Can you apply by the January 15 deadline to Annenberg as a first year applicant without consideration for Merit scholarship?
You’re welcome. Good luck to her…
Yes. That will be the case for anyone and everyone who applies after Dec 1st.
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USC Admissions tweeted: “If your Applicant Portal says that your Common Application and USC Supplement are still “Awaiting” – don’t worry! Our system is processing thousands of documents and takes some time to complete. If you hit “Submit” for each document, you are good to go!”
Do they use the self-reported test scores from common app portal? or should they beofficially sent through ACT or college board?
I attended a live AMA for Viterbi, and this question was asked. Paul Ledesma specifically said DO NOT put two VSE majors as your first and second choices. Put another school as your second choice, because you are either admitted to Viterbi or not–if you are not and don’t have an alternative second choice school, you have no chance of being admitted. If you are admitted into your second choice (i.e. undeclared), you can always transfer into Viterbi.
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Ledesma is very helpful and very informative.
thank you for sharing!
Application submitted! This was a BIG milestone in our house. Good luck to all!
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It was an impressive beginning to the Lincoln Riley era of Trojan football…
For those considering USC, be prepared to cheer for a winner on and off the field. I believe that there is very little doubt that USC will be back among the top five programs in all of college football very quickly. A # of top recruits have already de-committed elsewhere to reconsider signing on to USC.
Fight On!!!
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My nephew got in for 2021 and his stats aren’t extraordinary. He had a 3.7 and no test scores but he has a love for AR so I think that was shown on his essays/questions.
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He is one of the big reasons I applied to Viterbi. My major has a lot of crossover with Dornsife classes, and I was thinking I needed to go through Dornsife for my major, but he showed me the path through Viterbi. Plus, I really appreciate the transparency he and the rest of the Viterbi people have shown in their presentations/roundtables leading up to the application deadline.
My biggest issue is having to overcome Bruin parents (which I touched on in my “Why USC” essay).
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People in this forum are extremely helpful! Thank you for sharing your experience and information! @WWWard Your sharing is especially meaningful to my son as he is planning on applying for SCA next year. I have two questions:
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Someone said earlier, when you apply to any major within the engineering school, you are admitted to the school and you can choose any major after you enroll. I wonder if this is true for USC SCA as well? My son is applying to USC SCA, I wonder if he needs to put the second major as something outside of SCA or not.
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For SCA, what are the important factors for admission? I understand film/scrip are important, GPAs should be decent, but how about leadership, volunteering, SATs? Do they matter for SCA as well?
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My nephew got into SCA, he did not have test scores, GPA was 3.7, and not a very rigorous course load. Focus on the supplemental and essays. I think within SCA, there are different requirements depending on the program so if you want to transfer in to another department, you would have to do the supplemental that is required for that department.
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Your information helps a lot. Thank you.
You’re welcome.
When you apply to USC, you are also identifying one or two major choices… and one to two Schools housing those majors. There are four potential results… 1. admitted to USC and to your first choice major, 2. admitted to USC and to your second choice major, 3. admitted to USC, but as undeclared (meaning that you were not also already admitted to a School within USC and to one of your two choices of majors), 4. not admitted.
My younger daughter had scenario 3 happen. She had applied to USC and listed two SCA majors. She was admitted to USC as Undeclared. She enrolled anyway and then internally transferred into SCA.
If you are admitted into USC and into a school like Dornsife, switching majors within Dornsife is relatively easy. I suspect that if you are admitted into the engineering school and to one of their majors, switching to another engineering major is also relatively easy.
But that is not the case with SCA. Internally transferring from one SCA major to another SCA major is a much more arduous process, and it is certainly not guaranteed. You must apply again. Internally transferring into SCA as a current USC student is also not that simple. It is an admission process, and you must be accepted. But, it is also much easier in terms of your chances than gaining admission directly into USC and SCA applying as a high school senior… or trying to transfer in from a different college.
