it. Focus on UCLA and what you’ll be missing. The letter should be addressed to the dean of admissions. Cc Nikias. I’m one alumnus who is here to help.
Are you considering passing on linguistics at UCLA to be a spring admit at USC? idk, you mentioned you are 22, not sure that gap would be a good thing mentally. Here you are, excited to go, and they want to put you off for a semester. I sorta disagree with above post. If they absolutely wanted you they would have admitted you in the fall. As it stands you can come in when someone else drops out, flunks out or can’t afford it anymore. USC admissions have gotten so pretentious lately, too many stories like this. It will bite them someday. UCLA wants you now that is sweet and it seems their linguistics is pretty awesome at least at the grad level, but the rep of undergrad is excellent as well. And it’s a nice neighborhood.
@blueskies2day I know. I’m 21, but I will be 22 in the fall. I don’t really like the idea of waiting longer either, but some people have suggested that USC figures that older students have waited such a long time already that they wouldn’t mind waiting a bit longer (I guess I fall into the “old” category by now). I was rejected from USC and UCLA last year, but tried again and got into both this time around (and with a slightly worse GPA even). UCLA does seem amazing for graduate work in linguistics and I’ve looked up several of the professors - they seem awesome.
I think I “fit” more with USC personally, but mainly because I actually like the surrounding area. I’m from East LA and one of the community colleges I went to was Los Angeles Trade Tech (so pretty close to USC). I spoke with an advisor and he mentioned that they are introducing a computational linguistics major at USC soon (which is exactly the field I want to get into), but he didn’t mention anything about bumping me up to the fall semester. I did mention it, but he pretty much ignored that. I guess I’m just having trouble with the whole East LA to West LA transition since it’d be so different. I loved the UCLA campus when I visited once to see a musical a friend was performing in, but USC just seems like the place I can see myself at. If I can’t really get it for the fall semester though, I’m definitely going to UCLA. I just want to fight a little more to see if I can somehow change their mind about when I can start.
Sounds well thought out @zettasyntax. Having students at USC over the last several years I have just seen a change that doesn’t thrill me. It is losing it’s private school vibe and turning into more of a giant public school where you struggle to get lunch and classes. Professors don’t know you, many are so part time that don’t care that much. So my feeling is, if you are going to get that kind of service, why not pay half the price across town? Totally get you feeling you fit at USC better, we are not a glossy bunch either, like the city grit. But it is gorgeous at UCLA, I have to admit. Will you do graduate school? Will you need money for that - is there an economic advantage over one or the other?
I agree that if you can’t go fall then go to UCLA because you also lose that many months of being employable…delays your ability to graduate and go to work. Also, be wary of “introducing a major soon.” We heard that when student started about another major and three years later still waiting for it. They are too busy stockpiling money I think. Their priority seems to be this hoity toity image over substance lately. I have history (alum) and future (kids) as a Trojan, but I just don’t understand them being on such a high horse lately at the expense of improving the quality of the education they offer.
I admire you fighting the good fight for yourself and wish you luck. You worked hard for two years to get here and deserve to be where you want. Admissions folks at USC come off as omnipotent - they have all the power and they know it, I find just walking through or by that office off-putting. Their attitude fills the room. Interesting being the students are paying their salary with tuition that has gotten way out of hand. But if you can break through - you are a superhero!
Post edit - do you have any contacts in the linguistic department (or friends in dept that could vouch to dept head on your behalf) that you can write to ask to pull you in? Just a long shot guess knowing admissions will likely be a wall.
@blueskies2day That is one reason why I liked USC more as well - the “private school vibe”. Just about every course I want to take at UCLA seems to have classes that are 100+ students in size while I saw that some ling classes at USC could have as few as 25 students. Of course, then I also saw some comp sci classes at USC that could have a capacity of up to 300 students and I thought that was insane! I guess it just depends on the course a little. It is my intention to go to graduate school if I do a decent job during my two years at an actual university. I probably would need to have a job and save money as I really have no type of savings for grad school or even my undergrad stuff.
I know. I figured that summer school at USC would be a must if I chose them since I’d already be behind a semester…True, the only thing making me consider attending USC (even as a spring admit) would be this new comp ling major, but if it isn’t introduced, I do feel like I might regret going as a spring admit. I know my family and friends love USC’s football team, but none of them really have any experience with USC in an academic sense, so I really have no idea what that is like.
It might be a silly fight, but I do figure it’s worth a shot. I actually have a crazy story. Last year when I was rejected, my admissions counselor accidentally sent me an email that contained the fax of another student’s financial aid information (their social security number, home address, parent’s income) and I was so scared I’d get in trouble for that, but the admissions guy just told me to delete it. That concerned me slightly as to how he could mistakenly send someone not even at USC such important files.
