Well, USC is private, so there is no advantage to California applicants in terms of the cost to attend, but yes… there is a certain inherent advantage potentially to being an applicant from a well-known California high school or prep school. But, they do try to also admit from all over. They want every state represented, if possible, and USC also aims to show diversity internationally. So, being OOS could be a potential advantage. It all really depends on where you are from and what they may be seeking during any specific cycle from that state or nation. You are always in a sense being compared to others… in terms of gender, ethnicity, place of residence, chosen major, FirstGen status, etc. Being one of one or one of just a few in terms of an applicants’ category could always be an inherent advantage. For example, let’s say this year only two applicants applied from Idaho or Maine or Bangladesh, well that may be a strong nudge in your favor. It just depends on the numbers.
Will they also send a package out if you get admitted?
I heard that usc doesn’t consider legacy after the president was changed years ago.
Yes they send an acceptance package.
Sure, but this is the same matrix every competitive school though. Again, I understand that this process will hopefully evolve over the next few years. Just disappointed for my student who is very interested in USC and didn’t anticipate an EA acceptance rate half that of RD.
It’s 4 to 5 percent acceptance rate, 25 percent of the class is being admitted.
I got that number from College vine, the page on tips for admission to Michigan. One is apply early action, due to the 4-5 percent acceptance rate boost.
Curious if students from Cali will go to USC if they get admitted to their top UC choices? I say cali cuz we have cost advantage with in-state tuition. I’m looking to stay instate cuz of fam member with health issue and while I did apply to USC, I’m way more nervous about UC apps (cost of USC being primary issue). Also, if you prefer USC to UC, what factors made you come to that decision?
A friend’s daughter used to read apps for Boston U. They farm out initial ones to cull the herd (mostly poor grammar, grades, etc.)
I guess I still see that as reasonable, particularly if this is the first time doing this. I mistyped when I said 25% acceptance when I meant admitted.
What are you applying for? Dornsife, Viterbi? Is there a large difference in rankings for the major you are seeking? And to answer your question, yes, USC was chosen over UCs in our case.
Many threads on CC on whether it’s worth it to pay $X more for an engineering major, for example.
Thank you. Since Michigan was brought up as a benchmark here, I thought some information might be useful, although realizing this may be a bit off topic…
AFAIK, Michigan does not publish their EA applicant number, nor how many acceptances. So the acceptance rate in EA round is actually up to anyone’s guess. In Michigan EA thread here on CC last year, people seemed to be comfortable with the EA applicant number being around 55k, out of a total application number of 80k. Also, it is believed that Michigan admit about half of the class in EA and another half in RD.
If we accept the rough assumption that the EA application is more than twice that of RD, and that the offers given out in both rounds are about the same, it seems that the EA acceptance rate is only half of the RD rate. Not sure how that would give the EA applicants any boost…
I don’t think college vine pulled the number out of thin air. You are entitled to your own opinion, of course.
Sorry if this was already covered above but this topic got long fast.
For National Merit Semifinalists who applied EA because that’s necessary for the scholarship eligibility, how does it work if they get deferred? Since USC gives the scholarship to every NM who attends, does a deferral mean they are still considered for the scholarship despite moving to the RD round? Or does it effectively mean they will not be admitted RD because they would have been EA if they were scholarship eligible?
OIC. I’m applying for Econ and History/Dornsife. I really didn’t do much research into individual majors but I’m guessing it won’t matter much for humanities as it would for STEM?
Sure, I guess it’s a matter which source you choose to believe.
I know another national merit semifinalist from last year, applied early for merit based scholarship but didn’t get accepted early. She ended up getting the NM scholarship and acceptance in March. I assume it is still the same with EA this year. The only real difference as far as I know is that many applicants apply to EA hoping the acceptance rate is slightly higher than RD’s, but 43k students will get deferred. If I remember correctly, she had the opportunity to look at the acceptances and decided to list USC as her first choice for national merit.
This merit round has nothing to do with National Merit scholarships. Think of them as independent. If you are National Merit Finalist who has been admitted to USC and you designate USC as your first choice by the May 31 deadline, you will receive USC’s half-tuition Presidential Scholarship. Some people receive interview for the Presidential which is same amount, which makes it confusing; the NMF and Presidential are really both seen as Presidential award monetarily and benefits speaking. If you are a candidate for scholarships in the early round coming out this week and know you are likely an NMF (and end up getting it), it just means you go into interview knowing you have the 1/2 tuition guarantee versus someone who could could less than that after interviewing. They do not stack.
To add, they give out about 200 Presidential straight up but the total amount has been around 350, leading us to summize that about 150 NMF get in that aren’t part of the early round figures. And of course many NMF do overlap and are part of the early round numbers as well, so it’s a little sludgy, but overall about 350 1/2 tuition scholarships has been the play each year.
I am an alumni and my son is a sophomore there now. I think legacy at USC helps, but not as much as at Ivy league schools. I read that 13% of accepted students were legacy last year at USC, but I personally know many double and even quadruple legacy students who did not get in in 2021, the year my son got accepted.