How to get into the University of Southern California, USC. Part I.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the official kickoff post for this site. It's my distinct pleasure to talk about applying to the University of Southern California. This week, I'll post a multi part series about applying to and getting into USC. Since this is where I went to school, it makes sense to start here.

Let's start with my experience. I went to high school in eastern Pennsylvania and graduated in 1995. I was a pretty good student. My high school GPA was a 3.6 out of 4.0, I took every AP and honors course that was available to me, I played varsity football on the bench, and varsity tennis, #3 doubles. I wasn't a stellar athlete, nor was I the valedictorian. The SAT, at the time I took it, was out of 1600 points. I got a 760 in math and 570 in verbal. The percentiles were like 96 and 80, if I remember correctly. My class rank was somewhere near 20 out of 210. I got a C in AP Calculus and English. I did join a bunch of clubs, but only to pad my application and make it look like I was more involved. If I remember, I was a member of Key Club, National Honor Society, Yearbook (I think I was the sports editor, but I never actually did anything), homeroom rep for the student council, and some other groups that I can't even remember. I spoke fluent Spanish, at least that's what my application said. In reality it was more like Spanglish.

Now, I'm not going to go so far and say that this background will get you into USC today. But when I went there, I ended up graduating with 3 degrees at once, which during the 2000 graduation was a feat accomplished by only a handful of the thousands in the graduating class (both undergrad and grad).

Getting in is more than the numbers that you throw down on your application. You have to show them that you're driven, that you possess persistence and will not quit when things get tough. The numbers show that you have potential, but like my high school football coach (Bob Stem) used to say: If someone tells you that you have potential, consider it an insult. Because it means that you're not working as hard as you can.

You have to turn yourself into a constant competitor. You always have to be competing. Every day, when you wake up, ask yourself, "What will I do today that will improve myself?" It doesn't matter if that means athletic or academic improvement. Always compete. Even if you have no one to compete against. Imagine your toughest competitor.

Here's what I mean by that: When I was at SC, I was one of the top students in the Economics department. In my mind, I was the best. I wasn't competing against my fellow classmates. In my mind I was competing against the guy at Harvard who like me was studying economics. I called this person the invisible enemy. Because he/she was at Harvard, they already had the leg up on me. I knew that in the workplace, I would be competing for jobs against this person. So I made sure that I always did more than him. That's why I double majored in math, and got into USC's dual degree program (B.A.-M.A.) in Economics. I wanted to compete, I wanted to be better than everyone, including people I'd never met, but knew were out there.

I'm telling you this so that you can get into the competitive mindset. It is never to late to start, and you are going to need it to gain admission to the more difficult colleges and universities.

So let's look at the statistics:

Last year for the 2008 class, USC received 35,809 applications for only 2,600 spots. The acceptance rate was 21%, so roughly 4 out of 5 applicants did not get in. SC makes a very big deal about having a diverse class, and by diversity they do not just mean ethnic diversity. Check out this article to see what I'm talking about: http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/15027.html They take pride in reporting their numbers for minority applicants, low income applicants, first generation college goers, and geographically dispersed applicants (i.e. not from California). Note that Californians make up 53% of the incoming class.

USC has an 8 step admissions process, http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/admission/freshmen/, but it's really straightforward, SAT or ACT, high school transcripts, one letter of rec., and the personal statement. In my mind the personal statement is huge.

The average GPA for the 2007 entering class was a 3.7 unweighted (i.e. not out of 4.0 but some higher number). Middle 50% ACT was 28-32. Middle 50% SAT was 620-720 for critical reading, 650-740 for math, and 640-720 for writing.

Part II of the USC undergraduate application series will focus on the personal statement and letters of recommendation. Also at some point near the end of the 2008-2009 application period, I'll have a post on what to do if you don't get in (don't worry there are other ways). Stay tuned...