USC Class of 2025 — Regular Decision

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
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1587

Basically, applicants to USC are being evaluated on 2-3 fronts… by the university overall and by the individual School or Schools within USC that represent the first and second choice majors selected. If the School or Schools want an applicant, but USC overall is reluctant, that School may have to fight for an applicant. That scenario is usually more common in the creative and performance Schools. The # that they can do so for in an individual cycle is likely very limited… so it is usually the other way around.

If USC and both programs want the applicant, he/she will be admitted and to their first choice major. If USC and only the second choice want the applicant, he/she will be admitted and to their second choice major. How often it happens likely just comes down to the combination that the applicant listed. I presume it happens rather often.

Based on your choices, it may simply depend on the #s admitted to each program and how those programs rank you versus other applicants they want. That is also how Spring admits emerge. If USC wants to admit you and so does a program, but there aren’t quite enough spots available… but spots are available for the Spring… an offer of admission starting in the Spring may be forthcoming. It just comes down to how they rank you specifically for that program and where that ranking fits into the # of spots available for the Fall vs the Spring.

And yes… USC does admit a good # of students each cycle as undecided. My younger daughter (a current senior) was one of them. And during orientation, she was put into and met a group similarly admitted. In her case, both of her major choices were highly competitive SCA majors. Both passed on her, but USC saw fit to admit her Undeclared. She enrolled anyhow and applied for an internal transfer into SCA over the summer in July and was admitted to her SCA major by October. Generally speaking, it is far less competitive trying to internally transfer – even into the most competitive programs - versus applying originally as a high school senior. So I would not let getting admitted undeclared scare you off if USC remains your top choice. My daughter even passed on Princeton, who eventually admitted her off of the waitlist, to attend USC - even as undeclared initially. So she still started in the fall, even taking a couple SCA courses, and was firmly entrenched within her major officially by the Spring.

In terms of comparing applicants who got in versus those rejected or even comparing those admitted for the fall versus only for the spring, it is virtually impossible for others to predict what may or may not occur in any specific case. Applicants often boil it down to simple stats when comparing themselves to other applicants, but USC is clearly evaluating much more. With an admit rate this cycle that will be in the range of 11-13%, and with 4K+ applicants with 4.0 unweighted GPAs and test scores in the 99th percentile among those not gaining admission, any individual applicant’s success will instead likely depend on too many potential factors for anyone to correctly evaluate… making predicting admission nearly impossible. But this also shows that they admit many without perfect grades or test scores. They are after all seeking to craft a well-rounded and diverse freshman class comprised of those who actually have a strong affinity for or connection to USC. They do aim to admit those who they project will thrive well at USC and bring something unique to the campus environment.

An admission decision will likely come down to a composite and holistic analysis of your stats coupled with writing ability / essays, ECs, potential leadership roles, potential other unique qualifiers (URM, First Gen, geography, demographics, etc.), your Why USC? explanation/reasoning, etc. And that “Why USC?” explanation is likely the most important single component of your application. You do need to provide a well-thought out and well-researched answer as to why attending USC is truly significant and important to you specifically. And moreover, USC does want to gain a sense as to what you will be uniquely contributing to the greater USC community if admitted.

Good Luck…

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1588

Is applied Math a tough major to get into? Daughter has 34 ACT 4.0 GPA 7APs . From a strong high school in Massachusetts. Who knows. This is a weird year with all these applications

1589

Yes, good luck to those that interviewed! Does USC provide statistics by school on the merit winners?

1590

Are you referring specifically to scholarship recipients? Kids who both USC and the school have already admitted? My impression based on going through it last year and talking to admin in the department is that the department/college makes the decision on scholarships. I’ve called about a variety of questions this year and many people in the department have said, “Oh I think I read your child’s application.” One even said, “I think I sat in on your child’s interview”

Prior to 2020, USC told early admits exactly which scholarship they were interviewing for. I am not affiliated with the school but my feeling is that even though they aren’t telling the kids which scholarship they are interviewing for, they already have an idea based on the application. The interview just confirms it.

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1591

Yes, referring to those admitted interviewing for merit. I’m happy thinking there is this much care and attention paid to the process — and those in the schools get to know the applicants so well.

I’m a curious sort and just thinking about this process. USC admissions gets a large number of applications in the early merit-consideration round. Somehow there are a portion of those that are selected for merit consideration. AND it is determined if they are admitted, and to first or second choice school. This is a holistic process. So I wonder if all the early applications are seen by the schools or if there is some sort of screen that happens in the main admissions office.

I would be really interested in the breakdown by college - my D22 is likely to select one of the very small schools as first choice and I wonder how that plays out.

