Accepted: Dornsife, Biology, for Spring 2018.
Spring Grade Request: Nope
Decision Date & Time: May 27, 2017
Stats:
College transferring from: Mt. Sac
Entering as: Super sophomore? Almost junior status
GPA: 4.0 so far, but spring semester hasn’t ended yet.
Units completed: Almost 60
Pre-reqs completed: Gen Chem, Math (I went and took an extra semester of math past what they needed), Biology (first 2 semesters) and first semester of Organic chemistry
GEs completed: I think almost all? I’m only missing Poli sci
Subjective:
ECs listed on app: Almost nothing, but I was in a chamber orchestra and part of the Honors program
Job/Work Experience: Small part time job listen on application
Essays (subject and responses): I didn’t particularly like them because I’m not that great at expressing myself or expressing how much I want something, but I did my best LOL
Letters of Recommendation: 2, one from a Biology professor and another from and English professor. Both were amazing and I’m eternally grateful; I wanted to showcase that I was well rounded, so I asked my English professor. It helps if you continuously talk to them and try to get to know them.
Other: I had a small academic hiccup at another school; but with the 4.0 GPA, it showed a very large upward trend. I wouldn’t say my classes are exactly easy, either!
For your recommendation letters, I’d recommend asking your professors right after you complete their class to write one and send it to you. That way, you have a small arsenal to choose from once you need to apply, and you can go back and ask them to submit it if you liked theirs the best.
Other schools applied to: Some of the Claremont Colleges; rejected.
REJECTED - School of Cinematic Arts Film & Television Production
Decision Date & Time:Portal updated around midnight on 5/27
College transferring from: CU Boulder
Entering as: Junior
GPA: 3.63
Units completed: 45
Units in progress: 15
Pre-reqs completed: All
GEs completed: 6/8, others were to be taken at USC
ECs listed on app: Campus leadership program, residential advisor
Job/Work Experience: Part-time job as movie theater manager, directed and worked on a plethora of short films, volunteer and manager for a film festival
Essays (subject and responses):
At least a 7/10. Not to sound cocky but I’m a strong writer and I felt very confident in my essays. This was the only school I applied to so each was tailor specifically to USC’s mission and the benefits of their film program.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 (all from professors, two of which were film)
@ashurikko I’m sorry to hear about your rejection but I think I may know why it happened. Since you applied to Annenberg, they cap you to 64 units. If you exceed that number you automatically are denied. I was told this at a USC transfer day by an admissions counselor, she emphasized to stay under 64… your stats are amazing but if you apply again, I would encourage you to look at other majors that don’t have such a strong unit cap
ACCEPTED- Dornsife (Sociology)
Spring Grade Request - No
Decision Date & Time: May 17 2017, Received: May 18, 2017
Stats:
College transferring from: Arizona State University and Orange Coast College
Entering as: Junior (possibly a second semester sophomore depending how many credits they take)
GPA: 3.86
Units Completed: not exactly sure because I don’t know what they will take from ASU
GEs completed: Again not sure but if I had to guess 6/8
Subjective:
ECs: Speech and Debate (won 1st place in debate champs), Phi Theta Kappa-honor society, Sigma Chi Eta- honor society, Pi Beta Phi-sorority (also did community service)
Job/Work Experience: Part-time server, created my own business at 16, internship with Paige Premium Denim
Essays: 9/10 I worked my ass off and personally think it was some of my best writing
Letters of Rec: One from a director at USC, counselor at my community college, and one from my Debate coach/ professor
Other Schools applied: SDSU (denied)
Comments:
For everyone worried about W’s, don’t be. I had two, never explained them in my essays and I was fine. I also had one C and again, never explained it and it didn’t affect my application. I think they understand that we’re all human and as long as you are fairly consistent with your grades, you will be just fine. With that being said, FTFO
I just wanted to point out what @Sydmonn96 said regarding staying under 64 units for Annenberg applicants. I just confirmed with 3 admissions officers: my admissions counselor, Annenberg admissions, and USC admissions, and all of them have confirmed that going over 64 units does not mean you will be automatically denied. They all said that automatic denial of going over 64 units is definitely not true. It just means that the additional units will not be transferred, and it doesn’t have a direct effect on the decision. However, for any future Annenberg applicants, I’d advise you to stay below 64 just in case. There is no need to do extra. Clearly, it didn’t help in my case.
