What I wish I had known about USC

Colleges & Universities University of Southern California
1

<p>I’m an upperclassman at USC. I was admitted as a freshman and I received a merit scholarship. USC advertised and bombarded me with all of their pr and information about the impressive stats about the freshmen class, and I was really impressed. </p>

<p>I faced a tough decision because I was set on attending another private university, and I really didn’t take the USC admission that seriously when I was admitted. I knew that USC didn’t share the long-term academic reputation that the other university had, and I didn’t think that it was that big of a deal when I was admitted. </p>

<p>As time went on and the school communicated with me more, I became really impressed with the school, and I decided that it was a good fit for me, so I attended. I know this sounds really snobby, but I had heard of the stereotypes of USC students, and the people at my hs who were dreaming about USC (and fit those stereotypes) all got rejected, so I was really under the impression that USC had moved on from its past. These people were basically the students who wanted to go to USC to be part of the party scene, greek life, and the football. </p>

<p>I got here and I was really impressed with the freshmen class. I always thought it was weird that there were about 3000 freshmen and there were 17,000 undergrads because with 4 years, that would be about 12,000 undergrads. </p>

<p>As time went on, I realized where the other thousands of students came from. In the spring, alot of spring admits showed up. I know it shouldn’t matter but they were definitely a different group than the fall students. It is kind of sad because most of them got gyped of good housing and the whole freshmen experience because they had to live off campus in random apartments with upperclassmen who weren’t that excited about living with new freshmen. Also most of the spring admits did not have the stats of the fall students. Stats don’t sum up the quality of the person, but these students really didn’t do all the work that the fall students did in hs, and they still ended up in the same place. USC also doesn’t include these students in its stats. So while it may say that we admitted twenty something % of applicants, we really admitted alot more, it was just that the selectivity was for the fall (and when they couldn’t fill that number, they pushed up alot of the spring admits to fall) so the stats are much different than what are published. </p>

<p>During summer I became really disappointed. USC doesn’t boast about its transfer students, but tons get admitted. There are almost as many as freshmen. Talk about a completely different student population. Yeah there are some people who work hard, and can’t afford the first few years of college, but by far the majority are slackers who dreamed of USC in hs, never took honors or AP classes, slacked off, went to community college or a Cal State or a really low UC aka Riverside and transferred after a year or 2. That group from my hs who dreamed of going to a school with parties and football galore all got in as transfers. It also seems like there are alot of transfers who come from families where their parents and family went here but they really slacked in hs, and USC worked with them to let them take community college courses and then have them come in as sophomores. </p>

<p>It just doesn’t seem that fair. USC compares itself with all of the top universities, but none of those schools admit so many (if any) transfers, and when they do, they use alot of standards. It seems like USC is really selective for fall freshmen, but after that, anybody can be admitted and no stats have to be reported to acknowledge the ongoing influx of people admitted as transfers. Yeah the other UC’s do admit tons of transfers, but they are state schools that have agreements with the community colleges. </p>

<p>I just feel like I wasted alot of time working hard in hs, getting involved, and trying hard on the sat when in the end I am going to earn the same degree as total slackers who did nothing in hs and took the easy way out in completing ge’s at community colleges.</p>

<p>i really want to know why usc admits so many transfers who don’t share the qualifications that the fall freshman have?</p>

2

<p>Your post does come across as somewhat whiny. I mean have all these “unworthies” really messed up your education? Having fun people around might be an advantage also and I’'m sure many of the transfers feel they have worked hard to get in and are fulfilling their dream; they probably have a lot to offer if you get to know them.</p>

<p>But your insight into how USC manipulates its stats in fascinating and just show how broken this whole system is due to frenetic ranking, etc. Thanks for the insight!</p>

3

<p>Sounds like maybe you want to consider transferring ‘up’ yourself…nothing to be ashamed of, and I appreciate the insight into rankings manipulation.</p>

4

<p>I think collegesc makes an excellent point and that it is not appropriate to criticize him as “whiny” or calling transfer students “unworthies” which is NOT the intent of collegesc. Collegesc is saying his observation that there is a group of students who work really hard to get into USC as freshmen and another group of transfer students who do not appear to have the same academic intensity as freshmen admits. He wonders why USC takes so many transfer students. I am a parent and do not work for USC. I am speculating that the fall admits who work so hard to get into USC have first chance at filling up the prime spots in the few, highly sought after Cinema school, the few Viterbi Engineering spots (4,000 applicants for 400 freshmen spots), the few Annenberg Communication spots, etc. As transfer students, I am not convinced that the same highly sought after freshmen openings/majors are available to transfers. Of course, it is possible that a few people drop out of highly desirable programs which leave a few openings for transfer students, and again, the same intense competition for those openings. On the other hand, USC has a broad variety of majors which may not be 100% full from the freshmen fall semester class. For example, students may be needed to be majors in non-pre-professional majors such as Linguistics or Philosophy.
Also, my guess is the fall freshmen are more likely to get merit scholarships and the transfer students may be more likely to pay full tuition. I have no inside information and these are simply speculations on my part. I do think that collegesc has a good point. Calling a student bad names is not acceptable here.</p>

