USC spring admit...concerns?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
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<p>CollegeMom48, I agree with you, it’s depressing. My daughter is not interested in going to community college and hanging around the USC campus pretending she is a student. </p>

<p>We’ve gone back and forth about what to do. Considered internships for the fall, etc. We will go to an accepted students reception in the northeast. The bottom line is she would love to go to USC, but she thinks missing those first few months in the fall, when all the new freshman are new together, would be missing a lot. I have to agree. We will deposit at UCLA and hope for good news at the end of May. It is either meant to be or it is not.</p>

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<p>Flying in from IL - can only come to one event and figured the all day event might be more interesting. They are supposed to have a special section for “spring admits”. Good luck to your D on her scholarship interview!</p>

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<p>I am the mother of a Spring admit. My son is now a junior at USC. I must agree with previous posters who mentioned their sons or daughters had feelings of remorse when they were left at home and their other friends left to go to college. My son felt that way too. But he took classes at a local community college in Southern California and also got a job. He was able to attend every SC football game and sit in the student sections. the Spring admits organized sitting together at football games and at beach parties etc. Has someone started a face book page for this years Spring Admits? if not can someone do that soon? My son got connected that way. when he started USC it seemed like all the Spring admits or at least most of them had either been able to take over leases on campus from students going to live in sorority or fraternity houses but my son choose to stay off campus with other spring admits he had met over the summer. 2 of these guys, including my son, ended up rushing the same fraternity. As you consider whether to accept the Spring admit spot decide, are you a motivated person who can seek out friendships and opportunities on and off campus?</p>

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<p>I am also a Spring Admit worried about housing. How likely would it be that I would get a dorm with other freshmen?</p>

<p>Also, is the little Acceptance of Admission postcard binding (given that I check the box for “yes”)? I want to turn it in so that I am entered for Fall 2012 consideration, but I would like to know if I would be able to back out if some unforeseen event occurs that doesn’t allow me to attend.</p>

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<p>Snowdog, feel bad for your daughter, but you never know, she may end up loving UCLA. Tremendous campus, particularly Sunset Rec Center and Bruin Walk. Pauley Pavilion has been renovated, they have a top recruiting class in b-ball this year, and if they land Shabazz Muhammad (should know in the next few days) they will be serious contenders again for a national championship (only 4 years removed from 3 straight Final Four appearances). Really a great experience to go to a game in Pauley as a student, right in the heart of campus. Heading out to the Rose Bowl to watch football is also a blast, even if the team is struggling; in fact, the Bruins are at home against Oregon State the Saturday before the first day of classes, and also have home games against USC and Stanford either side of Thanksgiving. And of course the educational experience is first rate, even with all the noise surrounding California’s fiscal crisis. (The UCs have managed their budgets much better than the schools in the Cal State system.) There’s no question the quality of academics is better at UCLA than USC, and it would be difficult to top UCLA’s faculty; just ask madbean.</p>

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<p>Sorry, lonelybottles. The quality of academics is NOT better at UCLA. lol. In fact, it’s better at USC. UCLA has extraordinary faculty (heh–as you kindly point out), most of whom do research, publish and oversee grad courses. This is not a knock to their undergrad program, but the emphasis is surely not on UG. Sorry.</p>

<p>The UCs have not managed their budgets well, although if you are comparing them to Cal States, I can’t get into that debate. The massive cuts have made it virtually impossible for any UC to “manage” well, and departments are being given directives to cut huge $$. That translates to less courses offered less often. There is no way to cut 1/2 a billion dollars in a year without something getting lost, right?</p>

<p>I can take your comments on bball, but football? Are you really touting the UCLA game against USC? I mean, have you already forgotten this year? 50-0? I will crawl back into my Bruin cave, now and let this post pass. </p>

<p>;)</p>

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<p>Oh I think you are right lonelybottles. In fact I know you are. I am starting to hear comments such as, “Westwood is a great neighborhood. The accepted students I’ve met on the UCLA facebook page are really nice. Remember when we ate lunch in the dining hall on campus? The food was great.” And we’ve noted that although USC apparently has no tumbling floor (gymnastics was cut almost 10 years ago but there is a competing USC equestrian team [??]), UCLA has a spring floor for use during open gym, and she could try out for spirit squad which performs - yes - at the Rose Bowl and Pauley Pavilion. Our day at UCLA was amazing and I can certainly picture my daughter loving it there. </p>

<p>There is an academic issue to consider. She was accepted to her major at USC, whereas at UCLA there are limited spaces and even if she is able to achieve a good GPA in what appears to be a highly competitive department (biology), candidates still must petition for one of the limited slots. </p>

<p>And there is a financial issue. Based on the FA posted on usconnect for spring term, USC would not inflict the same level of monetary pain as would UCLA. So perhaps I am the one most hopeful for the “bump” to fall…</p>

