| full-time undergraduate program |
USC will send you an admissions application that is laid out in a way
that is easy for the prospective student and student's parents to
understand. All of the materials are organized into a folder with
numbered steps on what materials the student needs to have completed and
within what order. There was a timeline inside the folder, which made
completing the tasks of applying for housing and financial aid very
easy. There is an option now to apply online, and many applications are
available off the school's website and can be filled out and sent back
to the particular school or program within the University to which you
are applying.
Essays are the standard college admissions essays. You won't have to
write anything that strays too far from the generic admissions essay
that most high seniors have to write. I remember there being three
options for essays, but I submitted the standard essay to them.
Getting in to USC is getting harder all the time, so I suggest that you
really focus on your grades. It seemed as though a lot of students had
SAT scores that weren't overly high, but they got into USC because of a
high GPA. 3.6-4.0 GPA should put you in good shape if your SAT score is
above average. USC doesn't rely heavily on interviews or even require
them. I recommend an interview because it gives the student a chance to
ask his/her questions of the University. Interviews can be scheduled by
the prospective student if he/she contacts the admissions office. There
are plenty of admissions fairs that USC conducts nationwide, and most
times a student can schedule an interview to be held during the fair.
The schedule for these fairs can be obtained by calling the admissions
office or looking on the website. The interviewers are typically alumni
volunteers and the interview evaluation is very general and doesn't get
into very many specifics about grades, etc. The interview is conducted
to gain the emotional temperature of the student, ie. would someone from
a small town in Ohio really make the adjustment to a big city school in
LA?
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University of Southern California Admission & Application Surveys