5

<p>The OP (a new member) made 6 posts around midnight, all of which relate to his/her hatred for a system that allows “less qualified” students to come in as transfers or Spring Admits. These posts appear to be motivated by a backstory that we’ll probably never know. If OP could explain how this travesty has affected the educational environment, I could consider attaching some credibility to these posts. </p>

<p>Regardless of his/her motive for the posts, there is one point I want to respond to. Every college has ways of manipulating its admissions statistics. Did you hear about the large numbers of people the top Ivies admitted off of their wait lists this year? Did they scurry around adjusting their published admissions rates to reflect that? I don’t think so. USC just has a different system of managing the numbers, and moving spring admits to fall is part of that. As a parent of a spring admitee, I was grateful that my child was given the option of accepting the spring offer, cutting loose his other schools, and not having to wait on the possibility of getting in off of a waitlist. When he got moved up to fall, all the better. My only hope is that USC was able to include his stats in the fall admission numbers, because he’s a National Merit Finalist and has stunning SAT scores. Bringing down the quality of the freshman class? Not a bit!</p>

6

<p>Transfer vs freshman
for USC(2007): 1114/2963 = 37.60%
for UCLA(2007): 3286/4712 = 69.74%
for UCB(2007): 2036/4204 = 48.43%
for Cornell(2007): 571/3055 = 18.69%</p>

<p>The reason for the large number of transfers is because these are large schools.</p>

<p>USC admit rate and stats for USC changed slightly since it bumps up the Spring admit to Fall. It is now 21.87% vs 21% and the SAT average went down slightly(from +18 to +8) so that makes it around 2100 still.</p>

<p>I don’t think it’s a bit deal if there are more transfer students, George Lucas is a fine example of a transfer student who went on to do achieve better things in life.</p>

<p>So far, my daughter is very pleased with her experience at USC. On her floor, almost everybody is a trustee or presidential scholar. USC is very rigorous. She has to stay up very late to study and write papers(3 TO classes) something she rarely had to do in high school. Some of her classes have about 10 to 11 students. The largest class is 30. She absolute feels USC is the best choice among all her colleges. She has close interaction with her professors or lecturers.</p>

<p>Ranking is not everything. Now I’m going back to be a lurker. :D</p>

7

<p>thankyou for that interesting insight. I acutally never thought of it quite like that, but it is true in many respects. For example, my brother dreamed of USC in HS, didn’t get in… slacked off in CC, but got A’s and B’s since it was pretty easy, and got in. However, I do know people who couldn’t afford it and by default had no choice but a CC.</p>

<p>I also want to point out one thing. hundreds of students study abroad in the spring, several graduate after fall semester, leaves of absences, etc etc. The point is they know there will be less students predictably every spring, so they fill these gaps with spring admits. I do think they reserve these spots for the “bottom” end of their freshman admits, but …</p>

<p>In the end I don’t understand why it bothers you so much. Maybe they didn’t work as hard in HS… but their entrance doesn’t affect your success, and you both have the opportunity to work hard in college and get that GPA for grad school or do whatever to accomplish YOUR dreams. USC still retains a great education and if the “others” want success as well, they will have to work just as hard.</p>

8

<p>wow i was just reading all of your posts…namely the ones telling all the transfer students how you dislike them and they make you wish you didn’t come here. I’m sorry but that just such an elitist, snobby attitude, and it’s sad how much you let OTHER people affect YOU. You label and judge people based on their statuses. I bet you’re life would be much easier if you had an open mind towards individuals before you made all these presumptions about them.</p>

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<p>I’m not trying to single out USC, which my D is very high on and is going to apply to; I think it is a shame that colleges feel the need to manipulate their stats for rankings and to attract number obsessed parents and kids; I know my D who has outstanding grades and ECs but mediocore SATs has been told pretty clearly by counselors that it would be a waste of time for her to apply for certain merit scholarships and honors programs because of her scores; all because of their wanting those high SATs to boost up their stats. Thus 4 years of work can be undone by a 4 hour test.
I wish the whole system would change but I’m not holding my breath!</p>

10

<p>As a spring admit, I take some offense to your post.</p>

<p>I had a 4.3 GPA W, and 3.9 GPA UW, was in the top 10% of my class and got a 2100 on my SATs, took 7 APs, and 5 SAT IIs, and was highly involved in extra curriculars… correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s fairly consistent with the “average admitted” data.</p>

<p>And you really seem to dislike transfers from community colleges. That just sounds very elitist… What happened to being a part of the Trojan Family…</p>