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<p>Far be it from me to masquerade as an expert on this topic, madbean, but since it’s so much fun debating you, I’m going to try. From my (admittedly limited) feedback, the intensity and desire to excel academically among the student body is greater at UCLA; conversely, USC students are more concerned about the social aspects of their educational experience than their cross town counterparts. Obviously, these are generalizations, but if you look at how people are characterizing the admissions criteria of the two schools (UCLA more focused on quantitative data like grades and test scores, USC taking a more holistic approach), this seems to make sense. </p>

<p>I think the whole Spring admissions fling is my next crusade with USC, after snail mail notification (Lord help them if my son enrolls there). A school that is concerned with elevating its academic reputation is going to do more than switch to the Common App so that its acceptance rate goes down; it’s going to conclude that starting its students out at community colleges is unacceptable.</p>

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<p>OK, lonelybottles, hope you still think this is fun. </p>

<p>You seem to believe the past reputation of USC is currently valid. But it really isn’t. When it comes to spoiled children, UCLA has its share (if not the SC initials). As you know, 60% of USC studetns are on FinAid. When you read here on CC that some low income students are receiving very generous all-grant aid to attend USC, I hope you are not calling them spoiled and overly social! Of course, there are partying kids at UCLA, Cal, USC and almost every highly academic university. College can be fun as well as rigorous.</p>

<p>Since you continue to bring up admissions criteria, UCLA rewards GPA and class rank without regard for HS grade inflation (at some CA public HSs, 50% of students have above 4.0). Those inflated grades help compose UCLA’s admitted student average GPA. USC considers GPAs in context to the sending school’s past performance at USC. In other words, USC admissions recomputes UW GPA to deflate the inflation. USC may admit a student with an UW 3.6 if they come from a very strong HS, and they may deny one with a UW 3.9 if that sending school is not known to teach writing skills and past students have not thrived at USC. UCs simply can’t make such calls when regarding input from public HSs. Most selective private universities believe using raw GPA data has proven not to be the best indicator–alone–of how well a student will do in college. Lastly, since you state (here? on a USC forum? you are brave!) that UCLA admits are somehow a stronger set of students, the SAT scores (higher among USC admits) cut through the subjectivity of GPA. I don’t like standardized test scores as they disadvantage students with testing LDs, but at least those scores are not fudged with extra credit reports and class participation upgrading. </p>

<p>The reason I continue to participate in this discussion is I have a seen the undergrad opportunities at both of these schools and I am biased towards each one. :slight_smile: I love both. When deciding between these two excellent schools, I suggest the most meaningful differences come from:</p>

<p>1) the strength (academic, professional placement, grad school admissions, philosophy of, research opportunities, internships, quality of peers) of your child’s program/major is at each university
2) the ease of making it through the program (guarantee of preferred major, switch major, add double major, add minors, add study abroad, register for classes you want, graduate on time, student jobs)
3) robustness of the institution in the future
4) comfort (location, safety concerns, food, housing, beauty of campus, amenities)</p>

<p>Despite all these thoughts, I am sympathetic to those with the dreaded Spring Admit decision. Waitlists (which I feel are even worse for leaving doors open with no guarantees) and spring admits are painful. btw, the UCs start out tens of thousands of their students at community colleges! They take them in as junior transfers, per program requirements. But more to the point, USC knows there are students who truly love this school and prefer it over any of their other admissions. For these students, Spring Admit is better than a waitlist and much much better than a rejection. For all of you others, my continued sympathy.</p>

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<p>lonelybottles, UCLA may weight test scores more heavily than USC (I don’t know that that’s true), but USC enrollees’ test scores have passed those of UCLA enrollees by many measures.</p>

<p>And Shabazz (the son of a Trojan) will not attend UCLA.</p>

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<p>I don’t post much on this board, but this is a topic that I always find engaging! I was just looking over the “spring admits unite” thread from 2008, and it reminded me of two things: (1) some of my favorite people are USC parents I now know in real life, but met first in this virtual world. Our kids have been dorm-mates, house-mates, travel companions, and fellow majors. What a cool place USC has been for everyone involved. (2) Spring admit status will be a distant memory by the time the student is graduating. My son was lucky enough to be bumped up, but he loved USC enough - even as a spring admit - to turn down a full ride in the honors program at another university he liked a lot. He would have been fine as a Spring admit, and was fine after he was bumped up. I know this because he had been pretty psyched to spend his gap semester travelling through the Amazon rainforest (had to give this up to accept Fall admit status), and also because I know two of his best friends who were spring admits, and they never had a problem. They found friends easily, and discovered USC is not all about what happens in September every year; it’s an ongoing unveiling of great opportunities, and if the process starts in January, students figure out how to make it work. </p>

<p>The only pre-requisite is that they can’t be offended that they didn’t make the first cut. As my son said, it was far better to know you could start in January (and with a scholarship, no less!) than to be waitlisted. And with the ready availability of AP credits these days, there’s usually no reason to rush off to the nearest CC for fall semester. Take a break, have some fun, travel, earn money - whatever works best for you!</p>

