USC is a competitive university. Last year, the acceptance rate of USC is 16%. However, compared to other colleges which have the similar acceptance rate, the average SAT score of USC is much lower. The average SAT score of admitted students is 1320-1480. I was luckily admitted to both USC and Northeastern University. The acceptance rate of Northeastern is 29%, but the average SAT score of Northeastern is higher than USC. How does this happen?
My guess…USC is taking higher pay lower stat students.
it’s simple…there are 64,000 students applying to usc. which other university in the us has 64,000 people applying to it?! if you get 64,000 applying to northeastern, i guarantee you the acceptance rate is no longer 29%. sometimes the acceptance rate is deceiving; you have to take into account of how many people applied to the school and how many they accept.
@Izpare, in California 64,000 applications is not a big deal. UCLA 113k, Cal State Long Beach 102k, etc, etc…
i take back part of what i said about the 64,000 applications. i shouldn’t have exaggerated it because many california universities receive way more applications than usc, but that sheds light on the competitiveness of universities over there. they are getting tens and hundreds of thousands of applications over there, so if you ever wonder why the acceptance rates over there are low, the number of applicants are why.
If they wished to do so, USC Admissions reports they could admit only 4.0 UW students with near perfect scores as they turn away many applicants with those stats. http://news.usc.edu/139338/usc-acceptance-rate-fall-2018-admission/ They are looking for something they call “fit” and that holistic approach means they are willing to admit high quality, exceptional students (looking at essays, ECs, honors, character, etc) with slightly lower scores. Each university does a great deal of market analysis and tracks the outcomes of their classes–meaning how well students perform in undergrad compared to their incoming HS GPAs and test scores. Schools like USC who have many highly ranked creative schools/majors feel they gain more by admitting a diverse and exceptionally talented class than simply by the numbers.
Stats<Money
@lzpare Northeastern had 62,000 applications this cycle and the unconfirmed acceptance rate is 19%. Boston University had 64,000 applications and the confirmed acceptance rate is 22%.
@TomSrOfBoston USC’s acceptance rate was 13%.
I was just admitted to USC with a GPA of 3.5 (UW) and 3.6 (W) and an SAT score of 1300. My family makes less than $25,000 a year so no it’s not money either. Do low stats hurt your chances? Yes. Do high stats increase your chances? Not at all. Again there are too many applicants applying to USC for them to only consider one or two factors. USC is need blind and they are serious when they claim to holistically review the applicant pool.
@collkid From your posting history you were admitted to a program requiring a portfolio. That can make up for lower stats.
Basically USC selects who they deem appropriate and after evaluating far more than just GPA, Rank and Test Scores. They are also considering ECs, Essays, potential leadership roles, potential artistic, creative, athletic or performance skills, potential special circumstances (URM status, FirstGen status, QuestBridge, etc), perceived/projected suitability at USC, etc. etc. Last year, they rejected 3K applicants (out of 56K) with test scores in the 99th percentile. That # this year will likely be closer to or more than 4K (as they now had 64K applicants in total). If they were only interested in raising their own profile based on stats, they could easily choose to admit applicants accordingly. They are instead interested in crafting a well-rounded and diverse class of freshmen who they project will thrive within the very specific environment that is USC. And as a parent of two current students at USC, thank goodness for that rationale vs some artificial & relatively silly concern about average test scores…
As a USC parent, I can say that USC did a great job in finding the “fit” in addition to looking at the test score, GPA and EC. The school environment is competitive but the community is caring and helpful. It really augurs well on the confidence and well being of its students.
I sure am glad to have taken a trip with my kid two years ago to check out the place. And indeed it is a great academic community.
My kids are both happy USC grads. Their USC classmates were a diverse and interesting group. S’s HS physics lab partner wasn’t admitted to USC, tho he was accepted at UPenn and Boston U. Another friend’s S was a trustee scholar st USC and turned down many other great schools with major merit awards.
Scores and GPA count, as do recommendations, ECs and some intangibles. When a U has many more applicants than spaces, they can look for the special folks they feel will best fit at their U. Some folks with amazing talent that USC may choose to accept may not have tippy top SATs or GPAs.
well, listen, UCLA takes 120k applications and has a class size of 6000, USC takes 60k and has a class size of 3000. So what is the problem here? It scales perfectly. UCLA offers 16000 acceptances while USC offers 8000. See the pattern here? UCLA and USC have similar yield rates so thats why they accept similar number of students. On the other hand, BU and Northeastern have low yield rates than USC, which means fewer students accepted would attend. So they admit more to compensate for that.
I seriously don’t understand why is everybody bringing up UCs, BU, and Northeastern. Number of applicants and accepted students’ willingness to attend matter. No two schools are alike.
In my D’s case, her test score was very low but she had a high GPA, an amazing portfolio, fantastic essays, great letters of rec, a 4 page creative resume and demonstrated how she would fit in and contribute to USC. Needless to say, it earned her a spot at SCA and we are grateful for the holistic admissions process. It truly is how they put together a unique, well rounded class. For the most part, these kids end up where they are meant to be.
USC has a higher % of programs than most big U on the creative types (art, film, music, drama…) where SAT score is probably not as important as portfolio for acceptance. But on other more analytical types of programs like engineering/CS, the SAT score of the accepted is a lot higher, probably better than the counterparts at NU or BU.
The more selective the school, the more holistic the admission process becomes. This doesn’t mean that they’ll accept any score, but they are more likely to be swayed by the other factors.
Also, although both NU and BU are great schools, I’ve noticed that some schools will focus on boosting the SAT avgs to rise in the rankings.
tubldl13,
In your recent post you remarked that SC’s admitted student scores were lower than certain other competitive universities. The scores you posted were incorrect! I checked the official scores as listed by the USC admissions office.
Official Scores of Admitted Freshmen to SC 2017
Mid 50% SAT
1350-1500
Mid 50% ACT
31-34
Official Scores of Admitted Freshmen to SC 2018
Mid 50% SAT
1410-1530
Mid 50% ACT
31-35
You had posted SAT admitted scores of 1320-1480 for SC. In comparing scores it is important to note if a university is posting median, average or mid 50 percentile scores. I did a research project on submitted test scores and spent quite a bit of time reading Common Data Sets. Some universities do not submit all scores. Test numbers should not be the most compelling reason to choose one college/university over another, in my opinion.
In my research I have never seen any official “average” scores released by USC.
^1320-1480 was for enrolled students fall 2017 (what the CDS would show if it were to report a composite, which unfortunately it doesn’t). 1350-1500 was for admitted students fall 2017 (admitted scores are not reported in a CDS). https://about.usc.edu/files/2017/10/USCFreshmanProfile.pdf
The increase in mid-50 range for admitted students from fall 2017 to fall 2018 seems significant. It’ll be interesting to see how the enrolled numbers shake out when they are reported some time in the summer/fall.
As far as reporting “average” scores, the Tab (presumably the student news) reported the admitted middle 50 range as “average.”