USC Class of 2022

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1581

@hafamama “there doesn’t seem to be any harm in doing both”

I don’t disagree with that.

But saying “Not adding them would be seen as being a tad lazy or not that interested. Just sayin’” and “I said it was lazy not to” is insulting. He literally said you are lazy if you don’t do it when in reality an applicant that doesn’t is just following directions. Students right now are very, very nervous about everything and this is point it’s probably too late anyway to submit both as a significant amount of apps have already been read. Now anyone who reads that is going to think they’re screwed for no reason.
Being a parent doesn’t give you authority - the USC sources hold much more weight. He could say that in his opinion it might look lazy but presenting it as fact is inaccurate.

1582

“I’ve learned that @CADREAMIN has shared a lot of important and nitty gritty information about USC admissions and is genuinely interested in paying it forward.”

I completely agree. @Kd6410, you’re out bounds. This poster has consistently shared so much knowledge here about the process that’s been invaluable, and has also consistently done much to quell the jitters of applicants. You’re coming off like a big jerk.

1583

Most students do fill in their grades because they get them before the counselor sends in their mid year report and they want their app to have complete status sooner than later. Regardless, my feeling is in this competitive environment, everything little thing counts and if mine were blank, I would fill them in. There is still time to do this so why all the freaking out? Or if someone doesn’t want to, their choice, whatever. Trojans are more than anything, supportive of each other btw, and have always been so on this forum. You won’t find more support and time put in here than from cadreamin and wwward. I’d take that experience anyday.

1584

@Kd6410 I have been following this thread as well as the merit scholarship one for quite a while now. @CADREAMIN has been an amazing resource on both threads, always answering questions and helping out applicants. You say that CADREAMIN isn’t an admissions officer, but neither are you. What makes your interpretation or opinion more valid than CADREAMIN’s?

Both my private college counselor (who used to work in USC Undergraduate Admissions) and my school counselor told me to submit the Mid-Year Report from the portal in addition to the one sent via the Common Application as it shows you are proactively working on your USC application and making sure it is complete. As stated above, there isn’t any harm in doing both. That blog post doesn’t say that you shouldn’t submit the grades both ways, rather that you do not have to, so I am perplexed by how a student is not following directions by submitting both?

Personally, USC is my top choice so I am willing to do everything to help my chances of admission, but why would you not spend the 2 minutes to type in your classes and grades? In the amount of time you’ve spent trying to discredit and complain about CADREAMIN, you could’ve filled out and submitted the mid-year report several times. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but the way you have expressed your opinion actually comes across as insulting. I just do not see a reason not to go up and beyond, especially after putting so much time, effort, and money into the application.

1585

I sent my classes and grades right after first semester finals were over and I verified with all my teachers that no more assignments would be added/removed from the gradebook. My mid year report was sent by my counselor almost a month later. Will this ding me?

1586

@jj1999 I seriously doubt it, mine were done the same way and I imagine that many are in the same boat. USC should be understanding (especially since the big debate above is this “or” business); many counselors are probably very busy and aren’t going to send the report the day the grades are available.

1587

Do you really have to go to the extra effort to call a student a tad lazy, when it’s completely realistic that they’re just simply confused.

I honestly don’t see why parents have such an overbearing attitude on this forum. Yeah, you’ve been here a while and know how things work, but every year there will be a cycle of anxious, unsure students who will ask these same questions (and usually not because of laziness to look them up themselves).

1588

The suggestion was made to include them so a student is not perceived to be lazy. No one was called lazy. I think that is being helpful. There is still time to include that info, but go ahead and leave it blank and see how it works out.

The USC forum is one of the most active and helpful on CC, that is because of the regular posters. Some schools have no responses to a question or new thread, ever. Anyone that spends time on here knows the regular posters answer the same question 42 times particularly during scholarship and regular acceptance cycles, giving a lot of time to future Trojans. Coming in with judgement with no basis or experience is exercising an overbearing attitude, and is not one of the five traits it takes to become a Trojan.

1589

I just know that my son self reported his grades as soon as he received them so he could get them in front of admissions as soon as possible. Two weeks ago, he interviewed for the Trustees Scholarship.

1590

I don’t know that much abut USC in particular but I know a fair amount about colleges in general. What I especially know is that this is an emotionally fraught process because everyone thinks it is so detirmanative in so many ways, and it is. What makes it doubly tense is the imperfect information. I think it benefits everyone to understand that knowledge is imperfect and that people are on forums such as this to help. I am an east coaster and have had serious reservations about my child going to USC and people like CADREAMIN have allayed many of my fears through the passion they displayed for the school on this board.

1591

In 2014, my older daughter did not self-report her grades because her guidance counselor was quick and had already done so early on within the Common Application portal. As a result, her USC admission counselor emailed her and asked her to go online and also self-report. He suggested directly that they like seeing the comparison of how applicants do so versus what is reflected in the official record. She did so as requested and was eventually admitted.

Last cycle, my younger daughter saw the potentially confusing language online and actually emailed her USC assigned admission counselor to ask if he wanted her to self-submit her mid-term grades as well. His reply was yes, and it echoed what the prior AO had said in 2014. She complied and eventually was also admitted.

@Kd6410 So… our experience with 2 different AOs at USC has been that they want both done.

Both are there at USC now.

