My daughter just heard back from SC and got in for CS/BA at Viterbi. She heard back @4:30pm. Good luck everyone. Fight on!
7 Likes
Daughter is TTP. Just received Spring Grade Request.
Attends an Orange County, CA JC that is semester based and does not finish until June 7. Straight Aâs first semester, but the writing requirement class could not be taken until 2nd semester due to a writing class prerequisite in the 1st semester.
Not surprised with the result as a prior student we know from the same JC with straight Aâs 1st semester was asked for SGR. He was ultimately accepted. Hoping for the same.
3 Likes
Congrats on the acceptances! That must feel like a huge relief!
Question for TTP, our info session is June 5. What can be expected? Will they give us details on what courses to take? S24 also got a guarantee transfer offer from BU and for them itâs just two semesters full time. Thereâs not even another application, itâs a different path altogether.
USC sounds like they are specific with what they want you to take?
1 Like
It depends on the major. I noticed for any plan kids, the writing and calc seems to be a big factor in getting Sgr or not. If you can do both pathways with similar classes, I would sign up for both. Ttp is for sophomore admits so the length of 2 semester at a cc is the same as BU. But these questions will be best answered by an AO. Ask them when your child has their 1:1 with an AO after they sign up. They can go over the articulation agreement with you and help guide your student in the process. Good luck, wishing you all the best.
1 Like
This is very helpful, thank you. So better to get these requirements done in Fall rather than Spring.
1 Like
This forum has been wonderful and helpful. Thank you to all the moderators and contributors. My son was just admitted into USC Marshall for Fall 2024. We are from the Midwest, and he is not a legacy. We knew nothing about TTP. 90% of what we learned before making the leap of faith to study abroad was from this forum. He was a strong candidate and was accepted by several highly regarded business schools. So, it was a difficult decision to follow the uncertain TTP route to USC. Sorry for the long post, but I want to help others who are now faced with this decision.
It was an amazing and stressful time, filled with excitement and loneliness. He traveled to nine countries, became independent, and studied hard to maintain a good GPA. He attended JCU in Rome. One thing people should know ahead of time is that housing at JCU was a mess. There were other students from Northeastern and Tulane. The support from USC TTP was not as organized as it was for these other schools. I think this is because TTP is not an official school program. TTP kids were the last to get housing, so many ended up in an Airbnb or finding apartments. Gianicolo Residence was close to campus buildings and nice if you can get it. Most students from Northeastern were assigned there. Trastevere apartments, where my son stayed, are much further (15-minute bus ride, 25-minute walk) and not as nice. He dormed at Trastevere apartments the first semester, one apartment with one bathroom shared by seven boys! For the second semester, we rented an Airbnb with another student, and the cost was similar. He was much happier staying at the Airbnb.
JCU is in a great area and very safe. The drinking age is 18, which we didnât think about until we dropped him off. This ended up being a blessing as he was exposed to drinking in a legal and more responsible environment. The schoolâs rigor is not as easy as we first thought. Many students struggle to get Aâs. Unlike some community colleges in CA, JCUâs grading system includes A- and B+, so getting a 4.0 takes work. Donât take math class requirements in Italy. My son placed out of math, but others who took the math class said itâs very different from what is taught in the US. This advice also includes accounting classes.
No school on Fridays meant traveling was encouraged and a major plus. He made close friends with the TTP cohort, and they traveled together regularly. As parents, we were always excited to see the pictures he shared. Travel tip: get your student a credit card with no foreign exchange fee and access to airport lounges. The lounges in Rome and Europe, in general, are very nice.
One thing no one mentioned is to submit your spring grades ASAPâdo not wait. At least for his cohort, anyone who didnât submit early got SGR. Those who submitted early found out the results in the first wave. The majority of TTP students in Rome got accepted. My son tells me everyone did, but Iâm not sure he knew all 30+ kids. A 3.7 GPA was the recommended target, and thatâs what you really need to push your kids to achieve. Those kids who were under 3.7 were very stressed. Luckily, my son was above that, but the unknown and uncertainty really got inside his head.
Itâs sad to hear the program is changing so much. I think itâs a tough but rewarding path and feel it should be an official guaranteed admission with the academic requirements. That would provide so much mental comfort for our kids. I asked my son two days before, hypothetically, if he got denied, what the backup plan was. He looked me straight in the eye and said, âUSC or bust.â He would move to LA go to SMC and reapply again for his junior year. Good luck to all the new students going down this path.
