USC Class of 2024 Applicants Thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
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@socaldad2002

As an USC parent who has sent two daughters there, I have been extremely impressed over the last 5+ years in terms of all the things that USC does regarding internal communications with their student body, external communications with parents, financial aid, all of their various online portals and a host of other services. They do seem to be a very well-oiled machine in almost all regards from my family’s perspective.

But what really sets USC apart is the wealth and abundance of offerings and opportunities. They offer a staggering array of majors and minors and have an insane amount of student organizations and ways to get involved. It is an elite private university, but it has the offerings of a major public university in terms of the entire spectrum of things one might expect at a much larger university… including academics, athletics and the arts. USC is quite frankly only limited by an individual student’s effort and imagination. It can be morphed and molded into whatever form of college experience you are seeking.

As someone who went to JHU, I saw firsthand how many elite private colleges and universities are limited in terms of that overall college experience. Colleges like Hopkins and even the Ivies have their challenges on that front. I wanted much more for my daughters. I did not want them to resent the final college decision after making it. There are other elite private colleges that more closely mirror the overall experience possible at a place like USC… Stanford, Duke, Northwestern and Vanderbilt, for example. But to me and our family, USC still stood apart. And thankfully, the post-college experience looking back at USC has remained that way for my older daughter who graduated in 2018. My younger daughter remains at USC as a junior.

I would suggest taking a look at the Niche College Rankings… comparing USC and other colleges and universities using some of their rankings, metrics and measurements. The Niche Rankings and Grades are mainly based on survey results from past and current students and faculty, and they delve into a number of areas that really highlight the topics that will most impact you once there as an actual student on campus.

For those curious… USC ranks #19 overall on the Niche College Rankings and its grades are: A+ for its Overall Niche Grade… and then by category: Academics A+, Value A+, Diversity A+, Campus A+, Athletics A+, Party Scene A+, Professors A+, Location B+, Dorms A-, Campus Food A-, Student Life A+, Safety B.

And here is likely the best indicator… USC is ranked #1 out of 1579 colleges and universities surveyed in terms of “Best Student Life” overall. If you can have that… a quality student life experience… and not suffer any limitations in terms of offerings or opportunities and still attend an academically elite private university, why really look anywhere else…?

Of course, USC - like any college or university - needs to make sense financially for the family making the decision. But, if affordable, I highly recommend USC. In our family’s case, the financial aid offerings made it so… so we remain extremely grateful to USC for that.

Good Luck…

62

USC campus visit update. So we attended the regular session (2.5 hours) and Marshall School of Business (1 hour) breakout session. Below are my impressions:

  • large, somewhat dense, urban campus
  • many newer buildings that blend in well with the existing buildings, manicured quads, etc.
  • information session emphasizing a very diverse, international student body with world-renowned programs in medicine, business, cinema arts, journalism/communication, engineering, biology, computer science, coupled with top notch D1 sports and school spirit.
  • lots of emphasis on silicon beach for high-tech, location to the entertainment capital of the world for jobs and internships.
  • 300K alumni network
  • session was informative and well-run with very knowledgeable "ambassadors"
  • great, new USC Village housing students with Trader Joes and Target on campus
  • safety didn't seem to be a concern with lots of security and closed campus after certain hours, free Uber/Lyft within 3 miles of campus
  • While some great merit opportunities, seemed that only 1-3 % of students receive them?
  • overall, very nice college, with some top 10 programs. For example, Marshall has 13 business majors, the impressive WBB (World Bachelor in Business) where you get 3 degrees in 4 years and study abroad in Italy and Hong Kong; and a Business major combined with Cinema Arts seems very interesting.
  • I think cost is really the only downside for some families as full pay COA is 77K.
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So is your D applying to USC and if so what major/school did she decide on? (I’ve been lurking/following your journey!)

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Yes, she will apply to USC under Business and might consider the Cinema Arts or Marketing Business Major. It seems like there is much flexibility to minor and maybe double major as she will have some AP credits to start freshman year. We might need some merit to make this possible as we are full pay. With that said, only 4 of 40 of her HS students accepted to USC for the class of 2023 so its definitely a reach school for her.

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@socaldad2002 we are in the same boat, both with merit and numbers from D20’s HS…USC really encourages double majors/minors so a great place if you have many interests!

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I’m just praying that I can get into some business schools in the country. Business school’s admit rates are even LOWER than the actual acceptance rate and is certainly not looking too good for me. But USC is definitely one of my first choices

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Just submitted my common app and USC writing supplement!! Woo-hoo! Send good thoughts your way, everyone!!

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Congrats and good luck @Racingfan53 from a Thornton jazz parent!