<p>Personally, the moment you get into college, everything you’ve done in high school doesn’t even matter. It’s all about what you do at your college and how you take advantage of the opportunities that are available, stop reliving your past glory days and look forward to achieving even greater things.</p>

11

<p>Gosh darn OP…you seem to suffer from an, at once elitist and inferiority complex. Those unworthy people as you seem to think they are, are in fact paying your way. If SC didn’t fill the “extra” spring places there would be a lot of empty classrooms, less money from tuitions and fewer professors who are giving you your education. And if some of these inferiors are in fact developmental admits they can be (1)artists who aren’t judged by conventional criteria and/or (2)rich kids who’s parents pay your tab or (3) a combination of both.</p>

<p>You’re right. In the end all the kids who finish get the same diploma (although some are cum laude…or more), and you get the same Trojan network. Oh…and wait…maybe some of those inferior kids that you dislike so much are doing the employing. Oh, and I am really sure that many private exclusive schools take alumnae kids who don’t in your extimation qualify.</p>

<p>Stay, transfer do what you want but do yourself a favor. Don’t engage in what might have been, and if only I knew then what I know now.</p>

12

<p>Don’t worry so much about other people and go do your work. HS is over with. HS stats don’t matter once you are in college. Relax --or transfer if you aren’t happy. What an unusual rant. Why do you care?</p>

13

<p>Phew, I’m glad I chose UCLA over USC :p</p>

14

<p>Three of the OP’s cruelest posts have been deleted by CC.</p>

15

<p>By any chance is this a ■■■■■ from UCLA?</p>

16

<p>You have an interesting perspective, but I wouldn’t go so far as to brand transfer students as “slackers”. I’m not a transfer student myself, but I’ve taken courses at a community college, and I’ve seen that most of the students there work steadily towards their own goals. The purpose of community college is to either give a student a second chance or to let a student explore more options before entering a university environment. Given that transfer students tend to have it harder than fall applicants, I would think that these students invest a LOT of time and effort into the whole process. After all, third chances are pretty rare, right?</p>

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<p>i’m a spring admit and i worked my tail to get into USC. I also got into UCLA but chose USC because I thought it was a better fit for me…both UCLA and USC are great schools and are almost neck and neck when it comes to rankings, so it does hurt my feelings for someone to say I slacked and don’t deserve to go to USC at all just because I got in for the fall when I got into another school with just as much if not higher academic reputation. </p>

<p>also something to keep in mind is finance. SOme colleges that offer spring admittance allow those who can pay the full sticker price in during the fall so that they have money tio help out with those not as wealthy but that the admittance counsel feel will contribute to the school just as much…</p>

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<p>Furthermore, USC is not the only university that offers Spring admit, UCB and Cornell do offer Spring admission as well.</p>

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<p>OP, you were offered admission plus a scholarship to a first rate univeristy. It’s hard to see where your anger is coming from. I hope you found a great major, met incredible friends, love your professors and are taking advantage of all the school has to offer in internship opportunites, but your fixation on who is accepted as transfers to the school is perplexing. Like UCLA and Berkeley, but to a lesser extent, USC is open to qulalifed transfers and this practice hurts none of these excellent schools in the least.</p>

<p>Your animosity towards students who transfer in after proving themselves at a community college is so unkind. While some of these kids may not have had top gpas or ranking in high school, not every student blooms academically right on cue in 9th grade. Many students get caught up in sports and activities or must work outside of school. Some have learning differences and only discover the trouble in their late teens. Some may even goof around too much. Guess what? These kids with the lower SATs and GPAs got thin envelopes in the spring. Even if their parents were both USC alums. This should actually hearten any applicant who hopes for a fair read of their application since it goes to prove the scholarships and acceptance letters are going to a competitive pool. This past year, USC received 35,809 applications for just 2,600 places in its freshman class. </p>

<p>But of the over 26,000 students who received rejection letters this spring, some may perservere. Many teens who are motiviated will develop their skills and “grow up” over time. It’s a process. If the goal is to attend USC (or UCLA, Cal, etc) there is still time to work on grades and attitudes. Students with financial issues may need time to work and save money. Universities offer a chance by allowing worthy students to transfer. While it is noted that you did not need this option, OP, some day you may find yourself happy to get a second chance to achieve a goal that has real meaning in your life, too.</p>

<p>Might I kindly suggest you try to broaden your outlook. Every new student on campus brings something unique. Look past the SAT scores! The classes, professors, research opportunities, internships, sports, clubs are world-class, and the competitive majors and Thematic Option attract even more driven students. It’s a big school with lots of diversity. Being part of the Trojan family is to be inclusive.</p>

20

<p>I love what you said, Madbean! Couldn’t have said it any better.</p>

<p>Good luck OP! You’ve been blessed and now it’s time to welcome others into the fold. Stop looking around and focus your thoughts on your future!</p>