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<p>Thank you, FauxNom. It’s nice to hear from people (parents and students) who have “been there” and discover their perspectives. We’re going to fly out and attend one of the spring events and see what happens. Of course it will be a lot more clear once we get our financial aid info! Keeping fingers crossed and hoping the right answer will become clear. We love USC and hope it works out. If not, she’s got some other great options.</p>

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<p>lonelybottles-- The UC system, including UCLA, take thousands of CC transfers each year. Starting in CC does not mean the UC’s and their CC transfer students are inherently less qualified, and it doesn’t damage a school’s reputation. Do you think these CC transfers damage the reputation of UCLA and UCB??? </p>

<p>A USC spring admit who does a semester at a CC is also not inherently less qualified later on compared to a fall admit. You do realize that schools other than USC offer spring admission too, right? UC Berkeley, IMHO another excellent school with a great reputation, offers spring admission to some students. </p>

<p>D has spring admit friends and fall admit friends, and will live with some of both next year. From her experience, students don’t care when you go there— they are smart enough to appreciate you for what you bring to the table.</p>

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<p>My D was a spring admit transfer student. She stayed in HI & completed her 3rd semester of CC & then started USC in January, where her HS friends were already just completed with their 1st semester of freshman year. She was housed with 3 sophomores in one of the nicest dorms on campus–right across from the gym!</p>

<p>She was slightly sad she never lived in a freshman dorm but her freshmen buddies (from her HS) were jealous of her very nice dorm that had just been remodeled (Webb). All in all, now that she’s graduating with her HS buddies after attending USC for 3.5 years, none of us have any regrets & it has been a great experience for her. She said her HS buddies met slightly more new friends in their freshman year than her, especially in fields outside of their majors, but she was able to meet some of them through her HS buddies & it was worked out OK for all of them.</p>

<p>I’d say, it can work just fine for everyone concerned. If your child will be taking CC or other courses, work with the counselor so that the courses will transfer. We considered it a nice discount that our kiddo could get credits & coursework out of the way at nearly free CC instead of more terms & expenses at USC. ;)</p>

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<p>I was admitted for Spring 2013 to Annenberg. At first I was elated when I found out I had gotten in (during Senior Trip btw- couldn’t have been better!), but then the spring admission part totally perplexed me. If it appears that students who accept spring freshman admisson may really be getting the short end of the stick when it comes to integrating into the school entirely, why does USC even bother? How many kids are offered this anyway?</p>

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<p>^ Why does USC even bother? I’m glad they do! Otherwise, I wouldn’t be in to my top choice :stuck_out_tongue: On my letter it says they offer it to about 1000 students.</p>

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<p>my daughter was a spring admit 2 years ago and LOVES USC and is having a great time there! Fall semester was hard when everyone went away to school but she got a job, made money, went to a JCC and will graduate in 4 years (total). She needed the big football team, rah rah, connections and today being a spring admit doesnt even come up in conversation</p>

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<p>camomof3 - Your response is predictable, and of course, in one sense, you have a point. But since both the UCs and ccs are public institutions funded by the same set of taxpayers, you would expect collaboration between the two. USC is private, and at least some on this thread are maintaining that the quality of teaching is higher. If that is so, then why the articulation agreements with the ccs? Why wouldn’t the USC administration want to expose all of the undergraduate students to this outstanding faculty for all of their classes, including the gen ed requirements? Maybe they’re too busy doing research.</p>

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<p>lonelybottles, really? You are really twisting this. Your D was offered a chance to be a Trojan. For some, that is worth the wait. For others, not. Second semester there is usually more housing available as students do study abroad, etc. Other schools, like Cal, use spring admissions to allow more kids who really really want Cal to attend. No one says a spring admit must attend cc. Do something else! Many who come to USC bring many AP credits and can graduate in 3 1/2 years without a problem. For some families, the savings is considerable and the student is happy to get their language req or some other GE out of the way. But if your student wants 4 years at USC, they certainly can get it. Start in Spring and graduate 8 semesters later–all USC. I’m sympathetic this is not as desirable as starting in the fall. But you are looking for some sinister plot on the part of a great school and it’s really an opportunity that some are happy to accept. </p>

<p>USC has articulation agreements, btw, so that regional students have a pathway to achieve a USC degree if they choose. Since USC offers wonderful FinAid to very low income students, this is really a great opportunity too. Perhaps your child does not need this, but some do and find USC is actually less expensive than UCs.</p>

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<p>An idiotic post, lonelybottles…</p>

<p>USC has agreements with local community colleges and junior colleges because they care about Southern California and want to admit local students who often didn’t succeed in high school because of difficult circumstances.</p>

<p>One of my friends at USC was a 31 year old junior when I was a senior. He was an 8 year Navy veteran who, after struggles with drugs that pulled him down to living out of his car, turned things around, went to a local junior college, earned fantastic grades, and transferred to USC’s business school. USC didn’t have to admit my friend, they could have taken another freshman with a 2200 on the SAT.</p>

<p>“Maybe they’re too busy doing research?” That’s not an argument, it’s spite.</p>