<p>@hajypajy: I will definitely be taking advantage of this winter break to finally work on my application and finalize my course schedule so I think I’ll submit mine in early Jan before spring semester starts. I don’t want to have to worry about my USC app when I should be focusing on my spring term :)</p>
<p>As far as the rigor of our classes go, how rigorous does USC expect from transfer students? I’m taking general education courses in Sociology, Art History, English Comp, Biological Sciences, Economics, Intermediate Spanish, and Calculus with Analytical Geometry. If i get good grades in these classes would I be considered “competitive?” Or am I screwing myself over with people taking insane courses? I’m applying to the School of Cinematic Arts, btw. And I checked all of my classes and they are transferrable. Thanks.</p>
<p>@DJpsu2015: Wow, very impressive schedule! I wish I could’ve done that this past semester. But anyways, I think that is a very solid and very competitive schedule for USC. I can’t give you an exact answer on what they expect, maybe someone else could give more information on that?</p>
<p>@gousc92,</p>
<p>I appreciate your input. I guess there is no real answer to this. I mean, its website does say that they want you to take just a wide variety of liberal arts courses and “gen eds.” I’m quite nervous for Calc w/ Analytical Geo, actually. People have been telling me this is a weed-out class and that no one gets As or Bs, but I’ve also talked to others who tell me a B+/A- is doable if I just put effort in. Since I liked precalc in high school, I’m just going to go for it. I just hope I don’t kill my gpa. I still want to keep it in the 3.7 range in case I don’t get accepted to USC for fall 2012. I will still attempt to transfer my sophomore year.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’ll be so happy if I got into USC. I’ll be closer to my home (WA) and I fell in love with the place over the past summer. I don’t know why I didn’t look into CA schools more. I always thought I was the east coast kind of guy, but not so much now. I still love it here, though, but I would love it even more in Cali. Plus, my sister will be going to UCI for grad, so it would be much easier on our family as far as location and money goes. It just happens that my interests always brings me to apply to the toughest schools. ergh lol. I figured if I am going to do what I love to do, I’d do it at the best place for that program. I’m just so glad one of my professors is willing to put his time and effort in helping me. He even told me that I need to be at this place lol (penn state is definitely not a place for film studies). Apparently, he is familiar with the staff and program so he said he will write me a recommendation. I hope it helps me, though…trying to look on a negative side so I wont be too disappointed when I get my rejection letter.</p>
<p>What major/school are you applying to?</p>
<p>@DJpsu2015,</p>
<p>Oh no! Math is my absolute weakness so I would be freaking out if I had to take Calculus now. I am the person who absolutely cannot have a terrible math teacher. I can tolerate bad teachers in every other subject except that. I am considering either taking Precalc over winter and just bite the bullet and do Calc over spring or just take Precalc in spring and Calc over summer. Decisions! Have you read reviews of your professor online? I find ratemyprofessors to be a very helpful tool, just so you don’t get stuck with a bad professor. :)</p>
<p>I’m a CA native and my mom went to UCLA and my father went to USC. I didn’t really consider USC until I started researching it online. I then immediately fell in love with the Trojan spirit and the campus when I saw a tour online. I can only imagine how gorgeous it looks in person. Hopefully this break I will be able to visit it when I head back for break. What subject is that professor teaching btw? I am considering a science major, but couldn’t take a science this year, so I was unable to establish a relationship with a science prof. :/</p>
<p>I apologize if my message doesn’t make too much sense. It’s finals week and I am running on minimal sleep. X_O</p>
<p>I am going to apply as an undeclared. Because I tested so low in my math, I was restricted on the types of courses I could take so I’m pretty behind in my science. I hope that I can overload this spring so I can catch up and be more competitive for USC. I swear, it’s my dream school!</p>
<p>Haha, your message makes perfect sense. The USC campus is gorgeous (I LOVED UCLA’s campus, too, but you can’t even apply until you have 60 credits). For my calc class, I apparently have one of the best professors for that subject, so thank god lol. He has a like a low 3 on easy and 4.1 on overall quality, so I’m not too nervous. Plus, I am the type of person who goes to office hours and get help on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING haha. However, I am very skeptical when it comes to ratemyprofessors because I find that many of the ratings are from poor students. For example, my favorite professor has like a 2.1 on easy and 2.3 overall from nearly 200 people but most people who hate him pretty much failed the class because they did not pay attention – he’s actually pretty fantastic.</p>
<p>It’s the beginning of finals week for me and I can’t sleep whatsoever. I have an Spanish oral final today at 8:30 am, but whatever lol. I literally live off of coffee. I also need to complete a 15-page essay for English, complete an essay for Bi Sci, write two stories for the newspaper, and study for two exams. Blech. I’m just going to straight up apply to the Critical Studies major, but for my second i’m contemplating between narrative studies or undecided because i have so many interests in the dornsife college, as well. Make sure you don’t overload your spring to the max! It can very very overwhelming at times - to the point of tears. Hope we both get in!</p>
<p>Edit: He’s my film studies teacher, btw.</p>
<p>@DJPsu: I’m in the same position! I focused on the east coast as a senior because for some reason I thought it was so ideal but to my surprise I love the west coast so much more and CA would make me closer to home too. </p>
<p>Just wondering, how are you affording PSU? I applied to PSU (the school really felt so awesome to me with its big sudent life and school spirit along with great job recruitments - similar to USC in that sense teehee).</p>
<p>Anyway, good luck! we’re both west coasters in PA 
I’m definitely hoping for an acceptance and it’s good to see someone in the same boat.</p>
<p>Actually, good luck to anyone! With both USC and finals week. </p>
<p>I really hope to see you guys fall 2012. 
