<p>I’m not familiar with this specific program, although it makes perfect sense.</p>
<p>Look at it from an institutional perspective - all of the top schools are ridiculously competitive these days, meaning that there are more qualified candidates than there are slots. So they admit the students they think are a good fit and hope to get as many of them to commit as possible. Then, the key is that some students drop out, transfer out, or flunk out. That leaves the university with open seats in its sophomore or junior or whatever class. I love USC as much as any other alum, but no school is perfect for <em>every</em> student. One friend of mine went to USC for a year and still loves the school, but she left because she was a fashion student and went to FIDM, which has a fine program, while USC has none. Programs like Trojan Transfer and community college transfers are ways for the university to ensure that every last seat in the school is filled.</p>
<p>I would think that this is gut check time. Does your daughter really, truly want to go to USC in particular? If so, then I would swallow my pride and sit down with admissions and follow through. Everybody has to deal with setbacks in life, and I think the most important thing to convey to her is that this is a ridiculously competitive time nowadays for admissions. It’s not like the 70s and 80s when schools were begging for students - nowadays there are far more qualified students than seats available and odds are good that she could’ve cruised into USC or an equivalent school 15 years ago.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>