<p>Considering this is the first time USC is using CommonApp, how many more applicants do you reckon will apply? Are our chances ****ed?</p>
<p>It is not going to have that much of an impact. USC still has a supplement with an individualized essay and specific requirements for an array of majors. The Common App does make it easier, but I think the main pool will be from applicants who would apply to USC regardless. I would agree on the impact if it was like Northeastern; their supplement takes about 2 minutes to fill out as it has no additional essay or anything of that nature. If you have completed a Common App previously, it takes all of five minutes to apply there.</p>
<p>Considering Michigan and Columbia saw a 25% and 32% increase, I would expect the num of applications to be any where around 46k to 49k. Expect a huge drop in admissions rate and increased test scores and yeild due to the large amount of new full tutition scholarships. </p>
<p>I would suspect this class to mirror that of Rice, Emory, Vandy, and ND.</p>
<p>The supplementary application requirements at USC are similar to those at Michigan (including special major/school submissions). As ModernMan said apps at Michigan were up 25% their frst year on the CommonApp; rumors around town are that they’re up again this year though I haven’t heard any hard numbers.</p>
<p>If applications go up 25% at SC then you’re looking at ~46,000 and a drop in the admit rate down to 17%. Personally that seems aggressive, but I think a 10% jump in apps & 20% admit rate wouldn’t be surprising. FWIW.</p>
<p>It is speculation at this point. We have to wait until the official report is released unless numbers come from a campus source. Last year there were 37,210 applications for freshmen admission. Add to that 9,611 applications to transfer and you have a large number of students who had interest in SC…46,821.</p>
<p>My guess is about 40,000 seniors will apply for freshmen admission. On the admissions blog in the undergraduate admissions forum it stated there are 35 individuals on the committee.</p>
<p>I’ll throw out a wild guess - I think it will be ~43,000 freshmen and ~12,000 transfers</p>
<p>I’m guessing somewhere between 42 and 46 for freshman and over 10 for transfers. Thousand, of course.</p>
<p>I’ll guess USC will see a 20% rise in applications, so perhaps 44-45K. UCLA, for example, just reported a jump in freshmen applications of 18.1% over last year. From 61,498 undergrad apps in 2011 to over 70K this year! Some of that rise is due to UCLA recruiting outside of the state, some due perhaps to eliminating some SAT II requirements, but many attribute the rise to the fact that more students are applying to an increasing number of selective colleges. </p>
<p>Rumor has it that some USC admissions reps are reading 2000 apps this year, and then being asked to read more. !!! </p>
<p>Keeping my fingers crossed for all of our cc applicants to USC.</p>
<p>More applicants may be admitted, however. When you’ve got a massive increase in applications, it means that less are committed to attending your school. If they admit the same, there’s a very good chance that their yield will be much lower and may not even fill the class.</p>
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<p>Could you provide some evidence for that statement? </p>
<p>The most recent example of the switch to the CA is Michigan which did see a drop in yield from 42% to 40%. Given the year over year fluidity of yield numbers that’s hardly a calamitous drop. Admissions people project these sort of things for a living, one would assume that they have a plan in place to deal with the increase in applications.</p>
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<p>Unlikely, that’s what Spring Admits and waiting lists are for. Actually at Michigan and Columbia the first year of the CA they ended up with larger than expected classes when matriculations exceeded projections.</p>
<p>I agree that it is unlikely USC will have any trouble “filling the class.” USC has been considering the switch to The Common App for a few years now, and does very careful research to determine how many applicants to admit to get their target class. Last year they reduced the acceptance numbers a bit because they had exceeded their target for several years, and then once again exceeded their targets.</p>
<p>As vinceh says, USC uses their spring admission as an enrollment management tool as well as the “SGR” step in the transfer admission. If matriculation numbers are lower than anticipated (VERY unlikely), they can quickly offer Fall admission to Spring admits and/or increase the number of transfers admitted in July after the spring grade requests are received.</p>
<p>I also wouldn’t be surprised if matriculation numbers exceed projections - the move to The Common App has increased USC’s familiarity with applicants and the surge in applications will increase perceived prestige - both of which seem very important to the college-confidential-type of applicant.</p>
<p>If we use the Michigan example of a drop from a 42% yield to 40%, that represents a 4.76% drop (42-40=2/42X100=4.76%). USC had a 34% yield last year, so a 4.76% drop would take them from 34% to 32.38% yield [34 - (34 X .0476)]. If they once again admit 8,566 (last year’s admission number) then 2,774 would enroll and they would once again exceed their target of 2,600.</p>
<p>Rest assured, USC has it covered.</p>