Looking on the brightside, even though I am prepared for a rejection letter as well.</p>
<p>oh gosh I am so wired on coffeeeee, sorry. LOL.</p>
<p>@lullabies: You can send up to 3 recommendations. The more the merrier! Lol</p>
<p>The problem with my gpa is Calculus. I’m going to make a C in there, which brings my gpa down to a 3.38, but all my other classes are A+'s. I’m just so frustrated with that class! I’ve done so much to transfer, and now that one class has screwed my over. I’m wondering if I should even waste my time applying this year anymore, but I’ve invested so much into it that I feel like I still have to. MATH SUCKS lol</p>
<p>@lullabies,</p>
<p>It’s kind of a funny story, actually. You see, my family’s income has been at 0 for the past six years because my dad lost his job, so it’s been a real big struggle and my grandparents have been helping us get by by sending us money. It’s funny how I just attend one of the most expensive public universities. But all in all, my grandparents told me they will help me pay my first year off (and I have a family member in PA, so I get in-state tuition after this year), while I pay the rest off. I took the chance because I didn’t want to stay in WA all my life like everyone else in my family. I don’t know…school’s kind of a big deal to me because I grew up with really low income, so I really have that drive to just do well at what I want to do and not end up like my parents with their financial situation – it just hasn’t been easy at all, and school is like an escape.</p>
<p>ANYWAY, that’s also another reason why I didn’t do well in high school because things just were not going well at home and…I kind of lost hope and motivation. But it’s different now. I’m taking about $5,000 in loans per year; I forget which loan (sub or unsub) is the one where the rates go up, but since my grandparents are paying off this year, I’m not taking any loan this year. I will start taking out some loans if I’m still here, but no more than $5,000. I calculated everything and if I continue to get some scholarships and grants throughout my time here, I will walk away from school with $25,000 in debt (grandparents helped a lot).</p>
<p>Where from the west coast are you from? I don’t miss WA at all! I felt so bummed out when I went to CA this past summer because I didn’t even look at the schools, but I probably wouldn’t have gotten in due to my grades, so maybe this was a good idea. I just want to be closer to home and go to the school with a great program. Hope I see you next fall! If not, I will attempt the year after that, as well! Yeah, finals week sucks…good thing I A’ced a lot of my exams the first time around. I just need a B+ average for my exams to keep my A/A-. I love the school spirit here, but this is just the place for me (great for business, engineering, and ag sciences, though). It was a crazy year for us though with the scandal. I’m so fortunate to be with school newspaper, this scandal really shaped the way I view media and I’m so putting this down on my essay lol!</p>
<p>@CluelessBelle,</p>
<p>Honestly, just go for it. I’ve read some people on here who got in with 3.3/3.4 gpas as transfer students, so if you want to go there, then apply! My professor, who worked as an admissions officer at UCLA and Wisconsin, said that students and people will try and make the numbers into the biggest deal in the world, but he told me that if you write a great essay, know your direction and life, and show them that you can do well in their program, they will be glad to have you. While I do believe that numbers do play a large portion of your acceptance, it’s not the number one determining factor. Your gpa isn’t really all that bad at all. It’s like a B+ as a letter grade. Apply this year, and if you don’t get in, just try next year.</p>
<p>@DJpsu2015: Yeah, but I still want to bring it up. I refuse to let calculus be the reason why I don’t get in. I’m going to try and take a course this winter break, which could bring my gpa up to 3.5, which is better than a 3.38 lol</p>
<p>OH BOO, NEVERMIND THAT WINTER CLASS. THE GRADE WON’T CALCULATE INTO MY GPA UNTIL THE END OF SPRING!</p>
<p>@CluelessBelle LOL I AGREE, math is terrible.</p>
<p>But I’m encouraging you to try too! You never know until you try!</p>
<p>@DJpsu2015: I am like that too! I love going into my teacher’s office hours, especially my math one. But it was extremely annoying this year because my College Algebra class was all online! It was insanely difficult and I have like an 82 going into the final. >_<. It’ll be my only B this semester, thank God. But I really need to start studying for that because the test is Thursday. If I were truly irresponsible, I could reschedule it for Friday and leave that same day, but I don’t want the added stress. It’s just better to get it over with and hope that I don’t completely screw myself.</p>