The admissions people have been tough. My new admissions counselor this year responded so harshly, that I felt the need to apologize for even asking about being moved to fall. I then contacted somebody else that basically said I should be honored that I was even admitted for spring, so I really got nowhere with them and it bummed me out. I don’t know anyone in the department. The advisor guy for the ling department that I’m currently talking to seems very nice/relaxed, but I’m scared to ask him about the possibility of being moved to fall after my experiences with the admissions people.
I don’t think 22 is old, my daughter knew some transfers that were 25 when they were attending USC. It’s a tough decision but if you want USC then wait for Spring. Do you the option of study abroad somewhere in the fall?
@DrGoogle I pretty much have nothing to do for the fall semester. A study abroad thing would be nice so I could finish up a third language course or something, but I currently couldn’t take anymore classes from my CC. They sent me an email recently saying I basically have too many units and that if I continued to take classes, they would not cover the fess. The cost isn’t too bad, but I don’t see why I’d basically have to pay and take classes that I don’t really need to take. I pretty much would only wait for USC if the ling advisor is correct about the new undergrad comp ling major being introduced in the 2015-2016 school year.
In the past USC offered study abroad to freshman who can’t attend fall, not sure if USC does the same for transfer students. It’s worth asking admission. Office about your options. I guess you could appeal because you have a solid reason for wanting fall admission.
This is the attitude I keep hearing about from my fellow alum friends and why so many are bailing on their support. Nothing like having an admissions slacky (some twenty something who couldn’t get another job so moves into admissions) telling you to be honored that you are in and giving them nearly $70k a year. So pompous. Call any other school and the admissions are actually nice and helpful. USC is getting too big for their britches and it will catch up with them. Ok so there is my ranting, which btw isn’t aimed at the education as much as it is aimed at the administration - they are losing site of so many things at once.
Back to you - if you have a contact in linguistics - the advisor - it is certainly ok to ask if he sees any chance of you getting moved to fall because you are so excited to get started…you are already admitted in spring, so there is no where to go but up to fall. Maybe he will just tell you to talk to admissions which is a lost cause, but maybe he knows something or can ask as well.
The study abroad doesn’t work well with STEM majors or transfers, people that need specific classes. USC site states this. Abroad is good for those that have flexibility and/or room for GEs in their schedule, or of course those that just want to party for a semester. It is more about learning about culture and having an experience than getting good academics out of it, at least for the USC students I know that did it. So I don’t think that is an option for you at all.
The epitome of hubris is for Nikias and his cronies to claim there is no room either in the classroom or dorm room for spring admits when he’s single handedly ballooned the USC undergraduate population from about 16,000 to about 20,000 with no end in sight. USC desperately needs a leader who is genuinely concerned about the college. Nikias’ focus is on the international student body, graduate students and Viterbi School of Engineering, in that order.
Actually Seattle TW, you are spot on. USC - same size as UCLA now, and yes per the 2014 figures, USC has 32% international population (international and other is all international, sneaky to separate it as they do) so yes, that seems to be the focus. In CA, India/American students are included in white/caucasian figures.
Undergraduates 19,000
Graduate and professional 24,000
Total 43,000
Asians 18%
Black/African-American 5%
Hispanic 12%
White/Caucasian 33%
International 23%
Other 9% (this figure is other international countries, so 32% international is actual figure)
UCLA
Undergraduate
domestic: 25,897
international: 3,736
total undergraduate: 29,663
graduate: 12,212
interns and residents: 1,394
total enrollment: 43,239
African American / Black 1,189 4.0%
American Indian / Alaska Native 157 0.5%
Asian / Pacific Islander 9,933 33.5%
Hispanic 5,663 19.1%
White 8,028 27.1%
domestic, race/ethnicity unknown 927 3.1%
international 3,736 12.6%
USF is known as the Univ of Spoiled Foreigners, but USC has their international population beat by a landslide. USF is 20% foreign v 32 % at USC.
Yikes at the ^^^^ figures. I must admit, USC’s campus does feel very, very crowded in the middle of a typical school day. The problem with growing the student population of a school like USC, which has limited (and not easily expandable) campus space is that it does start to feel like you are walking around in a crowded elevator.
UCLA has a spacious feel to it. But UCLA is not essentially walled-off from the surrounding neighborhood the way USC is. Therefore, UCLA’s students can happily spill into the surrounding area without fear of safety. USC, on the other hand, is safest inside its own walls, making for a squeezed-in-tight feeling on campus.
At the height of the day, you really need to watch where you are going at USC. There are bikes whizzing by all over, very close to pedestrians, due to lack of space. Big lines at the eateries on campus.
I hate to say it, but I have to agree with the above posters that perhaps USC needs to start restricting all these spring admits and transfers. The admissions rates published by USC are very misleading. They include only the fall admits, which ultimately represent only half the class USC intends to admit for that particular grade. The balance of the graduating class is admitted though USC’s very generous transfer programs and through the spring admits. So, actually, USC’s true admission rates for any particular class are almost double the published “freshman fall admit” rates. And, I have to concur that the population explosion has and will ultimately hurt the USC experience.