My advice to current and future applicants is very simple… do both. Make sure your guidance counselor uploads the required info and transcripts to the Common Application portal in a timely manner and also self-submit within your own admission portal at USC.

I agree completely with @cadreamin . You can call it whatever you want, but USC prefers to see more not less. They prefer to see initiative, drive and demonstrated interest. If USC is truly your first choice, they do not mind hearing so. In fact, they encourage it.

So… if you are an applicant to USC, do yourself a favor and self-report. It is always better to be perceived as showing extra commitment to USC and the extra initiative to do whatever you can to gain admission than to not do so. From what I have gathered during the last 4+ years of dealing with USC, I would go further than just saying it does no harm to do both. I am with @cadreamin on this in suggesting that it may in fact be harmful to not do both. Admissions is subjective. Perception is the key. Be seen as doing more, taking initiative, etc. If you opt to spare yourself the 5 mins, the absence of your self-reported grades, even if not technically required or requested, will be noticed – and not to your advantage.

I suggest reading through the following very helpful insider’s guide to USC admissions…

https://tfm.usc.edu/a-guide-to-uscs-college-admissions-process/

It clearly emphasizes just how difficult it is getting into USC in today’s ultra-competitive environment and how USC Admissions expects and wants to see their successful applicants do more, express more, take the initiative, etc.

Good Luck…

and thanks, @blueskies2day

1592

Remember… 13% (or around 1200) of the 9000 at most being admitted in this cycle already got in during January. While that means 87% or so (of the 9K or so who get admitted in total) will get in during March, the projected applications for this cycle in total are likely going to be 60K or so… maybe more. 56K+ applied last year. You are trying to pro-actively distinguish yourself and become among the 7600-7800 or so gaining admission next month. If in doubt… always do more / not less.

1593

In addition to what @WWWard said, I believe they said at Explore last week is that they received 64k applications this year.

1594

Thats what I heard too, 64k applications this year.

1595

Wow, 64K, that is an incredible increase, percentage wise, in just a year.

@wchatar2 how did your S like USC at Explore? I am guessing he has lots of good options, and it is certainly an anxious and exciting time all at once.

The first scholarship decision post came in at 4pm, just a couple hours afters packages for regular decision were mailed last year on March 23rd. It is a portal update.

Did they give a date for notification at Explore? I am guessing they just said by April 1st as usual…

Good luck trying to remain busy over the next month everyone! It’s stressful but try to enjoy this time of your senior year before it is over!

1596

We were told by April 1 re scholarship notification.

1597

@CADREAMIN Thanks for asking. He had a great time, he really liked McCarthy and his interview. He posted some pictures on Instagram and a girl who is a freshman saw he was there and took him to some parties Saturday night, I really think that was the clincher. On the other hand I got pretty bad food poisoning at the hosted dinner, I’m not planning on suing until after scholarship decisions are announced (just kidding admissions/ committee about suing, not the food poisoning). We ate with a professor who has been there nearly 30 years and she was really something. We will see what the final situation is but my son said yesterday it would be hard to see himself anywhere else.

1598

Well if you can still see anything positive after food poisoning then it must have been good for him. Wow, found some parties already, ya, you lost all influence now. :slight_smile:

Maybe it is like this at most schools these days, but what I really like about USC is how you are able to be anything you want and wear it proudly - a geek, a hipster, an academic, a partier, conservative, liberal, gay, straight, jock, princess - whatever it is, there is a place for you and people are supportive of you. The respect and freedom to be who you want to be is fantastic for all students, way better than the Disney days of yesteryear where kids were picked on just for wearing glasses or braces. I love seeing this goodness in action at the Ronald Tutor center - it is a buzz of activity, diversity and intellect - it feels very cosmopolitan there.

If he has a feeling of home at any campus, that is pretty special, not everyone gets that. There’s still a month, wouldn’t a Trustee upgrade be some great icing on the cake? Fingers crossed for good news.

1599

Wow… 64K is a staggering #. Last year, 56,675 applied. That is an increase of 13% (or 7,325 applicants) in just one year. Yikes! And last year they admitted 9,042 (16%), with a projected yield rate of 33.3%… to meet their goal of 3K freshmen actually enrolled for the fall. Instead, an extra 358 committed, so the yield rate was actually an unexpected 37%.

From what I have heard, they still want to shoot for only 3K freshmen to be enrolled in the fall this cycle. If so, they may only admit 8100-8200 in total this year… a decline of 842-942. That would make this year’s admission rate 12.6% to 12.8%. It also means that only 6900 to 7000 more will be admitted in March… to go along with the 1200 admitted in January.

I was predicting a drop to 14.5 to 15% as the new admission rate… versus the 16% record last year. If it truly ends up being less than 13%, that will be incredible. When my older daughter got in, it was 17.8% I believe in 2014. Three years later, it had declined by 1.8% to 16%. A 3% or greater drop in a single year would be unheard of in terms of America’s most elite colleges. I cannot recall that kind of change in a single year.

Hopefully USC chooses among the record # wisely. Good luck to this year’s applicants…

1600

My college counselor told us to expect the USC acceptance rate to drop to 13% this year. I’m at a school about 10 miles from USC with three college counselors who are alumni and our school has a very close relationship with USC so expect admissions to be unprecedentedly selective this year