USC Annenberg students...

<p>I'm applying to Annenberg this fall; any tips/advice/suggestions on what would make a great application & statement of intent? Anyone care to share their experiences and what they did? Thanks!</p>

<p>Experience would probably enhance any application, especially for Annenberg which is extremely competitive, but i wasn't a part of any writing group or in newspaper/yearbook class and I was accepted! I'd say make sure you have a strong, balanced application to show usc that you can excel in many different situations and places, and do well on the sat!</p>

<p>Experience is key. working on/at a high school newspaper, yearbook, radio/broadcast station, and ANY workshops you did in communications/pr/journalism will contribute. I know that going to Northwestern's National High School Institute of Journalism was a thing that strengthened my app...and any workshop that you do like that will significantly help you.
Also, your statement of intent is crucial. give specific examples/experiences/reasons for why you want to choose that particular field. how do you think your field will help you better the world?
Grades and test scores are important of course. Keep both of those @ at the average accepted level or higher so you have the basic fundamentals to start with. </p>

<p>I think a combination of the factors will no doubt help you. Also, making connections with Anneberg ahead of time, whether talking with professors or doing an interview will help them see who you are, and positively contribute to your application.
send me a message if you have any more questions.</p>

<p>I had no journalism experience during HS, except for an internship with a magazine. At school, I edited the literary magazine, but that wasn't related to journalism. I think the personal statement is important, because the adcoms want to see if you can really write, since that's basically what journalism is: writing. One of my relatives used to practice law with the current dean of Annenberg, and she claims the dean looks over the Annenberg applicants applications first, and then he puts the ones he like on a list for general USC adcoms to see.</p>

<p>I mean <em>likes</em></p>

<p>a literary mag is still experience with a publication, which is great :) make sure your personal statement AND statement of intent are strong and you won't go wrong. also, never hurts to mention the connection you have to the dean..:) and apply as early as you can for annenberg, so that if you get in you're guaranteed a space.</p>

<p>oh, i'm not the author of this thread, I was just contributing. I'm already an Annenberg student.</p>

<p>oh, sorry about that :)</p>

<p>I was accepted to Annenberg with no experience in writing for any publications. As long as you're a good writer and are interested in the news and care about the news, you should be fine. I tried to emphasize that in my application and it worked :)</p>

<p>not only is annenberg already outstanding in journalism but now it's really building up its strategic public relations programs. they are hiring three new superstar faculty in PR and a couple more in journalism--and they're already in the top five in the nation.</p>