@ashurikko super weird, the woman in charge of running the annenberg tour on transfer day told me that but if that’s not the case then good to know for future applicants. Thought I would pass along what I was told
Decision Date & Time: (Dated 6/3/17, received 6/6/17)
Stats:
[ul]
[] College transferring from: Pasadena City College
[] Entering as: Junior
[] GPA: 3.75ish
[] Units completed:65
[] Units in progress: 9
[] Pre-reqs completed: All
[] GEs completed: All but 1
[/ul]Subjective:
[ul]
[] ECs listed on app: Soccer captain in high school, orientation leader and freshmen seminar teacher in high school
[] Job/Work Experience: Internship at Morgan Stanley, internship at marketing firm, personal business/website
[] Essays (subject and responses): I felt like my essay was alright but not great. It was about my unusual journey throughout college from Cornell to community college in California and how USC fits with my vision for the future.
[] Letters of Recommendation: Only one from my business calc professor and I feel like this was pretty instrumental in my acceptance because he wrote about how I overcame my aversion to math having once almost failed calc at Cornell.
[/ul][ b]Other:[ /b]
[list]
[] Other schools applied to: None
[*] Comments: This was my third time applying and I was starting to lose hope, so I am ecstatic to be accepted finally.
Accepted - Marshall/Business Administration
Spring Grade Request - Not officially. I just emailed my counselor with an update of what classes I had taken. But, I was not SGR’d.
Decision Date & Time: (Dated 6/3/17, Received 6/7/17)
Stats:
College transferring from: Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in NC.
Entering as: Junior
GPA: 3.844
Units completed: 80
Units in progress: 0
Pre-reqs completed: All
GEs completed: All but foreign language
Subjective:
ECs listed on app: Student Government President, National Society of Leadership and Success Vice-President, Global Scholar, Ambassador, TRIO, PTK, and Caldwell Friends Mentor for at-risk children in local community. I also added in some volunteer projects I have helped in.
Job/Work Experience: Work Scholar, Chick-Fil-A Part Time employee
Essays (subject and responses): I knew that USC was my #1 school, so I began working on the essays during the summer and had them revised by our writing center. I made my essays very personal and talked about my failures and my successes along my college journey. I also talked about my inspirations and how that has led me to decide on wanting to major in business. As far as my transfer essay, I stated how my current CC has prepared me to the best of their ability and that I am now ready to advance into a new level of academic rigor and how my ultimate dream was to complete my studies at USC.
Letters of Recommendation: I had three in total: my SGA advisor, my college advisor, and my Communications professor which I have a very good relationship with. These three know me on a personal level so I think that there recommendations were very personal.
Other:
Other schools applied to: NYU, UNC Chapel Hill (ACCEPTED)
Comments: I advise that if this is the school you want to go to, focus on the prereqs, GE's and your essays, that will make you a competitive applicant. I was very involved in school, but, as stated before EC's don't really help your case. Make your application personal and sincere to you and your personality and talent will shine through! Good luck!
Accepted - Marshall/Business Administration
Spring Grade Request - Not officially. I just emailed my counselor with an update of what classes I had taken. But, I was not SGR’d.
Decision Date & Time: (Dated 6/3/17, Received 6/7/17)
Stats:
College transferring from: Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in NC.
Entering as: Junior
GPA: 3.844
Units completed: 80
Units in progress: 0
Pre-reqs completed: All
GEs completed: All but foreign language
Subjective:
ECs listed on app: Student Government President, National Society of Leadership and Success Vice-President, Global Scholar, Ambassador, TRIO, PTK, and Caldwell Friends Mentor for at-risk children in local community. I also added in some volunteer projects I have helped in.
Job/Work Experience: Work Scholar, Chick-Fil-A Part Time employee
Essays (subject and responses): I knew that USC was my #1 school, so I began working on the essays during the summer and had them revised by our writing center. I made my essays very personal and talked about my failures and my successes along my college journey. I also talked about my inspirations and how that has led me to decide on wanting to major in business. As far as my transfer essay, I stated how my current CC has prepared me to the best of their ability and that I am now ready to advance into a new level of academic rigor and how my ultimate dream was to complete my studies at USC.
Letters of Recommendation: I had three in total: my SGA advisor, my college advisor, and my Communications professor which I have a very good relationship with. These three know me on a personal level so I think that there recommendations were very personal.
Other:
Other schools applied to: NYU, UNC Chapel Hill (ACCEPTED)
Comments: I advise that if this is the school you want to go to, focus on the prereqs, GE's and your essays, that will make you a competitive applicant. Definitely tailor your application to be personal and sincere to you! Good Luck!
