Common App question: For USC’s short answers, italicized titles of books, movies and TV shows are not keeping their format once entered into the supplement box. Should these titles be put into quotation marks instead? Or just left as plain text. Common App has so many quirks like this that you’re left to wonder about. It’s important to make each section as perfect as possible! Thanks!
Plain text is safest. I wouldn’t use quotes unless it’s part of a title. They get that formatting in common app is pretty non existent.
Thx!
I wonder, legacy-wise, if both parents got degrees from USC, would it be a stronger “pull” than with one parent? What if, in total, parents got three USC degrees between them?
Number of degrees doesn’t mean a thing. I suppose 2 parents is “better” than one but legacy isn’t what is used to be. It started getting less important over the last 5-8 years. There are many multi-generational legacy families whose student applies with high stats and still doesn’t get in. My guess is it will mean even less now with the scrutiny on admissions going forward. But just a guess.
Does anyone here look at the December 1 deadline, the deadline for the merit aid?
@ElenaParent Yes, that’s what I had written down, that the 12/1 deadline was for maximum merit aid.
@ElenaParent yes, December 1 is the deadline to be considered for merit scholarships.
December 1 is also the actual deadline for certain schools such as the School of Cinematic Arts.
D20 got an email from Viterbi encouraging her to apply, but she already applied to Dornsife back in October. I’m guessing this is just a case of one hand not knowing what the other one is doing?
@vrycnfsd Probably an auto kick out marketing email from Viterbi based on test scores or other data have.
We are doing a tour of USC on Monday and wanted to know if you have any words of wisdom, must sees, specific questions to ask, etc. It will be the first time my family had visited. Thanks.
Agreed. DD has gotten several emails encouraging her to apply to Dornsife when she has already applied to Marshall/Leventhal. This seems to be a common thing with USC.
@socaldad2002, I think your daughter might be interested in Dornsife, correct? I’d recommend you visit Dornsife Hall after the official visit and speak with student ambassadors there. The first time we visited, we had a student guide from Viterbi, and while I thought he was good, he spoke mostly about his experience as an engineering student and couldn’t answer as many questions about studying IR as my daughter had. The two “ambassadors” (I am not sure of the exact titles) at Dornsife were extremely helpful and influenced my daughter’s opinion of USC (to the better) a lot more. The second time we visited specifically for Dornsife tour, we let our daughter do it all by herself, and were simply her ride to and from campus. That’s when she fell in love with the school, but I am not sure our presence (or lack of thereof) had anything to do with it.
@typiCAmom yes I think she will be applying for business or public policy / political science which I think both programs fall under Dornsife? I know we are visiting Marshall after the main campus tour.
What sets USC apart from other top private colleges?
Hi, has anyone here taken dual enrollment courses at community colleges during high school? I’m wondering because I’m not sure if those transcripts need to be sent in time by December 1st since it’s not a high school transcript…
You should send them when available, they don’t have to be in on 1st if they haven’t been reported yet, they get that. You can note in additional info section that you are taking those and will send transcript when available, if not noted elsewhere. Or drop your advisor a line saying that. Good luck!
@socaldad2002 my daughter is a student ambassador. The tours are very thorough and cover a lot of ground. It’s ok if you don’t have a list of questions going in. You’ll think of some on the tour. There are always students working at the desk in the admissions center if you have questions before or after.
If you have time, try to visit the Village. It’s beautiful and offers so much for the students.
To me, what sets USC apart from other top schools are the opportunities. There are speakers and concerts on campus, my daughter went to a taping of a comedy show a few weeks ago, she’s gone to plays and Disneyland with classes. She is in Dornsife with a major and two minors. But she still fits in fun classes like yoga and jazz.
I think my son has a low chance of earning a merit scholarship as USC is a bit of a stretch school for him. Is there any value in making the December 1 deadline for a Viterbi engineering application in that case? He has applied ED in engineering at another school which has promised him an early December decision. So we were considering just waiting to hear on the ED school before completing the USC application.
From the materials online there doesn’t seem to be an advantage in admissions to applying early, but it is hard to tell. If they are promising a merit aid result by mid February, it seems that they would have to decide admissions on some kids by then.
Kids receive admissions and an invitation to interview for a merit scholarship in late January.
USC is a stretch for everyone and an even bigger stretch to receive a merit scholarship. That said, I strongly recommend getting the application in by December 1 because you just never know. My daughter had good stats but not tippy top and she received a scholarship. You just don’t know what USC will see in your application.