<p>Since my mom wanted me to go to UCLA so badly, I’ve been to that school way too many times since about fifth grade. Her uncle was a professor there so she’d show me his office, the library, the dorm she lived at, etc. I guess that’s probably why I am pretty anti-UCLA, lol. I did promise her that if I don’t get into USC this year, I’ll apply to both USC and UCLA next year. Let’s hope that doesn’t have to happen because I really don’t want to go to UCLA, like at all, lol. </p>
<p>For me, a teacher can have like a 1 on easy, especially when it comes to higher maths, the score I really care about is the helpfulness and overall quality because I don’t want to be shut off because I ask a million and one questions.</p>
<p>My German test I took was insanely difficult. The class average was like a 57, but I got an 89 so I have an A still. I’m just worried about two other things my teacher has to put in the grade book. :\ My Art class was really hard because he was more focused with architectural designs and since I’m not interested in art at all, and I did pretty terrible in geometry, I couldn’t picture a lot of the designs used on the test. But I’m sure I did well, as it was mostly vocab and he drops the lowest. All that I have left is an online Sociology test and that stupid in person math final. I need to work on the study guide for both tonight. Argh</p>
<p>I guess the only saving grace is the school I go to is really easy. At least, I find the coursework to be a walk in the park, that’s why I’m not too worried about overloading next semester. I just plan to take an extra 3 credit course on top of the 18 unit cap which shouldn’t be too bad.</p>
<p>Never too early to look into Housing at USC while u begin your journey as a future Trojan… My experience at Tuscany has been awesome. It is right infront of campus! I am sure you will love it. Check their facebook page out:</p>
<p>[Tuscany</a> and Shrine Collection - Wall | Facebook](<a href=“Redirecting...”>Redirecting...)</p>
<p>Hey, everyone! I’ve been thinking about adding USC to my list but I’m unsure because I’ve never even been to California and my friend who has family there assures me that I would positively hate LA. It’s just really difficult for me to judge considering I’ve lived my entire life on the east coast. Does anyone have any opinions?</p>
<p>@francisvdahlmann: Honestly, if you’ve lived on the east coast your whole life and you’ve never even been to CA, I’d think twice before adding USC to your list. You don’t want to end up miserable at a fantastic school because you hate the “LA mentality.” If possible, I would schedule a tour of USC and LA before applying. But if that’s not possible, you can look up on youtube tours of USC and see if you can find people talking about their experiences in LA, specifically those from the east coast so you can have their perspective. Good luck to you! :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, gousc92. Do you mind elaborating on what the “LA mentality” is, precisely? I’m really just basing my perceptions off the pop culture view, which is obviously pretty limited…</p>
<p>Well, as a native, there is just a certain vibe with a lot of the people out in LA. Of course, in a city of 3 million not everyone is going to be a certain way, but a lot of the times, there just seems to be this plastic, put up personality that seeps into the general populace. Probably from our Hollywood. The way the city is it’s not usual to know someone famous or see them on the street, but a lot of people tend to get big egos about that and allow it to blow their heads up. And this “keeping up with the Jones” thing also shows up with the traffic situation. Because in part of our terrible urban sprawl and lackluster transit system, everyone has a car and everyone is always going somewhere. I can’t say whether or not it’s like New York’s rush vibe, but we definitely have a bit of a go go thing. I’m not sure if our weather eases it, though.</p>
<p>It’s really an odd place. A lot like an amusement park. Lol.</p>
<p>This is just my opinion, however, born and raised in LA. :)</p>
<p>Apologizing for my poor sentence structure! It’s finals week and I am running on no sleep.</p>
<p>No worries, thanks for the info! I can’t see how I’d get a chance to visit before applying, but if I decide to do so and am accepted then I will definitely make a trip before I commit to the school. But that’s assuming an awful lot, haha.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I definitely didn’t consider that option either! You should probably just do that! :)</p>