3 Likes
Concur with @ILParent24 on all these points about Europe and âTTPâ - so well summarized. Big thanks to @CADREAMIN @WWWard @lkg4answers (and many others) for all the work, insights, and separating fact from assumption here.
TTP per se may not exist anymore - USC Admissions wonât use the term. However, if USC has flagged your ârejectionâ application, has specifically encouraged you to apply as a transfer student the following year, and is assisting you with articulation in the summer, then that means you were near the very top of the ârejectionâ pool and they do want to admit you the following year if you meet the criteria. Call your admissions rep and try and find out if yours is a generic âyou can transferâ or hopefully a flagged âwe really want you to apply as a transferâ admissions response.
Canât speak to those who were flagged and then attend a 4 year or a CC - but if you go to one of the USC affiliated Europe universities, and you get at least a 3.75, and you fulfill your prerequisites, then your odds are extremely high. As stated above by ilparent24, grading, rigor, and teachers can be very hard in Europe - some have a different approach, and believe a B is a good grade, so if GPA matters a lot to you, be very careful how you choose your classes - get recommendations from kids the previous year on what to take and who to avoid. Also, whatever you do, if you need it, do NOT take Calculus abroad. Try and take it as a summer class before freshman year, and again, choose your summer teacher wisely.
Travel on weekends is amazing, but have a conversation with your kid about the appropriate number of weekend getaways and make them seek your approval before just taking off. Just because there isnât something due the following week doesnât mean they shouldnât stay local and study. Many teachers donât have office hours - doesnât matter, there are other ways to form a relationship with the teacher, whether after class or at a pub or restaurant. Having a connection with your teacher is important at any college.
Another challenge is that, even though you have your high GPA and may feel your USC admission odds are 90%, you still have to prepare for the possibility of rejection. That may mean applying to a whole swath of other schools as a backup - more essays, paperwork, fees, stress.
It may be easy to hear the noise about how âTTP doesnât existâ from those who actually donât know, let the doubt creep in, and wonder if USC has fundamentally changed the process. Again, if you were flagged, then you have a great chance of transfer admission from Europe. USC continues to support kids who study in Europe, even though the hand holding may be a bit less than in the past. (We have seen similar transfer encouragement with high odds from Cornell, Michigan, NYU, BU, among others).
D27 turned down several highly selectives and 2 super elites last year because USC has always been where they wanted to be - D27/we felt USC would be less supportive of transferring from a 4 year college. At times had some second thoughts, and of course, people thought they/we were nuts. One year later, â3 years USC/top choice program PLUS one year in Europeâ seems like an amazing outcome for D27.
2 Likes
Thank you both! This is all very helpful information. We are in SoCal and S24 is planning to go cc for the program. He is also part of the BU guaranteed transfer program and we attended their info session which had a similar study abroad program. I already looked up the matriculation agreements with the cc heâs going to attend. The path seems pretty straightforward.
I didnât even think about how difficult the classes would be abroad! I saw one kid on Reddit post that him and his roommate in Paris got rejected from USC because their gpa went below 3.7 but all the other kids with them got accepted and their gpa was above.
He is planning to apply to other schools as well since heâs doing all this work anyways.
1 Like
I am here to say I believe the classic ttp still exists. Itâs just way undercover than previous years. Unfortunately Viterbi Pathways program is now defunct. My daughter was offered the plan last year and was admitted during the first wave this year. I noticed this year, most of the first wave admits had 4.0 gpa or very close to it. It seems it is getting harder every year to get admitted to USC transferring in as a sophomore or as a freshmen admit. I was shocked to hear so many ttp students got Sgr this year as well. I think most of the reason was for the writing requirement or for math. I strongly advise any students going through with the plan to do their writing and math requirement during fall semester. My daughter had a full course load at SMC so she took her writing requirement at LACC during winter. I advise anyone doing this plan to do the same if they are aiming for Marshall or Viterbi transfer. This can save you a lot of anxiety to get that out of the way. If USC is your dream school, I would say go for it! Although my daughter passed on a great 4y uni and freshman experience to get to her ultimate dream school, she has no regret!
This is a great story written by a past ttp student: My Trojan Transfer Experience: Community College to USC with the Trojan Transfer Plan â Trojans360
And this one is from a study abroad ttp student: How the Trojan Transfer Plan offers some students an alternative path to admission at USC â Annenberg Media
3 Likes
Solid advice! Thank you. Maybe he should get the writing requirement done this summer.