So… no - you cannot simply get admitted into USC and the SCA major you applied to and then choose any other SCA major after you enroll. You would have to apply and attempt to internally transfer. For example, if you are admitted into USC and as a Cinema and Media Studies major (the easiest major within SCA to gain acceptance into / 6-8% versus some as low as 1-2%), you could apply for an internal transfer into writing or production, etc. later, but they only accept up to a handful of such internal transfers each semester as I understand it. In a recent semester, production granted only four internal transfers, for example.
It is clearly up to your son. He could list SCA and one of its majors as his first choice and then pick a second major in another School within USC. Or, he could do as my daughter did and list SCA majors as both options. I would not just list SCA second though if you pick a different School within USC as first. That would be a wasted selection. SCA would ignore such.
For SCA, they are generally more concerned with your supplements and the creative expression that shines through the application. But while SCA has more leeway academically, it cannot simply go to bat and fight for every applicant that they want. They have to choose their battles if USC overall does not readily think that an applicant fits. USC admissions overall still has to admit you. It is preferable of course if the applicant’s stats and other components of their application are still rather strong. Every component of the application can be important. USC overall may be reluctant to admit someone who does not seem like they would thrive overall at USC. So, I would pay attention to every aspect of the application, putting your best foot forward. SCA admit rates at this stage are like 1-8%, depending on the major. So getting into USC first, and then at least having the option to internally transfer into SCA later, is an approach to consider as well.
Good luck to him…
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Another thing I would add to this…my son is currently a freshman at USC (and absolutely loving it). We had the opportunity to do an in-person visit and admissions presentation in February 2020 right before COVID and before he applied. One of the things that stuck with us from the admission’s counselors remarks was that because USC does not have early action or early decision, students should figure out a way to let USC know that it is your top choice (if that is the case) and that you would attend if admitted. For example: in your supplemental essay [which I agree with WWWard is very important and an opportunity to explain WHY you want to go to USC and what you will bring to the campus community] OR by reaching out to your admissions’ officer. In getting to know some of my son’s friends over the past few months who are now USC freshman, they each seem to have something really interesting or unique about their interests, their hobbies, contributions to their community, etc. All of them are good students, good test scores, involved at school and in their community. But on top of that … they each have something where I’ve said, “wow, that’s really cool…I haven’t heard of another student doing that before.” Relative to other places my son applied and was accepted, it does seem like USC goes above and beyond to “craft a well-rounded class” (as stated by WWWard). Take the extra time in the essays to make your case. Don’t be shy about letting USC know that you want to be a Trojan. Good luck to everyone!
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Wow! Thank you so much @WWWard for taking your time to write such clearly laid out answers to my questions! The four potential admission results you mentioned are so clear. My son might just follow your daughter to apply to two majors within SCA. He is so much into film schools and is certain he wants to study film major in college. We know that how competitive it is to get into USC SCA. Though getting transferred from another school to SCA is very difficult, but it is great that USC still would consider admitting students as undeclared majors to give an opportunity for the student to show his/her ability after getting in. Congratulations to your daughter for the well-done job!!!
My intake about your suggestion on the overall admission process is the applicant should be at the top of the top in terms of supplemental essays and portfolios for the creativity, vision, and storytelling ability, but still need to thrive in USC’s overall academic GE courses so he needs to fit in USC’s overall admission requirements. This information is very important.
Thank you! Wish your daughter continuous success in her college life and her career!
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Thank you so much @foxmom111 for sharing your son’s experience and reminding us how important it is to let the AO know that USC is our top choice! Showing it the supplemental essays reaching out to the admission officer, connecting with the current students are great tips! Nowadays getting into USC is definitely very difficult and kids have to shine in their applications to show their own uniqueness. Congratulations on your son and his friends’ successful admission into USC!!! Hope my son can one day reach his dream!
I would also welcome tips on how to reach out to the admission offers to leave a positive impression without annoying them.
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