Decision: Accepted ALSO I’M NOT ON TTP
**Date applied: ** 11/20-something. I don’t remember exactly but it was definitely during the last week of November since my major’s application deadline is 12/1
**Date decision postmarked/received: ** My portal says 3/31 was when it was posted, but this was not actually available to me until today, 4/3, when my admission package came in the mail
Which school/major at USC: Thornton/Piano
Scholarships: lol no academic ones offered by USC 
that I know of (unless I get a music scholarship in my financial aid package?) and I regretfully did not apply for outside scholarships because I thought it was too competitive and therefore pointless… but like if any of you know of scholarships still open for applications lol hmu
Stats:
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[] College transferring from: Cascadia College (Washington community college)
[] Entering as: idk lol. I was in a dual-enrollment program during junior/senior year of high school called Running Start where you can be a full-time community college student tuition-free (just pay for textbooks and some fees). I graduated HS in June of 2016 with 80 quarterly credits. However, USC does not accept college credits earned prior to graduation that contributed to HS graduation requirements, so many of those 80 credits earned in HS likely may not transfer. Therefore, I took two additional quarters after graduation to complete my AA degree and then take other GEs that I either didn’t have or had but wouldn’t transfer over. I calculated and based off of my estimates, if the credits that I think will transfer over do transfer over, I will probably enter as a sophomore standing. But, I want to double major so I may take four years 
it’s okay though because age-wise, I should be a HS senior right now lol
[] GPA: CC GPA: 3.95, HS unweighted GPA: around 3.83
[] Units completed: In total, I’ve completed 110 quarterly credits so the semester equivalent would be around around 73 credits. But like I said, who knows how many of those will actually be accepted by USC since I have not done the transfer credit report yet.
[] Units in progress: none lol I’m done with community college, been there too long
[] Pre-reqs completed: my major does not have any other than to perform a strong audition
[] GEs completed: I should have completed them all except the arts (because my first major is the arts, I figured I might as well wait till USC lol) and either of the global perspective ones because my CC, being out of state, does not have an articulation agreement and I’m assuming none of the classes I was able to take covered this. But who knows, maybe I had some overlap?
[/ul]Subjective:
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[] ECs listed on app: Well, naturally, I’m very active in piano-related activities and that’s also a key element of my major so idk if this counts but if it does, then yeah, I think I listed piano
[] Job/Work Experience: Japanese language tutor since 1/2016, worked at a sushi restaurant, and I think I mentioned my retail experience lol (but none of this is really necessary. Just thought it could show that I don’t just sit around doing nothing all day)
[] Essays (subject and responses): subject and responses? uh well for “Describe something outside of your intended academic focus about which you are interested in learning.” I wrote about my interest in learning languages and linguistics. I described how I’ve done well in all my language classes and would consider taking many more at USC. I mentioned how USC being a very diverse campus would help, also its many clubs. Something along those lines
“Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests at USC. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections.” I basically described why USC’s prestigious Thornton School of Music was the perfect fit for me. I’m sure most of us wrote something like that in relation to their intended major
And then my personal statement basically just explained my unusual/unique academic career, why I didn’t apply to any colleges senior year, and my growth in self-confidence lol yes kinda cheesy, but it was really significant in the past two years and played a big role in everything.
[] Letters of Recommendation: I had three: One from my environmental science teacher. I got to know her really well during fall quarter of 2016. Her classes are notoriously challenging (as further supported by her dismal score on Rate My Professor score) so by going to office hours frequently, actively participating in class lecture/discussion, and making thorough communication by asking questions at any time really, (I like to think) I gave her a good impression of the kind of student I was so I think she wrote a very effective and helpful recommendation; not to mention environmental science ended up being the major I last-minute changed my second-choice major to (originally was linguistics). The other two letters of recommendation were from my current and previous piano teachers.
[/ul]Other: Well I am a music major so therefore my application process was a little more “involved” than most transfer applicants (maybe besides SCA applicants). In the application process for music majors to most top music schools, we have to submit a pre-screening recording audition of whatever instrument we play. This serves as a way to sort of cut any applicants who are below the level to be pursuing music or expectations of the particular school (that sounds kinda harsh but it’s true). If we pass, we get to move onto a final audition. So I had my final audition and it went really well. Another significant thing is, I have a lot of friends who are music majors at USC. They introduced me to my prospective piano teacher who they thought would be a good fit for me (bc there are like 10 at USC) and basically i had a lesson with her in September of 2016 when I first visited USC for Transfer Day. It went really well and she seemed to have liked me. After this initial meeting, we remained in contact for the following months/throughout my application process. She has helped answer many questions and has been extremely helpful overall. Anyways, after my audition, I was later told that I made it into the music school and that as long as my GPA remained in USC’s range, I shouldn’t worry about being rejected. So yeah, I did have good grades but I definitely think my successful audition was a big role in not only my acceptance, but getting a decision so fast.
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[li] Other schools applied to: University of Washington (backup) and Oberlin Conservatory[/li][] Comments: sorry this was really long but I thought it could be useful to anyone curious. ALSO, a word of advice. Idk if this applies to everyone but it certainly seemed to have helped me. When sending things like final transcripts, it may be better to actually send it to your major/(school within USC)'s admission office. The reason being, rather than sending your transcript or whatever to USC office of admission, which, think about it, is receiving thousands of papers as well, if you send it to your major’s office, it may be reviewed sooner because that way it’s not sitting in USC admissions for a few days vs going straight to your major’s office. However, I can see how this still may not be so efficient in the case of transfer applicants who are applying to the more popular schools like Marshall or Viterbi. BUT, please contact your major’s admission director first and ask them if this is okay. I say this only because I have been in contact with Thornton’s undergrad admission director (who’s been extremely helpful btw) and she advised me to send my final transcript to Thornton Admissions instead, that way they can review it faster. So yeah, I really emphasize strong communications between your advisors and major’s admission directors, if possible.