Did she meet with the AO before registering for classes to make sure they would transfer or she just used the matriculation agreements? Iâll report back after our June 5 info session to compare if it is the same TTP program, which so far sounds like it is.
1 Like
Hello, yes, her AO went through her schedule with her and kept in touch with her throughout the process. The info session was very helpful. I heard some people didnât do 1:1 with their counselor and just interacted through email but I strongly advise against this. What my daughter did was go through the articulation agreement and made a course schedule for herself before her 1:1. This made the meeting with the AO more seamless because she went through what my daughter set up and made changes with her and gave her suggestions. Please feel free to reach out if you need any assistance. Here is the transfer student profile from last year. This may answer some questions you might have.
I have to say, the transfer student profile will change for this year. A lot more transfer applicants applied this year. And the yield is expected to be closer to 20%. I think the stats were given to rejected students but I donât have access to any rejection letters.
1 Like
My son got into USC as a sophomore fall admit! He received his decision May 31st.
4 Likes
My son got his decision May 31st. He was accepted for the fall! Heâll be a sophomore. Does anyone know why his major was left blank? His letter says Term: Fall, Major: (blank), School: (blank), Pre-Professional Emphasis: Law. His first choice major was business, and his second choice was Political Science, and he put âlawâ as his pre-professional emphasis. He emailed his admissions counselor to find out more. Heâs waiting to hear back. Congratulations to those admitted and good luck to those still waiting.
Here is his story: My son is a legacy as my daughter is a rising senior. He was offered the TTP last year. He signed up for the Zoom, but he didnât attend because he didnât think he would be interested in transferring. He ended up at SMU as a BBA Scholar. In early fall, he changed his mind about TTP. He did some research, attended two general transfer zooms, contacted his admissions counselor in his region, and adjusted his spring schedule to meet requirements. Luckily, the articulation agreement between SMU and USC worked out for him. He said he would have attended Santa Monica College if he didnât get in this fall and would try again. He was all in. He signed a lease on an apartment a few months ago. We are thrilled for him and happy he will be joining his sister! Fight On!
4 Likes
Reporting back after the info session today. Everything leading up to this made me think it was the same. There was a special invite link in S24 portal, with all his info already populated. They called it âTrojan Transferâ but the session was very general. They stressed itâs not a guaranteed transfer program, which I know itâs not, but it seems in the past they made it clear if a 3.7 was maintained then you were most likely accepted.
There was no study abroad program mentioned at all, only how to use the articulation agreements to fulfill the requirements. There was actually no mention of a required gpa, just to be competitive and that the average gpa of incoming transfers was 3.8.
Not sure how I feel about it anymore. He will still apply I think, but heâs definitely feeling happier about BU since there is a guarantee, theres no applying again etc. In many ways it felt like a general info meeting about transferring.
3 Likes
Thanks for reporting back.
1 Like
Congratulations to your son!
Did he get a spring grade request or was he accepted on just his 1st semester grades from his original transfer application?
I would check what school he was admitted to. It should say either say Dornsife, Marshall, Viterbi or annenburg. If itâs Marshall, then he got in for buisness. My Dâs acceptance came from Viterbi even though she is also buisness. If itâs not stated in the admission letter, I would contact the AO. Seems like they have to watch vids on all the schools at SC and take a quiz on it before orientation. Btw, did they also ask for $130 for additional guests at orientation too?
1 Like
The school is also blank on the letter. It only has the term and the pre-professional emphasis listed. He has not heard back from his AO. He usually takes a few days to answer. He accepted his decision on Monday and hasnât been able to activate his NetID. How long did it take your daughter to be able to activate it? Thatâs as far as heâs gotten. The only USC email heâs received is the acceptance and payment confirmations. Heâs waiting for the orientation email. Wow $140 for additional guests?
1 Like
It was supposed to take a couple of days to get the login but if you call tech support, they will send it to you sooner. Once he gets his login, then he can sign up for housing and orientation. We decided to just rent at the hub on fig. Hub coliseum is closer to Marshall so you should check that place out when you get a chance. 
1 Like
He probably would have received sgr because he was doing his writing requirement in the spring. As soon as his grades were ready, he screenshot them and uploaded them 10 days before the first wave (May 24) and ordered his transcript. He heard back on May 31. This is a good strategy to get an answer back sooner. ETA: Sorry, this was supposed to be a reply to @socalumich
2 Likes