Accepted - Dornsife - Human biology
Spring Grade Request - yes
Decision Date & Time: June 3, 2017
Stats:
College transferring from: CC in the bay area
Entering as: Sophomore
GPA: 4.0 at time of application, currently a 3.9
Units completed: 31
Pre-reqs completed: most of them
GEs completed: completed
Subjective:
ECs listed on app: mostly high school ECs, but nothing super special
Job/Work Experience: Part time job at a boba place lol
Essays (subject and responses): I was very confident about my essays
Letters of Recommendation: none
Other:
Other schools applied to: USC or bust
Accepted - Viterbi School of Engineering - Aerospace Engineering
Spring Grade Request - Yes. SGR’d mid-May It took three weeks for a decision after I sent my grades in.
Decision Date & Time: Postmarked 6/17 recieved 6/20. I live in Southern California so it might take longer for the package to travel farther.
Stats:
College Transferring From - Arizona State University
Entering as: Sophomore
GPA: 4.0 with a couple of A+'s sprinkled in
Units in progress at the time of applying: 16 units
Units Completed: 56 semester units (A lot came from AP’s and taking college classes in high school)
Pre-reqs completed: Everything but 2nd semester general physics
GE’s Competed - A little more than half with the English requirements completed
Subjective:
EC’s listed on app: All of my high school EC’s (I was only a semester out so I felt they were applicable) and an astronautics club at ASU. I also expressed interest in joining Rocket Propulsion Lab (one of the reasons I want to go to USC) and mentioned my jet-ski build project.
Job/Work Experience: Bussing tables at Island’s and working HVAC installation
Essays: I thought they were pretty good. My common app essay was generic and not school specific though. The essay used an anecdote from childhood that tied into how I wanted to pursue engineering. I didn’t talk about my then current school at all. USC specific essays centered around my interests, personality, and why I would be a good fit for USC.
Letters of Recommendation: none
Other:
Other Schools Applied to: University of Michigan, Purdue, University of Texas, University of Illinois Urbana Champagne (rejected from all, so I kind of thought I wasn’t going to get into SC, which is my first choice)
Accepted - Dornslife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences- Neuroscience (NOTE: Accepted for Spring 2018)
Spring Grade Request - Yes. SGR’d mid-May
Decision Date & Time: Received 6/23
Stats:
College Transferring From - California Community College
Entering as: Sophomore
GPA: 3.86
Units in progress at the time of applying: 17 units
Units Completed: 40 units
Pre-reqs completed: Everything
GE’s Competed - Mostly completed
Subjective:
EC’s listed on app: Started and run a global health non-profit and founded a pre-med club on my community college campus.
Job/Work Experience: Worked as a caddy at a few golf courses and a salesman at an art gallery
Essays: I thought they were solid. I talked about what made USC a good fit for me and why I believed that I would excel there.
Letters of Recommendation: Three (I am assuming that they were good)
Accepted - Marshall School of Business/Business Administration
Decision Date & Time: (SGR’D May 3, Sent Grades in June 16th, Received Mail June 29, Letter Dated June 26th
Stats:
College transferring from: CUNY in NY
Entering as: Junior?
GPA: 3.766
Units completed: 60+
Pre-reqs completed: Accounting 1 and 2, Calculus 1, English 2
GEs completed: All except those needed to be done in residence.
Subjective:
ECs listed on app: PTK, Community Service during holidays
Job/Work Experience: Teacher’s Assistant for summer, Sales associate at Modell’s Sporting Goods and TopShop
Essays (subject and responses): Maybe a 7 or 8 out of 10.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from Urban Sociology teacher
Other schools applied to: NYU, Northeastern
Comments: This acceptance is 3 and a half years in the making. I wanted to go here since I graduated HS but didn’t have the grades so I bust my ass 3 years in community school just for a chance. Good luck to all future applicants. Hard work DOES pay off.
Tips: The most helpful thing I can suggest to any prospective transfers besides having courage is to make sure you contact your counselor. They are so helpful and here to guide you through the process. There were ALOT of things I was afraid of while applying.
I had actually gotten a C in precal Spring 2016 and withdrew from Calculus 1 Fall 2016. (From what I heard, you are never to try to explain away C’s but I definitely included how I was working too much during the Fall semester to take 4 classes and Calculus so I had to drop Cal, however I was going to pick it right back up in Spring, which I got an A in)
*I was part-time during this semester and was only taking Honors Calculus 1 and Accounting 2. (I explained that I finished most of my degree requirements and that this was my first part time semester after 5 full time semesters so maybe that had a hand in how they viewed it)
I actually withdrew from a class this semester. It was a music class that I decided not to continue with because it wouldn’t transfer over.
The articulation website had falsely written that I need both Cal 1 and 2 to satisfy their Cal 1 however I had to cross reference their syllabus with mines and use that to have them only require Cal 1 from me.
*I transferred in from a Liberal Arts program because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but then started tailoring my schedule towards business and gen ed classes.
