Seems USC thought they would hit the target with less Accepted students with all the negative publicity… good for the waitlist kids!
Misinformation strikes again by those not familiar with USC
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USC does not have a waitlist - never has
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USC planned to admit less students this year (they announced this months and months before the scandal) because way too many committed the previous year. They needed less to admit less (but maintain similiar yield) this year because services were being impacted (housing etc). Less deposits was a goal, because they want a smaller class, duh.
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Do the math, the yield is virtually unchanged.
So what is the story here? There is none.
Stellar reporting once again. Herd mentality. Success is just hard for some to take.
But USC accepts a large transfer class they could have managed the transfer no? Seems like the transfer applicants will get a high chance to keep the freshman acceptance low
As stated above… the answer to your question is No - USC did not misjudge their projected yield rate… at least not for 2019.
They always aim for a freshman class of circa 3K enrolled. Back in 2014-16, they were relatively good at guessing what their yield rate would be. It was 34-36%. But it jumped unexpectedly up to 39% in 2017 and 42% in 2018. It seems that they expected 41-42% again for 2019, which is why they admitted only 7551 vs as many as 9025 in 2017, for example.
With 3152 commitments this year, the yield rate is 41.7%, nearly identical to the 42% in 2018.
The linked article of course missed the key point that USC is aiming for a freshman class of 3000. 3152 this year is much closer to that mark than 3490 last year or 3528 in 2017. USC is managing the process well… even if those looking in from the outside do not even understand what USC is trying to accomplish.
Question: If SC aims to have ~3,000 freshman enrolled each year, how does the math work out to have a total undergraduate population of ~20,000? 3,000 x 4 classes is ~12,000…who are the other ~8,000 undergraduates, Spring admits? Our S is enrolling in USC for this fall…third generation, USC Marshall. Thanks!
@aquarium5 transfer students that’s how USC maintains the 20k undergrad and keeps its acceptance rate low
This highlights USCs willingness to admit transfers disproportionately relative to other schools…
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-usc-transfers-20170605-story.html
And keeping that size is important. USC undergrads excel at getting into graduate programs and one reason is USC has an incredibly small class size for a school so large. Graduate schools know they are getting kids who got enough attention and time from the faculty.