<p>For me, USC’s system felt super buggy. It wouldn’t warn me of logging off, so many times I tried to be careful and lost work. Also, I don’t know what the print out looks like to USC admissions staff but the one available to us was sub-par. (I mean, that part doesn’t matter, but it makes it difficult to check everything.)</p>
<p>The CommonApp has huge problems, don’t get me wrong, but in my experience it wasn’t too bad as long as you checked for truncation errors (which -for me- only were on the basic part and no supplements). The CommonApp provides huge (aka near infinite) flexibility for colleges in designing their own supplements. I very highly doubt that USC won’t do a supplement. That would be sad if they didn’t. In fact, I thought the quick takes were fun too! I’d even go so far as to bet, that USC will require a second essay on their supplement (in addition to the standard one) and even ask people to provide all their class info like they currently have to. (Which NO other school I applied to asked for. That part really sucked because they see it anyway.) I guess my experience comes from the fact that most of my schools used the Common App (9) and USC and MIT each had their own system, and MIT’s was the best of everything I used. The UC’s (3) even had the equivalent of supplements integrated into their system. I don’t think that combined app systems lead to a more dehumanized process. In fact, I think the cohesive nature is better for getting recommendations and counselor info because it’s much easier to do. (MIT and USC were my only 2 non-Common App schools which required recs and it was more work.)</p>
<p>What people don’t realize is that you can send a nearly unlimited amount of text info when you upload files to the common app. I added explanations to all my activities for the common app, even though it wasn’t really recommended by some schools. (Though I had special circumstances to describe as well.) Schools can even have additional upload boxes on their supplement pages. As far as what special supplements you can do: The common app has a system to handle this too. (Essentially you pick what your major is and you have options to fill out more.) Or you can do as UPenn does and just tell applicants to fill out only the parts that apply to them (because UPenn allows you to apply to multiple specific majors). The common app allows for document submission so SCA majors would just upload a script and even a video (I think the common app will allow schools to have large file limits, but maybe not). However, USC’s supplements are currently pretty separate and I suspect they’ll continue that process for a while.</p>
<p>As far as scholarship deadlines: The common app allows you to submit an application at any time. It tells you the deadlines, but doesn’t stop you from hitting submit once it’s passed. So USC will just do what they currently do: Sort all their applications by submission time. </p>
<p>USC’s application system currently is very simplistic. There’s still a lot of paper involved. I think USC will continue to work that way for a while, and the Common App really allows them to do that. Also, there’s nothing requiring them to abandon their current system, and I think they’ll still have both.</p>