Has anyone in Florida received their admission packages yet?
I checked informed delivery and nothing was shown, so I really hope mine hasn’t gotten lost in the mail! So glad they posted online, or else the anticipation would kill me!
Really excited to get it and be able to instagram it LOL!
@ttg1125 They will email you letting you know when the FA portal has been updated. Or… you can of course just keep checking it periodically.
@mightmarryrich Congrats! What part of FL? My daughter’s packet to Tampa arrived two days late last year. Maybe yours will arrive today. Most got theirs in FL on Saturday, but of course USPS is not fully reliable.
I was admitted to USC as a spring admit. I know that Intent to Enroll is due May 1 and that they will consider students who submit these for openings in the fall class (like a waitlist). My question is: can I enroll at another university as well as submit my intent to enroll for USC? Very curious so please someone let me know!
Came back from California vacation to the white box. Cool to see although we already knew from portal check. Just posting update because although we are in 3 day zone, got here in 2 days.
Please let me know if he replied to you. I was rejected too. Thanks
@WWWard and @CADREAMIN I have a housing question. I put her deposit down at 9:00am on Feb 1. So she should have one of the top times.
If she finds a roommate who submitted well after her, would my D’s top time be what’s used or would they average the two times? Is it better to just go random to get her top room choice?
Today’s my birthday so a big financial aid package would be the best birthday present ever lol
White Box Arrived Today - Oklahoma City - 3 day Zone
My son learned 7:00 am Sunday (helicopter parents learned 3:00 am Sunday) but confirmation by White Box is nice.
Accepted Viterbi - Industrial Engineering
Stats:
4.0 UW; 4.3 Weighted; 1460 SAT
Good public school supplemented with PLTW pre-engineering classes (that may have been his hook)
President of 3 clubs; section leader band; NHS & NTHS officer; leadership awards; tech internship; part-time job.
Good essays; likely very good letters of recommendation (only saw 1, but it was glowing)
Also Accepted:
Santa Clara (mechanical); UCSD (mech); Cal Poly SLO (industrial); U of Wash (indus); Georgia Tech (indus)
Not Admitted:
Michigan; Northwestern, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara
As a lurker, it feels strange posting stats, but our family has benefited so much from reading stats on CC that it feels sort of like giving back. USC is his dream school amongst the reaches to which he applied. Very excited!
@chrys1
I believe you asked me about safety after being admitted which seems like way back when now after zillions of posts on here. I have had 3 kids at USC for the last 7 years and one as an athlete so I spent A LOT of time at the campus, on the campus and in apartments (stayed in kid’s apartment many times) around campus more weekends than I can count. I have dined at virtually every place within a two square mile of the place. I have walked and walked and walked around USC, at all times of the day and night. I have been out at 3am.
When first one started I wasn’t a fan of the area - typical mom sending first off to college, worried about all these silly things that mothers do. But frankly 7 years ago is a lot different than it is today, for me and the school. People always go back to the 2 kids killed, that was literally when my first was going (so 7 years ago), so of course that brought up fears and crazy worry. We were actually there visiting campus when it happened. But I have to tell you, what I learned is they were way off campus and on the proverbial “wrong side of the tracks.” I drove by where it happened. Not blaming them of course in any way, but in 7 years, my students have never been anywhere near that area at any time of the day. It is not where students go or live. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time which can be anywhere as we all know. So I had to disregard that as irrelevant to my student’s experience. It’s not that I wasn’t concerned, but let’s face it, hundreds of thousands of kids have gone there without incident over these last 7 years and decades before that.
What I learned by spending a lot of time there is the neighborhood around USC is really lower middle class, filled with great families trying to get by in expensive California. Mixed among the student housing aound Adams, there are adorable kids walking to school in the morning in their little uniforms. So it’s not like the neighbors are evil scary people, quite the contrary. But of course, particularly close to the commercial establishments - the eateries and CVS outside of campus - you have your typical urban grime and wanderers. These aren’t the people to worry about frankly, it is the people that come in from other areas randomly - this is the case everywhere - and was the case in both horrible crimes that happened there. But if you want to have fun and see a slice of life, go to Ralph’s grocery at Adams and Vermont, now that is a melting pot. I love it there (except for the parking).
What has happened since we first started, is that USC got crazy good and serious about their security. When China threatened to put out a safety advisory on attending, dollars flew into security. They launched Uber, which is now Lyft rides for free. USC funds 40,000 of these every week. Yes, 40,000 every week. Campus Cruiser is a great service used often as well, both running until the wee hours. There are also DPS officers at corners within what is known as the DPS zone 24 hours a day, I have seen them at 3am, around the square mile or so around campus. But perhaps the biggest impact was the building of University Village, which changed everything, as frankly, that area had been the skankiest around the school and is now a glamorous and beautiful residential and commercial center that is all USC). This is changing the entire area. Hipsters are now buying houses near USC because the area is becoming sought after with its affordability and proximity to downtown. Will take awhile, but it is heading in a good direction.
I can tell you, my kids, which are both boys and girls that attend, think I am insane to have ever worried. “You just don’t be stupid” as they say. They have never ever worried or felt unsafe there. As a woman who traveled solo to NYC and Chicago as a young twenty something I see being able to spend time in an urban area in college as ideal. You learn how to navigate a city so you don’t end up in the Hudson River while on a business trip. No it is not suburbia, nor is it the idyllic LAC on the east coast set in a small town. But if you want that, go there. If urban bothers someone, they should eliminate USC, Berkeley, Yale, NYU, UChicago, Northwestern, Columbia, UPenn, the list goes on and on. Urban universities are urban universities. But if you want urban and one of the most beautiful campuses in the world, set to the backdrop of Downtown LA, Staples Center, Hollywood, Santa Monica and access to everything Socal has to offer, then go.
