<p>Hello all, today I'm coming to this board with a question on USC's acceptance for Interactive Media. I understand that primarily the school has a very low acceptance rate but I would like to honestly know my chances for admissions.
I received a 27 on the ACT 4.47 G.P.A (W) 3.7(UW) 5 on the A.P US History Exam 4 on Lit + Comp. I have an extension of extracurricular activities that range from prestigious scholarship programs to game design.
My portfolio for game design is extensive and the creative work sample that I am submitting won 1st place for a gaming competition. As a student coming from Illinois I am deeply concerned with my chances of getting into the program. Any advice would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>8BitRain, the trouble with chancing applicants to USC’s talent-portfolio based Schools is that admissions are based heavily on
- quality and content of essays, samples, portfolio
- balancing the class
- how competitive the pool of applicants may be each year</p>
<p>Your grades and scores put you in the running, no problem, since you are within USC’s ball-park on stats–however-- the SCA tends to put most weight on the talent/potential of a student.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, the size of the IMD class is small. With only about 20 admitted last year (Class of 2015), they will look for diversity of background, point of view, specialty area, leadership, experience, etc. </p>
<p>You can only do your best to represent your true abilities and passions. Make sure you take seriously the prompt that asks what your personal vision is.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>I recommend taking USCs summer program in game design if you’re interested in interactive, making contacts at the school, building your portfolio, and earning college credit. I can’t say for sure that the program helps during admission, but my son and several of his summer classmates were admitted to interactive. Good luck!</p>
<p>Sorry – just realized that my advice is only helpful if you’re a junior or younger.</p>
<p>@madbean Thank you for your detailed response! I actually believe my vision and creative portfolio are the aspects that I am the most confident about applying to USC. In addition do you know how many students applied to the program. Also for the aspect of diversity is that in terms of mindset or race? I am an African American male but I tend to shy away from writing about race and rather focus on diversity of the mind. Thanks!</p>
<p>@CCMThreeTimes, I read about a couple of people who participated in that program. That’s the sad thing about Illinois there are very few oppourtonities to take advantage of in the gaming industry. Another question for you, would your son mind talking to a perspective student?</p>
<p>I have 2 sons in the IMD major and my S2 was told that about 1000 applied last year. Take this with a little bit of salt since nothing is officially posted so it’s hard to confirm. Perhaps others can chime in if they know more?</p>
<p>As for diversity, many universities are looking to include many voices, povs, interests, talents, strengths, cultures, geographic areas, and on and on. I often advise students to look at the composition of the major/school they are applying to and see if they provide diversity–a good thing if there is a large pool of qualified students but only a few will be selected.</p>
<p>In some engineering fields and film schools, for example, they attempt gender balance, but the applicant pool may be much more male–so female applicants would get the tip in these particular majors. For some majors, females dominate and males get the tip. </p>
<p>Since many top universities are interested in attracting well qualified URMs, it is not the better part of valor to keep your cultural background quiet no matter where you apply. It is, frankly, a tip in this market. USC, and most highly selective schools, would certainly like to hear how your unique background impacts what you would like to design in the future–and that is true no matter what one’s particular background may be. </p>
<p>My best advice is to present yourself as honestly as you can–not holding back on your particular strengths, unique features, and very specific interests. They do now want a bland class–but a vibrant and very diversified one.</p>
<p>8bit, my son would love to talk to you. I’ll PM you with details.</p>
<p>@madbean thank you for your advice and insight</p>
<p>@CCMThreeTimes Thank you that would be amazing!</p>
<p>Just updating to let everyone know that I got in :D!!!</p>
<p>HOORAY for 8Bit! Congratulations. :)</p>
<p>We were told similar numbers for IMD (referring to madbean’s post) when we toured SCA last fall. The info was presented informally, however, and we’ve never seen stats. </p>
<p>We’ve wondered about the Animation/Digital arts major acceptance rate (DS was just admitted) but have not found anything posted. Anyone know how many kids are accepted to Anim/DA each year? Or how big the class is as compared to IMD (which madbean says is 20)? I think it’s a bit larger, but not sure.</p>
<p>Happy for you, 8Bit: IMD is a very tough program to get into!</p>
<p>Congratulations 8bit and so glad you came back to let us know. So happy for you!!</p>
<p>And gladiatorbird, if I didn’t mention it somewhere else around here, big congrats to your DS too. As for numbers, S2 was told 1000 applied for IMD in his year (class of 2015), 20 were admitted and 17 matriculated in his major. I hate to do the math–but it sounds like admit rate of 2% and yield of 85%. But these SCA majors are very specialized and USC is among the top programs. For animation, I’ve heard they yield a class of about 26… so perhaps admit a bit more. Perhaps 30-33ish? Just guessing. And as for number of applicants, that I have not heard yet. Maybe your DS will find out when (if!) he attends USC next year?</p>
<p>Anyone who is admitted to USC’s SCA, whether they do attend or not, must be very proud. It’s such a rare honor and says a lot about how well you presented yourself in your application supplement. There must be literally dozens of equally wonderful talented students who just didn’t make it this time due to such a small incoming class.</p>
<p>Hello! I’ve never posted to this board before and have spent most of my time prowling these threads. But congratulations. My name is Kevin Wong and I will be joining you as part of the Interactive Media Division next year. Look forward to seeing you.</p>
<p>By any chance do you have a company for your games? My team can be found at [Subtle</a> Stone](<a href=“http://subtlestone.com%5DSubtle”>http://subtlestone.com)</p>
<p>Peace and congrats.</p>
<p>HUGE congratulations, 8bit – my guess is that you will be happier in IMD than you can imagine. I also let my son know your good news, since he told me that the two of you had corresponded last year. Feel free to bombard him with questions, as he’ll be a senior next year and now he knows everything ;-)</p>
<p>KevinWong, we’re in San Francisco too. Feel free to PM me if you want my son’s email address for any questions – he’s more than happy to talk to newly admitted students.</p>
<p>(I can’t believe that I’m just as excited for the incoming class as I was when my own son was admitted. The thrill never goes away!)</p>
<p>My son applied to CSE Viterbi but got admitted as undeclared. How would that work?</p>
<p>Hello ALL! I’m Manas Kulkarni from India and I’m applying for the USC IMD Program this year .
I’m requesting you all for some help and advice regarding the Portfolio/Creative Work Sample as I see the admission % is just 2 I’m more than freaked out right now SO PLEASE HELP ME!!</p>
<p>This is also another update that after finances I won’t be able to attend the IMD program as an undergrad 
However, there is always grad school! I wish everyone the best of luck ^_^</p>
<p>So sorry, 8BitRain. But you are a star! No matter what, continue to create games and push your own boundaries. There are many opportunities out there!! Where did you decide to go to school?</p>
<p>I decided to attend UW-Madison in the fall going for a comp sci major and a graphic design or Japanese minor! Hopefully I will create an even better portfolio for graduate school! Thanks madbean for the compliments as well ^_^</p>
<p>Madbean, CCM, 8bit, KevinWong: my son is interested in IMD and wants to take courses to expand his knowledge. He is more interested on the design side than on the programming side. What is available out there?</p>