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Good luck @justatypicaljw! Way to get it in ahead of the December 1st stressfest!

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Is anyone applying to a School at USC that requires a Slideroom Portfolio? My daughter has her portfolio all ready to go except Slideroom isn’t accepting her Youtube link for the video she needs to link to (Applying to SCA for film production). It seems not to be accepting any youtube link as we tried a random other youtube video to see. It will accept a Vimeo (tried a random one) but she doesn’t have a Vimeo account and Vimeo seems to want her to buy an annual subscription to use it. Help, is Slideroom just messing up with Youtube because too many people are trying to use it right now?

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Actually at midnight, it magically let her use the Youtube link after all - phew! But good idea to try this as early as possible for anyone who hasn’t yet since SlideRoom could be glitchy!

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@CAtransplant wow so glad that it worked out! I’m applying to Thornton and submitted my SlideRoom portfolio yesterday. They requested that all my videos be uploaded and didn’t accept links…maybe SCA is different.

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@Racingfan53 oh wow, glad the uploading worked! So for SCA, SlideRoom allows students to upload videos also but the size limit was way too small for her video! It only allowed up to 250 Megabytes to be uploaded and her video is 8 Gigabytes! So then in that case, they allow a link to either YT or the hosting site starting with V (not letting me write its name on here now) or an upload from Dropb*x but that had a similar size limit so that wouldn’t have helped. Just glad it decided to accept the YT link once the clock chimed midnight!

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Does anyone know ( @WWWard ?) whether communication with professor (e-mail) from the target department improves the kid’s chances? My daughter is “dreaming USC” day and night. I did my PhD there, my ex (her dad) did his Masters there. She wants to go to the same department, and I am almost sure she can get a response from my former advisor, even though 25 years has passed since our last publication together… I also know that he is extremely honest man, so he is not going to go “push buttons” anywhere, but may be the communication can still help. Did any of the admitted kids try to communicate with professors form the target department, after they submitted applications, but well before anyone took any look at them?

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@ElenaParent not the same but similar situation. My son is applying to my and husband’s alma mater. When he visited with my husband, they met with one of the professors there in his department of interest. My H has stayed in contact with her over the years. When my son wrote his why x essay, he mentioned the professor by name and wrote about some of the things they discussed.

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@Marcie123 Yeah, my daughter also named that professor by name in her “Why USC” essay, although she is still collecting the material to be able to write a good e-mail on the subject to him. That will happen in any event. My question is whether she should forward this conversation to the admissions, at some point, or it will be looked at as a “too much” (too annoying perhaps)?

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@ElenaParent While there is nothing wrong with communication with the individual School within USC or even with a specific professor, I would then leave it to them to provide the sort of assistance that you may be seeking. Let them, if they are so inclined, contact Admissions overall or the individual School’s Admissions staff. You could of course email that professor and re-convey your interest in attending USC and studying within that department, etc. I would not however simply break trust by forwarding such a communication received back from them in reply to Admissions yourself. You could instead potentially copy the school’s admissions email with the original email sent from the applicant to the professor. That could be a way to at least ensure that they too are aware of the applicant’s passion for the program.

And overall… it is fine I believe to follow-up once after applying… maybe with an email to both the applicant’s assigned admissions counselor and the school’s admissions email. Both of my daughters did so… but they only did so once. I believe that they did so in late January or early February. But with so many applicants these days, I would only do so the one time. In their emails, they reemphasized how USC was their top choice and even made the declaratory statement that they would immediately commit and attend USC if admitted. And each did so after admission.

Clearly, USC is generally concerned about their yield rate. So, if it is true that USC is your top choice, there is nothing wrong in telling them so. (USC says so themselves in their Insider’s Guide to applying: https://tfm.usc.edu/a-guide-to-uscs-college-admissions-process/ ) But again… I would suggest only doing so once after initially applying. And I would do so later in the process… like after the merit decisions are announced but before mid-Feb.

Good Luck…

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Has anyone sent in a letter of recommendation after application submission? My DS tried to send via common app but it was from an “Other Recommender” and not a “Teacher” so it wouldn’t let him invite as one of his two optional recommendations. If you did, how long did it take to show they received it in your application portal? Hope that all made sense…

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I submitted my application and I’m considering emailing my admissions counselor telling him that USC is my top choice. What exactly should I say to not seem too pushy and annoy him?

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@belle135 I suggest reading through the very helpful insider’s guide to USC admissions… and using it to guide you.

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

And I would only do so once… emailing your admissions counselor and copying the admissions email for the specific School you are applying to… in late Jan to mid Feb (after the merit decisions, if not already admitted then).

Good Luck…