Let me just say if I just applied and said nothing, I probably would’ve been rejected, but speaking consistently with my counselor about each and every of these situations showed dedication. Also, Sorry If I’m oversharing but I just remember reading different stats and stories and how they still got in which made me feel like my stat and situations weren’t all that bad so hopefully this post gives someone the same kind of confidence those posts gave me. Fight on!
Accepted - School of Dramatic Arts - Theatre (Fall 2017)
Spring Grade Request - Yes. SGR’d on May 10th, Sent in grades May 19th.
Decision Date & Time: July 6th, 2017
Stats:
College transferring from: Community college in Texas
Entering as: Sophomore
GPA: 4.0
Units completed: 28
Pre-reqs completed: All
GEs completed: 4/8 + I started the foreign language requirement
Subjective:
ECs listed on app: I train at a dance studio a few hours a week, and I work part-time.
Job/Work Experience: Part-Time Instructor at a private school in their after school program and Assistant Dance Instructor at a summer dance camp
Essays (subject and responses): Maybe an 8 out of 10? I wrote about specific areas of campus I saw myself fitting into, and specific organizations that drew me to USC. I also included the name of a professor I met at a USC event that I’m interested in taking classes from. I tried to articulate that I have a clear vision of what I want to study, but that I’m also a student with many interests, and would get involved in more than one area on campus.
Letters of Recommendation: None from this year, but I applied last year as a freshman and those letters are still in my file, so they were probably read again since I have fewer than 30 units
Other schools applied to: NYU, University of Michigan, and a few state schools
Comments: I applied last year as a freshman and was denied, and even went so far as to appeal, and was still denied. My grades weren’t very good in high school, but this past year in community college I worked really hard to get A’s, and was able to show them a strong upward trend in GPA. I think applying more than once shows persistence and dedication, so if you get denied once and you’re still interested in the school, try again.
Accepted - Marshall School of Business (Spring 2018)
Spring Grade Request - Yes, SGR’d on May 5, Sent on June 23
Decision Date & Time - July 8
Package Received - July 11 (when I received the package, my portal and financial aid online info had not changed)
College transferring from: 4 Year University in California
Entering as: Junior
GPA: 3.5
Comments: I did REALLY BAD academically my first year because I didn’t care at all. Once I got my life together and decided I wanted to transfer, I worked my butt off my second year and brought my GPA up. If you are in a similar situation, be hopeful because it seems that USC likes seeing an upward trend-- shows improvement! Good luck
Accepted - Dornsife (Spring 2018)
Spring Grade Request - SGR’d on April 29, sent on May 15
Decision Date & Time - Letter was dated July 8, portal updated on July 13
Package Received - July 13
College transferring from: 4 Year University in Canada
Entering as: Sophomore
GPA: 3.4
Comments: My GPA first semester was not great, but I worked super hard second semester to get it up and my cumulative GPA is still not as stellar as I would’ve liked it to be, but I definitely showed admissions that there was an upward trend in my grades and I was thankfully admitted. Work hard and keep the hope alive!! Fight on!! (:
Accepted - Dornsife Spring 2018
Spring Grade Request - received May 16
Package arrived July 13
College transferring from: Top 20 school in U.S.
Entering as: Sophomore
Major: Narrative Studies
GPA: First semester 3.6, second semester 3.57 --> avg 3.58
comments:
had lost (almost) all hope. USC has been my dream school since I first laid eyes on it. keep your hope alive and building your strength through this difficult process that is transferring. don’t be afraid to try to change things if you aren’t happy in your situation.
[color=blue]Decision Date & Time: SGR May 21, 2017, Acceptance Letter Dated July 11, 2017
Stats:
[ul]
[] College transferring from: East Los Angeles College
[] Entering as: Junior
[] GPA: 3.5
[] Pre-reqs completed: All
[] GEs completed: Half
[/ul]Subjective:
[ul]
[] ECs listed on app: JPL Internship, USC Internship/Lab Assistant Position, NASA Aerospace Scholar, VP of Physics and Astronomy Club
[] Job/Work Experience: Lab assistant at USC for one year
[] Essays (subject and responses): Just talked about my passion for space exploration
[li] Letters of Recommendation: Chairman of Physics department and USC professor/mentor[/li][/ul]Other:
Accepted - Marshall Spring 2018
SGR - May 10
Package Received - July 11
Transferring from 4 Year Public University
Entering as: Junior
GPA: 3.9
Major: Business Administration
Pre-Reqs: Completed all
GEs: 6/8 completed, 2 of them have to be completed at USC
comments: Dont give up hope, I was starting to feel uneasy as the days went by. Focus on finishing GEs and Pre-reqs and reach out to your counselor so he/she knows that you are interested. Always make sure your courses transfer over.