1592

I may have some insight on your thoughts once we see the decisions later this March. My daughter applied to Thornton’s BM in Popular Music (singer/songwriter emphasis) as her first choice and Dornsife as a Psychology major as her second choice. She did receive the 2nd audition (live audition on zoom + interview) with Thornton - completed that at the end of January. Her academic and EC credentials are very strong - but so are most that apply. She also attempted to stay in contact with her admittance counselor once a year through her high school years - although his responses were hit and miss. Wife and I are also SC grads. She did not receive any updates to her portal when the merit decisions went out. From our understanding, since most performance majors - including Thornton - are still working through their auditions into February, it’s extremely rare for any of these applicants to receive admittance/merit at the early stage.
I will update once we see the final outcome.

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1593

"it’s extremely rare for any of these applicants to receive admittance/merit at the early stage.” I wonder if this is also true for film majors? My son also did not receive an update to portal when merit decisions went out . . . but was asked to interview with SCA faculty last week, who made clear that the interview did not indicate that he was accepted into program or being given any special consideration . . . but rather they had a few more questions about his application.

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1594

I am thinking it might be same for the SDA School of Dramatic Arts?

1595

I really don’t know if or how artistic majors are considered in the USC merit aid process. – even after reading through threads here and elsewhere. :thinking:

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1596

The artist/performing majors obviously can get merit too and yes, it comes later. A friend in Thornton got it ahead of March results. Thornton has been known to have it’s own schedule on mailing things out. Also, I know of an audition major that was put on a “wait list” (only in Thornton that I have heard of, but likely other tiny performance programs, USC doesn’t have wait lists otherwise) because the program applying to was only 6 people and if one didn’t accept it’s a big deal. If someone declined, he would have got in. He really wanted to go to USC, but in the end, a spot didn’t open up and he accepted an offer from Stanford instead. Good “B plan” :grin:

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1597

Agree - very little information for the artistic majors. I have heard of merit scholarships for these majors - but the applicants usually don’t hear about merit until their acceptance in late March. Also wouldn’t surprise me if SC offers very little merit in these programs - simply because they don’t need to offer scholarships to fill these small classes - due to the high number of applicants.

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1598

Are these the same scholarships (Presidential, Trustee) considered for those tapped and accepted earlier . . . or something more specific to arts or other unique eligibility requirement, do you know?

1599

Same scholarships for SCA and Thornton, although their are some smaller scholarships offered by each school or organizations. Put together/edited some info from older posts that is still applicable today…

Each School at USC (and major within the school) seems to be allotted a certain number of Scholarships to award. Each major/School will value certain special qualities over others. While the entire student’s file is considered, and while objective criteria (gpa/scores) need to be excellent, the invitees will all offer something specific to each USC major. Since USC is basically using these awards to recruit extraordinary talent, accomplishments, leaders, self-starters, and seriously motivated high achievers, they have a history of admitting high-performance students and look for the X factor. Viterbi (engineering) may have tons of 4.0 gpa/top with 10+ APs of high scoring wonderfully accomplished students that apply, with some admitted but certainly a limited number of invitations for full or half-tuition scholarships to grant. They may reward the student who has successfully launched a very creative app (CS), done extraordinary work outside of HS in their field (research w/professor), etc. Marshall School of Business will look for a different sort of leader–perhaps someone who has used social media to raise money for a cause, and we’d expect the talent-based majors to be most interested in students who have special achievements in their fields. No matter the major/school applied to–even undeclared–they will reward those who have gone beyond HS achievements. They are looking for innovators, thought leaders, contributors to society and those who have shown sustained, significant and successful dedication to their passions. This is not rocket science. They anticipate that such students will continue these roles at the university and they will add greatly to the community once at USC, and they do.

In recent years the gap between all applicants has narrowed, many many other USC students are leaders and/or go-getters and great students, too. They don’t even admit 4000+ students that have scores in the 99 percentile, and then there are those that question the role of aid v. scholarships and USC doubling their bang that way…there’s lots of questions and their answers likely change every year. With so many talented students applying, there is certainly a little luck in this selection process as in any.

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1600

I would agree. It seems that need-based aid might be very likely, but prolly no need to offer much or any merit-based aid for these tiny programs. :upside_down_face:

1601

I’m not exactly sure… but I would assume that its highly competitive.

1602

Kaufman (dance) also waitlists students. They want each cohort to have an equal number of males and females (They admit 24-30 out of 2000+ applicants) and if anyone declines, they will invite a waitlisted person of that gender.

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1603

Excellent information. Thank you @CADREAMIN !

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1604

Thank you all for the info :slight_smile:

1605

Does anyone know when non-scholarship finalist decisions will be released?

1606

there’s no specific date but late march. they said by april 1st i think so before then