Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a great fall semester! My son was offered the TTP back in March and after some hesitancy, he opted to do the community college route. Itâs been a pretty stressful few months, but weâre hopeful for good news come this May (especially considering that my son earned a 4.0 GPA across 4 classes/15 units).
Iâve been reading this forum for a while and have a few questions that USC admissions hasnât been able to answer. Firstly, my son originally applied and was TTPed as a film production major but has since has a change in career aspirations. He has always had an interest in business so he is applying as a business administration major this time around with a backup of undecided/exploratory. Is this going to be a problem for his status in the TTP, especially considering his backup major being undecided? We are leaning on the âalmost guaranteedâ admission that the TTP offers, so we donât want to do anything that compromises that.
Additionally, my sonâs community college offers honors classes and an honors program, neither of which he has taken or is apart of. Due to a combination of scheduling issues, getting high rated professors (as of Rate my Professor), and the junior college describing these classes as âsmaller seminarsâ rather than harder classes, he didnât take any last semester and is not planning on taking one this Spring. Not all of his classes had honors variants this past semester, nor will they this semester. As of the USC articulation agreement, both the nonhonors and honors variants satisfy class requirements, so Iâve been okay with him taking only nonhonors. When we tried emailing his admissions counselor, the response we got was a vague âhonors classes are not required for admissionâ and nothing more. Will this hurt my sonâs chances of admission and his TTP status.
Welcome! Congrats to your son! I know what an agonizing decision it can be to forego a 4 year and do cc in hopes of USC coming through. You donât have to worry about the honors classes versus not honors being an issue, you really are just satisfying requirements. He wouldnât get edged out or bumped because of that, particularly given his grades are so great anyway.
Did you ask the advisor about applying to a different major and if there was any issue there? You certainly can do that and frankly those two - film and business are both highly competitive, with film being moreso - that you wouldnât think that would be an issue (unlike going from Dornsife to SDA or something like that). His essay should address his reasons/discovered passions for such a change and what he has learned to come to that decision, since his first application was prob more film focused. I just think having him let his advisor know his intent to apply to a different major for xyz reason gets his name in front of them again, so when they see the app in the spring it makes sense and rings familiar. Best of luck to him!
And yes, some advisors are not great at responses, some donât at all, which I find completely unacceptable (and frankly, a bit arrogant of them). But there are some amazing ones as well. Donât you or your son read anything into their lack of words or enthusiasmâŠâitâs not you, itâs themâ for sure. It has no bearing on his acceptance, it just reveals they could do better at their job.
From my sonâs perspective (back in 2017/2018, his college freshman year), the USC advisor emphasized that my son should concentrate on fulfilling the USC GE requirements and then think about what he might want to major in. He did not have to have a major when he applied under the TTP. After freshman year, he transferred from a UC to USC in his sophomore year. In his sophomore year, he fulfilled a major, political science. I had encouraged him to apply to Marshall for a bachelorâs degree since the degree was more practical for jobs, but he had other plans. Now he is in a T14 law school.
Thatâs such a relief to hear about the honors classes. I was getting a bit worried as my son didnât take any this past semester. It makes things a lot easier knowing he wonât have to redo his spring semester schedule to accommodate for honors courses.
My son did ask his original counselor about switching majors from film production to business and that person said it wouldnât be a problem. However his assigned counselor changed recently, so he also asked his current one. The one thing the original counselor didnât answer was if the change in major would impact his status in the TTP despite my son asking. Hopefully they will this time.
The other thing that was a bit unclear is when my son asked his original counselor about whether or not USC accepts classes taken online for TTP admission (one of his classes this past semester counted for 2 GE categories but was only offered online). He got a response saying it was fine. He asked his new counselor to confirm but has not gotten an answer regarding an online or two class for the spring semester (not a language or science class).
Ugh, this lack of clarity makes it all so stressful!
Thatâs good to know. I think my son is taking only GEs and required business courses as of now. He couldnât fit the recommended accounting courses into his schedule either semester, but he should be almost done with his GEs by the end of this year.
I think USC mentioned that sophomore transfers have to save 2 GEs for when they are in attendance at USC, so he is saving his life and physical sciences for when he gets to USC. They dont have many science options that transfer at his cc now, so he is saving the two required science classes to utilize the variety of classes offered by USC.
My son is also saving his foreign language classes for USC (as none at his cc transfer), however we are confident that he will test out of one or two semesters given that he took 4 years of Spanish in high school and earned an A each semester. Weâre hoping this and the science classes wonât present an issue, especially as he will still need to complete accounting at USC.
