<p>Do you think the acceptance rate for the class of 2014 will change the general view of USC?</p>
<p>The USC welcome book said that they had over 35,000 applications and selected 2,600 applicants for admission. That means the acceptance rate was no higher than 7.43%. Not only is that down 16.57% from last year but, it is lower than some, if not most, "top schools" according to the rates in this article Campus</a> Overload - College acceptance rates down</p>
<p>Even more interesting, USC had more applicants than all of the universities on that list (except Cornell) which means it's an extremely sought after school, not that we didn't already know that. ;)</p>
<p>So, do you think these new stats will change the view people have of USC?
Will USC finally take it's deserved spot on the list of top schools?</p>
<p>i’m sorry, but your numbers are incorrect. USC accepted about 8000 students and is expecting a little more than 2600 to actually enroll. the acceptance rate is still between 21-25%</p>
<p>if it was 7.43%, USC would be more selective than HPYS =p</p>
<p>from the book:
“Congratulations! You are part of a very select group - the 2,600 diverse, talented and highly motivated individuals who are the newest members of the Trojan Family.”</p>
<p>the 2,600 they are referring to is the number of students who will actually attend USC. i agree that it’s kind of misleading to include this in a welcome book sent to all people who are accepted, but what they actually mean is that you’re one of the 2,600 newest members of the Trojan Family only if you enroll</p>
In what way is the welcome book misleading? They had over 35,000 applicants. Their target for the freshman class is (and has for many years been) 2,600.</p>
<p>basically its misleading because the welcome book is worded as if you are going to enroll at USC even though it is sent to all accepted students (of which most will not enroll, referenced by USC’s yield rate of a little under 40%)</p>
<p>I don’t think what they acctually mean is clear at all.</p>
<p>The language suggest that they picked 2,600 students to send acceptances to, not that they hope to have 2,600 attend.</p>
<p>Also, I realize colleges have complicated formulas to determine how many to accept for their desired class size however, it is possible, maybe not plausible, that way more or way less will acctually accept. Sending out a book with a figure like that, even excusing how misleading it was in the first place, can be very risky.</p>
<p>It doesn’t exactly upset me, I just think they should really think about their phrasing on things like this.</p>
I still do not see how the wording is misleading. Accepted students have been accepted. They can be one of the freshman class. It is not “Early Decision” and applicants are fully aware they can choose whether to attend or not.</p>
<p>As for the acceptance rate - ALL of you applied to multiple schools - some of you to dozens. Are you attending ALL of the schools that accepted you? The wording is not misleading.</p>
<p>Aries,
I have copies on my desk of the admissions folders, freshman profile and the “Meet USC” brochure. All clearly state the application numbers, offers and freshmen number who enrolled. With the uncertain economy SC admitted more than the previous year. The target was 2600, but more accepted and the new frosh class had 2869. </p>
<p>Also, on the USC website in the undergraduate admissions section is a complete freshman profile with all sorts of statistical information. This included SAT composites, ethnic percentages, geographical distribution, application numbers and number admitted.</p>
<p>This year SC had over 35,500+ freshmen applicants and a rough number around 9000 of transfer applicants. </p>
<p>For the 2008-2009 year SC was 20th in the list of national universities in selectivity. This was not at the level of HYPMCT, but is above many well respected universities.</p>
<p>“Congratulations. You’re part of a very select group - the 2,600 diverse, talented and highly motivated individuals who are the newest members of the Trojan family.” </p>
<p>So, if you ACCEPT their offer, you’ll be one of those individuals. I would call the wording good PR or rhetoric. I actually think they’re pretty damn smart for wording it that way. No wonder they’ve climbed the ranks as well as they have in the past decade. But then, I’m still experiencing the early glow of new love (for my son, by proxy), so I may be biased and overly forgiving.</p>
<p>Then it goes on to say “You stood out among more than 35,000 other applicants because you demonstrated your academic ability, leadership promise and personal commitment to thrive in the challenging USC environment.”</p>
What figure should they not have sent out? And “risky” how?</p>
<p>There will be many threads like this on the general admissions and search and selection forums as kids who are unfamiliar with college admissions make the same mistake you did. They get all excited when they see how many applied and how many are in the freshman class and forget that not every accepted student attends.</p>
<p>By the way, this the exact same wording they have used at least since 2008 when my daughter was accepted… so I’m still wondering what “risk” is being taken by saying how many students applied and how many they expect in the freshman class.</p>
<p>First and foremost I don’t think you are giving me enough credit. I did not look at the number who enrolled and the number who applied and calculate a percentage forgetting not everyone who got admitted enrolled. I thought 2,600 was the number admitted. If that was a silly uneducated mistake forgive me.</p>
<p>I still think the language used suggest that 2,600 is the number of students admitted, not the number they believe will enroll. Sure, it’s good PR because people like me will draw the wrong conclusions but, that already means it’s at least slightly misleading.</p>
<p>And yes, I know there is a freshman profile (I acctually got most of the same info from College Board during the application process since all my schools were in one place) but my entire premise for this post was that USC was way more selective this year. The Fall 2010 profile doesn’t exist yet and looking to the 2009 one would not have given me this information.</p>
<p>And I, personally, think it’s silly to say that X number of students would be in the class before the actual number is known. It is stated as a fact in the book and I think stating uncertain facts to a large number of potential students is somewhat risky. I suppose there is nothing wrong with using the figure in general but, they should say what it acctually is, the projected number of students in the incoming freshman class.</p>
<p>At the same time I know that the college admissions process is part business. I’m sure many universities do this, that doesn’t make it any less misleading.</p>
No, all univeristies do this. It is called yield projections. All universities have a target for their freshman class, estimate what their yield will be and admit a number they hope will result in that target.
How could it be anything else? The commitment deadline isn’t until May 1st, and classes do not begin intil late August. All they can tell you is the target. They will not know the exact number until classes start in August. The number that actually starts class will be the number used in the 2010 freshman profile, which will not be available until October.</p>
<p>Again, “risky” how? They have had 2,600 as their freshman enrollment target for many years. What is USC “risking” by stating they want a class of 2,600?</p>
<p>When I said “many universities do this” I meant be slightly misleading about certain things, not projected number of enrollments. of course they have to do that in order to get any students at all.</p>
<p>And I realize they could only give a projection of enrollment but the way they stated it made it seem like 2,600 was the number of acceptances they sent out, not the number they thought would enroll.</p>
<p>When they say (paraphrase) you are apart of a select group of 2,600…you stood out from over 35,000 applicants it does IMPLY that the select group is the group of admitted students.</p>
<p>It’s not misleading because it’s the projected number of freshman enrollments. It’s misleading because their phrasing makes it seem like it’s the number of admits.</p>
<p>It’s hardly a serious action, just a misleading business tactic that silly me happened to fall for.</p>
<p>Well, you say you were familiar with the freshman profile - that clearly shows 8000+ admits and 2,700+ enrolled students - so you must have also assumed USC had suddenly reduced their class size to 850? With a yield of about 33% that would be the size of the fresman class with 2,600 admits.</p>
<p>You made a fairly common mistake. As I said earlier, there will be many similar threads on other forums about other schools as others misunderstand the information.</p>
I did not look at the number who enrolled and the number who applied and calculate a percentage forgetting not everyone who got admitted enrolled. I thought 2,600 was the number admitted. If that was a silly uneducated mistake forgive me.</p>