Don’t go if you don’t like urban, but to not go because you are scared of it, imo, that would be sad and could be the cause of a lot of regret. The world’s wealthiest and not so wealthy all send their kids to USC, and year after year they are fine and have the best time of their life. Just decide what it is YOU want. Good luck!
@edszebra Happy Birthday!! Hope you get a great bday present from USC. Mail came today with no USC mail. Still refuse to check portal. Waiting on the USC mail. Since the package didn’t come today, it is not looking good. But congrats to all who got in so far.
@edszebra Happy Birthday. @WWWard and I were both so excited that you got in! Hope it all works out from here as well. I am sure you are still floating in happiness.
@CADREAMIN , thank you for post #4873. Of the many USC security posts over the last few days, yours is by far the most informed and specific, and reflects exactly what has been by junior daughter and her friends’ recent experience at USC.
@Marcie123 Freshman housing is not a lottery. You are assigned after evaluation. But there are a few ways to tilt everything in your favor.
You want to apply and get in the system early or at least with the bulk of those applying… but what you are describing as a concern is not really relevant. If you both are in the system in time, both select each other as roommates and both list the same preferences and in order, there is a very good chance that housing will assign you together and that you will also get one of your 1-3 top choices. And they certainly will not punish one of you for the other being in the system slightly later.
You can also request specific housing (Special Interest) communities to potentially aid getting exactly what you want.
In years 2-4, yes - it is a lottery. Applying first then does not even mean anything. You could be the first to apply and still get the last spot. But if you are a freshman living in USC Housing, you are at least guaranteed a spot for your sophomore year. Basically… if you find roommates, the one with the earliest time pulls the other people in… and you all benefit from whatever the earliest time is.
My current senor found a roommate on CC in March 2014 and they got their first choice doing exactly as I am suggesting to you. She also got what she wanted for her sophomore and junior years. She did end up having to get a private apt for her senior year (vs USC Housing), but it ended up being bigger/nicer, closer and cheaper. And her sister ended up being her roommate.
As @CADREAMIN can likely confirm, housing seems to always work itself out fine there… especially if you simply do as you should when USC emails you its many reminders 
@vistajay You’re welcome, thanks for the kind words.
admissions seemed crazy difficult this year, many of my classmates who are much more qualified than me were rejected but got into other elite schools like UCLA and Ivies
Re housing - please note that the important thing is to get your application filled out and submitted quickly to get your spot in the queue. You can change your housing choice anytime before they close they application period (which is like weeks from now, I don’t have that day on hand). So put down what you think for now but if you find a room mate, you can align your choices anytime before app closes, or if you decide you now want Birkrant instead of Parkside, you can switch that anytime BEFORE THE APPLICATION CLOSES.
So if you aren’t sure exactly which dorm, just make your best guess then and as you learn more over the next few weeks, just log back into your application and make changes. But do not wait on the application itself, get it submitted and pay the $55. If you aren’t 100% sure about USC yet, but can pay the fee (and then lose it if you don’t attend), I strongly suggest doing so.
@CADREAMIN $55? Thought it was more since have to pay an acceptance deposit, right?
^NO, you dont have to pay the enrollment deposit to submit your $55 housing deposit.
If you decide NOT to go to USC, you wont get the housing deposit back.
ACCEPTED!
major: Biological Sciences (pre-med route)
school: Dornsife CAS
gpa: 3.49 unweighted (HOW??)
SAT: 1500
Extracurriculars: Cheer 1 year, academic coach 1 year, key club 1 year
I really don’t know how USC did admissions this year. Even my school valedictorian got rejected?! My essays were all decent except my ‘Why USC’ one because I wrote it the night of. I spent an hour or so on it and basically said: because I want to major in biology and USC has clubs that are bio related??What? This was my first 'Why ____ uni/college?" essay so I didn’t know how to write it and I was on a time crunch. (I was literally sweating it out in the car the night before my SAT retake - which I did worse on lol). I submitted it 30 mins late for the merit scholarship deadline (which I did NOT get - not surprised). My personal question responses were also bad because they were raw and unedited - I literally typed whatever first popped up in my head. Again - the time crunch. I pretty much assumed I wouldn’t get in because of my trash application. I also got waitlisted from UW (45% accept rate), rejected from BU (29% accept. rate), and Northeastern so at that point I was pretty defeated. When I didn’t get the merit scholarship I was 100% sure I’d get rejected for regular decision but somehow I got in!!! Don’t know how I beat the 12.5% but so grateful and excited!
Hopefully the financial package will be close to the financial aid estimator/calculator! 50k would be a DREAM
Lesson: APPLY NO MATTER WHAT! MY COUNSELOR ACTUALLY TOLD ME NOT TO APPLY TO UC’S BECAUSE I DIDN’T HAVE A CHANCE BUT I WAS STUBBORN AND JUST THOUGHT - WHY NOT. AND I GOT IN! EVEN IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN YOURSELF GIVE IT A SHOT BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN! BEST OF LUCK FOR FUTURE APPLICANTS RUMMAGING THROUGH COLLEGE CONFIDENTIAL WITH ANGST! I REMEMBER BEING SO INTIMIDATED AND NERVOUS LOOKING AT THE ADMITTED STATS OF THE PREVIOUS YEARS! HOPE MY CASE GAVE YOU HOPE! #fighton #trojans
Oh gosh, I may be totally wrong here, but I don’t think you have to do the enrollment deposit at USC to enroll in housing. Right?
But with my current freshman we were 100% sure of attending when admitted, so would have done them at the same time.
Can someone else confirm?