Schools/Majors & Application Review

Colleges & Universities University of Southern California
1

<p>I am a little confused about how USC reviews their applications for admittance to each school/major…
The other day my older brother (USC alumni & current USC grad student) wrote me a letter of recommendation and addressed it to the PPD Dean. I applied to the PPD (Policy, Planning & Development) school, so he figured they look over my application at some point in the process. Wrong… when he went to talk to the PPD Dean, she told him she doesn’t look over incoming undergraduate applications, and that he should drop off the letter at the Admissions office. So, it sounds like certain schools don’t even look at applications, and that it’s just up to the admissions office? </p>

<p>Seems sort of weird to me… crossing my fingers that since I applied to PPD that I might have a bit higher chance of getting in.</p>

2

<p>Some schools/colleges do look at the applications, particularly if there is a supplement involved. SCA (and the specialties within) and Architecture come to mind in particular. Maybe Annenberg and Marshall do the same, not sure. BMD ofcourse has a separate application in addition to the regular USC one.
I think Admissions committee are aware of how many students they can admit to each college. CLAS and PPD I guess do not have separate reviews…unless you are up for one of the big scholarships (I believe). If so, I believe the the college then assesses the applications which are recommended by adcom for scholarships. I think each college has a limit for scholarship candidates.</p>