@CADREAMIN Thank you so much for all of the helpful info you’ve given in this thread. Your patience and wealth of knowledge have definitely alleviated the stress - for today, at least!
Gotta give it till tomorrow. People a few miles from usc sometimes don’t get it till day 2. But until portal updates it’s not over. But I get the stress can be unbearable. Hang in there.
I have refreshed this page an unhealthy amount of times like it’s gonna get me a white box hahahaha
@CADREAMIN I’m in Malibu, and the USPS map seems to say that I am at the edge of the 1 day shipment. How accurate do you think that is? A bit discouraged here. Thanks in advance—sorry for the redundancy of these questions!
Update: a girl from my School just got admitted, 60 miles east of USC. Valedictorian, 34 ACT, biochemistry, research at local hospital
@YLDad1 I’m not sure if this is answered yet, but where in Orange County do you live?
When do you think people in San Diego will receive boxes?
@sandiegoteen2000 i’m in San Diego they come tomorrow
Every year there is speculation about “yield protection” at various colleges and universities. Universities like UVa and USC are often cited by CCers who state that they were admitted to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT and/or the like, while also being denied by USC and/or UVa. Even if these accounts are accurate, it is impossible to determine why such may occur simply based on stats. USC does end up rejecting 3K+ applicants with test scores in the 99th percentile, but that could also boil down to individual applicants assuming admission and not necessarily putting forth the same effort with every application. The same applies when USC is forced to deny 90% of legacy applicants.
USC considers demonstrated interest and wants applicants with passion and excitement about USC … ones who have researched the school and have a good answer related to “Why USC?”. Conversely, USC wants applicants to be able to project what USC may be benefiting by having an applicant as part of the Trojan family moving forward. USC is looking to craft a well-rounded freshman class comprised of unique individuals with demonstrated energy and passion. ECs and Essays matter greatly in that holistic evaluation process.
Overall, there really is no telling why an individual is admitted to one college while denied elsewhere. Last year, my younger daughter got in to Princeton, Rice, Emory and USC while being rejected by UVa, Duke, Northwestern and Vanderbilt. She applied to 15 and was rejected at 7. Overall, my two daughters were admitted to 13 colleges while being rejected from 19. The “Why” for them or anyone could come down to any subjective factor… from the # of people applying to a given major at a given school that year or to how someone felt on the day they read a certain personal statement or to really anything you can think of.
But I am at least confident in the USC process and what they are searching for. I am biased of course, as they both attend USC now.
With a projected admission rate this year of only 15-16%, clearly 84-85% of all applicants ( or some 46K+ applicants in total ) will be disappointed by late March. That’s just the reality of the raw #s. If you – as an individual applicant – did your very best and put your best foot forward when applying to USC or to any specific college, then there is nothing to be ashamed of or upset about should a rejection come. All that any of us can offer is out best effort.
LOL, I was thinking the same thing, @suzy100!
Nice post @WWWard well said!
@mitochondria33 You’re welcome! Been through USC admissions 4 times in last 6 years. Fortunately, I am done with this stressful part.
@WWWard so what made your child turn down Princeton? And I whole heartedly agree with what you said. No one ever knows. USC is hit or miss. Uva is very hard for OOS but better with legacy.
What are the chances of getting into USC with a low sat score of 1180 and a gpa of 4.0
@WWWard , nice post. May I ask what made your two daughters choose to go to USC instead of some higher ranking colleges?
Did anyone get it Irvine area?
Thanks, guys…
Well, in my younger daughter’s case, her passion is film and television. Her goal then of course was to attend the #1 film school in the world. She applied to USC SCA (School of Cinematic Arts), but only got in to USC undeclared last March. While going to Princeton, which many rank as #1 overall, would have been amazing, her goal remained SCA. So she chose USC and applied again as an internal transfer to SCA, gaining admission starting Spring 2018, in October. She was confident in herself and what she wanted. While there was no guarantee related to SCA (even Speilberg was denied all 3 times he tried), she felt it was worth the gamble. Plus… her older sister is at USC, so she could join her and live together, etc.
I got my mail in the Irvine area, but nothing from USC. Like not even a promotional flyer or the financial aid promotional stuff others have been talking about. Does this mean that I didn’t qualify?
Not enough time to know @gdf16ff. Today is first day, it is always sporadic around the LA basin.
I just got off the phone with USC admissions. The person told me that the boxes have started to be sent but not all the boxes have been sent. If you did not receive one yet, not to worry. They are being sent out in a staggered fashion and all boxes will be sent by February 1. By that date, you will either get a box or a letter.