Is USC difficult to get in? How competitive is it?

twilight_girl09 · 01-04-2009, 02:02 AM

I know that the USC average GPA is around a 3.7. That is not very high. Actually, I have a GPA around a 3.7. :/
I was wondering, how hard is it to get accepted in USC academically? Are there some areas that USC weigh more to determine if an applicant gets accepted? I mean SAT/ACT scores, GPA, essay, extracurricular activities, etc.
Is USC more competitive than UC's? I doubted but it may be. I am applying to USC but it is not one of my top choices because of the tuition. -_- so expensive even with
FAFSA. I went on a tour of USC last year, and it was AMAZING!! LOVE IT TO DEATH!
Very pretty!

kyledavid80 · 01-04-2009, 02:25 AM

It's hard to get into, relative to the vast majority of colleges, but also has an artificially low acceptance rate since its applicant pool is very un-self-selective--more or less everyone (yes, exaggeration) in the LA area apply to it.

For difficulty of admission in comparison to UCs, I'd say Berkeley is a bit harder, and UCLA is about the same as USC (there are aspects, like SAT, where USC has the edge, and others, like GPA, where UCLA has the edge).

nooob · 01-04-2009, 02:33 AM

but usc is much easier to get into since its a private school (if you're out of state). The avg. SAT was around 2100 i believe.

JW Muller · 01-04-2009, 02:59 AM

Check out this comparison I've set up from College Navigator, between USC, UC Berkeley, UCLA and Northwestern. Click on the Admissions tab.

College Navigator - Compare Institutions

There isn't much difference between percent admitted between the schools. There isn't a GPA comparison, which is difficult to do. The UC's admit many based primarily on GPA, as a back door affirmative action. The quality of the schools make the meaning of GPA differ. Also, UC's don't count Senior year grades. So, the best comparison is SAT.

Northwestern has an advantage over USC in SAT. USC has a slight advantage over UC Berkeley, and a signifcant advantage over UCLA.

USC, UCLA and UC Berkeley must know and closely follow their cross-admit statistics. That statistic would be very telling. Among Californians, UC Berkeley and UCLA might have an advantage, but USC makes up for it with out of staters. Just my impression.

USC's selectivity statistics have a bullet, as they have been rising more than just about any other school. Perception lags reality, but eventually catches up. Even if USC makes no further selectivity gains, those now admitted to USC will likely find people much more impressed 10 years from now than they are now.

So, I think now that overall USC is less selective than Northwestern, about equal with Berkeley, and moreso than UCLA.

bmwguy · 01-04-2009, 03:08 AM

Everything I read about USC admissions is very generic and fails to be reassuring. I just really hope they look at my ECs which should make up for my borderline SATs.

PBailey · 01-04-2009, 03:41 AM

Looking at my school's scattergrams, if you get a 2100 SAT I and maintain ur GPA, ur in. Based on 160 apps from my school. My school is competitive though...

I would post the scattergram, but I don't have any image editing software (not even MS Paint!) to edit out some sensitive info.

iskander · 01-04-2009, 09:32 AM

im applyin to USC for fall 2009 admission.

twilight grl: after the research ive done, i will say that USC is pretty competitive to get in. it has established itself over the years as a serious competitor to the other UC schools (hence the tense rivalry between USC and UCLA).

jw muller: thx for the posts.

bmwguy: "I just really hope they look at my ECs which should make up for my borderline SATs." - right there with u, same here. gl.

PBailey · 01-04-2009, 06:16 PM

@iskander: Just to make it clear, USC is NOT a UC.

Samtheclever · 01-04-2009, 08:07 PM

They are big on extracurriculars
Gradewise they are not as strict as UCB or LA
They really want you to be well rounded as opposed to UCB and LA which claim to seek well rounded people when in fact they focus tremendously on stats.

athenegoddess · 01-04-2009, 08:10 PM

i think USC is easier to get into if you're in-state.
Their film programs are extremely difficult and challenging to get into though--they have an excellent program and have great connections... plenty of my friends are dying to go there for that reason.

the admissions dean came to my school and fed us this long story about how this mom called them demanding to know why her D was rejected because she was a stellar applicant. He explained that it was obvious she didn't want to go there; the only reason that the D wanted to get in was because she had a whole string of Ivy acceptances and didn't want the shame of getting rejected by USC. In the end they took her but she never went there anyway. I think he was trying to get across the point that you have to show that you REALLY want to go there, but it made us all potential applicants wonder why they let themselves be bullied by the mom anyway.. though he did mention the D came from a tough private school and they prob wanted to have a good relationship with the school.

tocollege · 01-04-2009, 08:42 PM

athena, USC is private and does not give preference to in-state. 53% of admitted students last year were from California, which is just a tiny bit below the 54% of applicants from California - so you can see there was no advantage to being "in-state." 39% of applicants were from other US states, and 40% of admitted student came from that group, so if anything it appears there is a tiny advantage to being out-of-state. http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergr...file2008v3.pdf

athenegoddess · 01-04-2009, 08:48 PM

oops. my mistake then. I thought that there would be as there's so many Cali students there but i didn't bother to check the data.

iskander · 01-04-2009, 08:50 PM

yes of course I know. as mentioned in a previous post, i applied there.

what i meant to say was that USC has established itself as a serious competitor to the other UC schools and system. californians have two strong private schools in the state: USC and stanford.

in the beginning i wanted to apply to UCLA but if your not a california resident (and an international student on top of that) its tuff to get in so i applied to USC since it was the other good school in the LA area. i feel like i hav a better shot of gettin into the private school.

iskander · 01-04-2009, 08:52 PM

yes of course I know. as mentioned in a previous post, i applied there.

what i meant to say was that USC has established itself as a serious competitor to the other UC schools and system. californians now have two strong private schools in the state: USC and stanford.

iskander · 01-04-2009, 08:54 PM

yes of course I know. as mentioned in a previous post, i applied there.

what i meant to say was that USC has established itself as a serious competitor to the other UC schools and system. californians now have two strong private schools in the state: USC and stanford.

athenegoddess...i didnt really get your story. the girl was accepted to several ivies and chose to apply to USC anyways?