Can someone explain why we get an email from admissions and emails from the engineering school admissions? I’m confused why is there two structures?
Because it is the particular school that has to sign off on admission. Admissions may say you are worthy of admissiion but it is up to the particular school to also cast a vote that counts. It’s a group effort, USC admissions does not work in a bubble.
And to add further to the above ^^^ … that means four possible outcomes related to a admissions decision: 1) Admitted to USC and to your first choice major program by the School that houses it, 2) Admitted to USC and to your second choice major program by the School that houses it, 3) Admitted to USC, but as Undeclared… meaning that the university overall admitted you but you have yet to be admitted to a School, or 4) Rejected. And in theory, a rejection could possibly mean that the School might have admitted you, but the university overall chose not to. That part cannot be known.
This is a true statement for graduate admission at USC, but it is not accurate as it relates to undergrad.
At USC, all admissions decisions are made by the university’s central admissions office, not the schools/departments/colleges. It is true that the central admissions office often seeks the input from the departments, but the departments don’t technically get a vote. Don’t get me wrong, they do work closely, but it’s the central office that holds all the authority.
I am aware of several cases where the university’s admissions office allowed a student into a given major, even though the department wasn’t supportive. The opposite can never happen: even if a department really wants an undergrad admitted, if the central admissions office doesn’t approve, then the student won’t be admitted.
The schools and colleges maintain admissions and recruitment staff in order to help with the central admissions office, as well as interface with the faculty and special programs in each school.
Thanks for clarifying - on the roadshows, Viterbi certainly gives impression that they hold the cards and play the biggest role in the decision process.
my son is getting emails from Viterbi admissions and not the central admissions that’s why I asked
Yes, that’s one thing that’s very odd about Viterbi. Many of us that work in the space around the university note that school’s behavior. They like to say and imply that they hold the cards in this process when they actually don’t. At least they are pretty good at representing their programs. It’s just too bad that they confuse and mislead students. They also like to suggest that their admission rate is MUCH lower than the rest of the university, which just isn’t true.
The creative, artistic and performance based Schools certainly imply that they have significant influence in the admissions process… even to the point of being able to lobby for some applicants that might otherwise not be on par in terms of the overall USC admissions’ standards. Athletic programs certainly have sway too.
@WWWard your sense of this matches mine.
The schools can exert significant influence, that’s true. The annual selection process is a group effort. The central admissions committees understand that they don’t know all that there is to know about special talents, athletic ability, etc., which is why they consider input from these other offices. Much lobbying surely takes place, but in the end, the final say rests with the team in the main admission office.