Too anyone wondering about SGR, I took the following excerpt from last year’s thread. Credit goes to scahopeful
"Spoke to a counselor earlier and confirmed my original hunches regarding the purpose of an SGR if one, 4.0, could still get rejected. The counselor said that they ask for them because they want to see how you performed in the spring (of course). And when asked specifically why they reject 4.0’s the counselor said that when they receive spring grades, they also:
a) verify that you completed any required pre req’s for your program that you listed on Common App (by checking for W’s)
b) check for any other W’s (because you can list something on Common App and withdraw much later after your app is already under review)
c) see if you completed any USC Core GE’s and the grades you received (goes back to the W situation)
d) make sure your courses aren’t cake walks (to do this, they have to search your current school’s course catalog and look at course descriptions and sometimes syllabi if available)
So, if a high GPA gets rejected it’s probably for one of those reasons.
We were just talking about one of my Spring courses when we got into this informative conversation about SGRs."
@jucery13 I remember seeing that post last year as well. As for cake walk, I believe it was even scaphopeful who said things like basket weaving (as a joke I’m assuming) or may not be seen as too challenging in general. I was even wondering if my stats class qualified as a cake walk since I believe it’s pretty much the lowest level of math that USC accepted from my CC.
My spring schedule last year was
Spanish I
Stats
Symbolic Logic (philosophy class)
Objected Oriented C++
Data Structures with C++
Physical Anthropology
I guess they could have very well seen Spanish and physical anthropology as easy. Maybe even symbolic logic =\
@jucery13 Undeclared/Dornsife was my first-choice major. I used my second choice major as one that I was very sure I had little chance at (Computer Science/Games). With very little math, I knew my second choice wasn’t very likely, but I didn’t think I’d have such a hard time getting in as undeclared.
@zettasyntax maybe they saw you listing undeclared as a lack of direction??? I still find it odd they rejected you last year, did you have your GEs done?
@jucery13 Yeah, very true. I only put undeclared because I vividly recall seeing something like “if you’ve completed fewer than 60/64 units, you do not need to declare a major. Junior applicants must declare a major” so I thought that meant I wasn’t really required to put one for my first choice. I had no idea they consider basically every applicant for undeclared or else I would have tried to put the major I wanted to get into (linguistics). I did not have the science+lab requirement done, so all of my GE’s weren’t done. That was definitely another weakness I had.
@zettasyntax interesting, I will only have two GEs done after my first year. My clear weakness is my GEs, but I’m also limited because my current University only had two course equivalencie
@SCAstrojan I know what you mean. The science+lab course I took to complete IGETC for UCs/CSUs didn’t seem to have a chance of meeting the GE requirements for USC as the courses weren’t listed on the transfer/articulation report thing. I recall that quite a few people last year were missing around two categories or missing the diversity requirement, so I wonder how much the GEs affect you. Maybe it was more serious for someone trying to get into Dornsife.
I have all but 1 GE finished. My biggest weakness by far is that I don’t have 1.5 years of calc or 1 year of chem (I have 1 year of calc and 1 semester of chem due to overcrowded classes, couldn’t register). Other than that I have a 4.0 and A+'s (97%+) in all of my calculus courses. My second choice major Business/CS only requires 1 year of calc and 1 semester of chemistry however, so I really hope if I don’t get CS that they seriously consider me for Business CS.
@zettasyntax Im currently stressing because of what happened to you lol. This semester I got a B in Category V, every other category(I completed them all) I’ve gotten an A in, including my pre req class which was Calculus (Business Major). I applied with a 3.711 and I got a 4.0 in my fall semester, this semester I got a 3.76, I hope they don’t see that as a negative as my commutative GPA still went up from a 3.71 to a 3.73
@jucery13 I wouldn’t worry as much. Any kind of calc scared the heck out of me, so the fact that you have that makes you a stronger applicant than me already. I was technically still a sophomore applicant too (I had 59-60ish units done after spring, but now I have 85 units). Maybe that was just way too much for them to handle when it came to me: missing GE + barely any math + not even a junior).
@HappyLifeMachine The Business/CS major seemed really cool when I looked into it! I was thinking if I had been accepted last year, to try and get into that major. Although, I probably would have been stuck at USC for 2 years instead of 3 as I have absolutely no hard sciences like chemistry; just an easier science course.
@zettasyntax Hopefully I’ll find out this upcoming week(submitted my grades on Friday), I read the entire thread for 2014 (yes the entire thread, I was that paranoid after I got a B) and I saw SGR people who sent their unofficial online usually receipt a decision within a week. Did you get a SGR yet?
@zettasyntax Yes! It’s a very interesting major especially considering all of USC’s tech-related business courses they have specifically designed for start ups and whatnot. Honestly if I get accepted for CS and if I have the free time, I’m going to try to take one or two of these courses – not many UC’s or colleges in California seem to have anything like them. USC has so many interesting courses honestly!!
@HappyLifeMachine I also saw that USC had a Human Language Technology Masters Degree at some point, so I agree that they do have a lot if interesting stuff. I’m more into ling, but I will definitely minor in CS if I get accepted to USC. I really enjoyed researching what they offered and even was trying to plan out my schedule last year, sigh
@jucery13 I wonder if you came across any of my posts, hah. I had a different username then. I have not received an SGR yet. I believe the one I got last year came around this time (May 24-May 26). I’m kinda hoping for a straight answer this time (whether it be acceptance or rejection). The SGR was so tough on me. I do also recall that some people sent their unofficial and would get a response within 1-2 weeks (instead of the 4-5 weeks I had to wait). Good luck!
@zettasyntax, I think you’ll get in this time, after going through the last years thread i noticed, that people who re applied, seemed to get accepted. I feel it shows USC that you’re are actually really interested in them.
I have unreliable access to my mailbox (my parents are going out-of-town and I’m in a different state), so in the coming days, will the portal be updated with an admission decision or perhaps a “congratulations e-mail”?