Next semester, he will have only 2 GE classes left to take. The rest of his classes are all transferable elective courses such as nutrition and US government (wish we couldâve fit accounting in here, but it didnât work out) to fill in the rest of his 15 required units. Itâs unfortunate that he is using some of his elective classes now instead of at USC where thereâs more options, but as long as it gets him to the 15 required units for USC itâs worth the cost.
Thatâs such a relief to hear about the honors classes. I was getting a bit worried as my son didnât take any this past semester. It makes things a lot easier knowing he wonât have to redo his spring semester schedule to accommodate for honors courses.
My son did ask his original counselor about switching majors from film production to business and that person said it wouldnât be a problem. However his assigned counselor changed recently, so he also asked his current one. The one thing the original counselor didnât answer was if the change in major would impact his status in the TTP despite my son asking. Hopefully they will this time.
The other thing that was a bit unclear is when my son asked his original counselor about whether or not USC accepts classes taken online for TTP admission (one of his classes this past semester counted for 2 GE categories but was only offered online). He got a response saying it was fine. He asked his new counselor to confirm but has not gotten an answer regarding an online or two class for the spring semester (not a language or science class).
Ugh, this lack of clarity makes it all so stressful!
Hi all! My daughter was offered the TTP last Spring and is about to submit her application. Sheâs applying to her first choice major of business and a second choice of literature. I was just wondering, will admissions still consider her undeclared in the event she is rejected from her first and second choice major?
At her cc, sheâs taken the required business calculus and writing class requirements (and earned As in both), but dropped accounting in her first week of college as the professor was a mess. She is also saving her literature class GEs for USC (all other GEs will be completed). Sheâs has a 4.0 GPA after the Fall and is taking the rest of her GEs as well as 3 elective classes this semester to secure a good GPA.
The admissions counselor advised her to put a second choice major instead of undeclared, but I donât want her to put one unless admissions still considers undeclared even after second choice majors. Any thoughts??
@805Mom1
Yes they will, but as a transfer, they are more likely to admit to major than undeclared. coming in second year it is better to show interest in something by putting down two majors that compliment her application. It is very easy to change majors generally speaking, so if she gets in literature, she can switch to something else very quickly.
Yes, you would certainly be considered as a transfer applicant! The term âTrojan Transferâ however, is used for those rejected as freshman that are encouraged to re-apply sophomore year in their rejection letter. So you would simply be applying as a transfer applicant, good luck!
We ran into conflicting information about this issue last year when my D23 was applying as a freshman. On USC threads from previous years, it seemed that USC might offer undeclared if not accepted into 1st or 2nd major. However, when we had a USC virtual info session and asked this very question, we were told that they were only looking at 1st or 2nd majors. Was surprised by the answer-but it also makes sense when you look at the increase in applicants the last few years.
My D23 listed business as 2nd choice and was concerned after reading that Marshall wont accept students that donât list business as their 1st choice.
Unsure if that is accurate (D23was accepted 1st choice major spring admit) but wanted to pass along. Tried to find information last year,but found very little. Good luck to your daughter!
Viterbi has made it known for a long time that they only admit those choosing them as 1st choice majors and donât consider those with engineering as a second choice major. (Unless first and second are engineering.) It makes sense that Marshall would do the same based on supply/demand of the business major as well.
My apologies if this question has already been asked. My daughter is applying to transfer this fall (and in her letter from the 2023-2024 application cycle, received the invitation to attend the Trojan Transfer planning session). Her brother is currently a junior in Viterbi. Unlike the first-year application, how will USC know that she has a sibling if the common app does not ask about her siblings or legacy status as a transfer? Or did she miss something while filling out the common app?
The Common App for transfers does ask about relatives who attended USC in the USC Questions section. Has your daughter already submitted her application? She should still be able to see it and know if she answered that question or not.
Hi all, one last question. I mentioned before that my daughter is taking 3 electives this semester across different subjects that sheâs interested in. They arenât necessarily related to business or English (fun 3 unit classes instead, as she wants to save major related classes for usc). This is because she is already done with her GEs other than the required 2 to save (her other classes this semester are her last GEs) and no foreign languages transfer from her school. She also hasnât taken accounting for business because (as mentioned) the prof wasnât that great. Will USC hold taking this many transferable electives against her? We are a bit concerned and really, really donât want her to get rejected over this.
We arenât really sure what to do, given she canât start on foreign language. She took 4 years of it in high school, so she canât probably test out of a semester or two at USC.
Also I think someone asked this before, not taking honors classes wonât hurt her application, right?
I would have her email her admissions officer since it can possibly benefit her. If she doesnât know who it is, she can find them here: https://admission.usc.edu/prospective-students/meet-us/admission-counselors/ Use the college she is currently at to find the admissions officer for that region. Definitely have her sign into common app and look at her application to double-check if she answered that question or not. Good luck!