<p>Does showing interest in USC help ones chances at admission? How would they be able to tell that someone has a strong interest in the school?</p>
<p>I doubt it. USC has strong interest from a great deal of students as is evident in all the tour groups. You can demonstrate strong interest by creating an application and supplement that shows a synergy between the campus culture (academic and extracurricular) and yours. Adcoms are good at determining who is a good fit for them and who is not. So for instance if you are applying to a particular school within USC, it might be helpful if your personal passions showed effort in those areas. Activities sustained over a long period of time, versus padding (activities that cluster in large quantities towards the latter part of high school).</p>
<p>But even with a strong application (and expressed interest through campus tours, etc.) there are too many applications for too few slots. Literally you are competing against 18,000+ students - many of whom have shown active interest in USC. Even on CC many applicants refer to it as their "Dream School. " This month the results at my alma mater showed the acceptance rate is now sub 8%. That meant quite a few students who were enthusiastic, academically strong and did additional things like visit the campus and network with professors were not admitted. </p>
<p>So do your best - but from what I’ve seen about competitive college admissions in general - have a back-up plan. </p>