The University of Southern California, or USC, is the oldest private research university in California (don’t let the name fool you, while it sounds like it could be a UC, it is indeed private!). Located near downtown Los Angeles, USC boasts 22 academic schools and units and has an acceptance rate of 12%.
USC’s supplement has multiple parts. The first asks the applicant to choose one of three prompts to respond to.
They ask: Please respond to one of the prompts below. (250 word limit) *
Option 1: USC believes that one learns best when interacting with people of different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. Tell us about a time you were exposed to a new idea or when your beliefs were challenged by another point of view. Please discuss the significance of the experience and its effect on you.
This is not our favorite of the three mostly because it is a little boring. We don’t hate it, so if it calls to you, go for it. While the prompt asks you to “discuss,” that is a bit of a misdirect. You shouldn’t wax poetic on the thought of the topic; instead, you should tell a story of what happened when your belief changed. You need to tell us where you where it happened, who said what, and how it all was resolved. The resolution happens when you have #growth. You need to make sure that the resolution feels important and is explained well so that we can see what you learned from this story.
Option 2: USC faculty place an emphasis on interdisciplinary academic opportunities. Describe something outside of your intended academic focus about which you are interested in learning.
This question isn’t for everyone. You should only take it on if you have a well-developed secondary interest. The best candidate for an essay like this is a student that is already on a clear path with what they want to study and also has an interest outside of that study that they feel passionately about.
For example, if your application shows clearly that you want to be a doctor and you will be on a pre-med course of study at USC, but you also love whales; you can take us on your whale journey. This is a space to talk about how you have studied them independently with an online course and volunteered at your local marine biology center. It is important that your interests are well developed and you can talk about how you have pursued your secondary interest.
Option 3: What is something about yourself that is essential to understanding you?
This is the one that we would choose. It’s fun and creative and we always love that. If you have used our method to write your common app essay, you will probably already have a brainstorm full of adjectives/experiences/stories about yourself. Choose a story that feels like it gets to a component of who you are. It doesn’t need to be academic. Choosing a story about a small act that you do often is a wonderful choice. For example, you could write about hosting a weekly potluck for friends or how you always drive your siblings home.
Think of this prompt as giving you space to write something that wouldn’t be mentioned anywhere else. It’s giving you the space to write about something special and unique to you. However, as with all of these prompts, it should be a story.
Everyone must answer the next question. They ask:
Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections. (Approximately 250 words)*
This is USC’s version of the “why our school” essay. Theirs is also one of the most simple approaches to this type of essay. For this prompt, you will need to choose a major. If you aren’t sure what you want to study, that’s ok. You can always study something else once you get on campus, but for now, you need to be all in on an academic pursuit. Once you have selected your area of study, all you need are two components to write this essay.
The first is an origin story. How did you first become interested in the topic? For example, if you are writing about Public Policy, maybe you first became interested by phone banking for a local political campaign. Whatever your story is, you can use it to introduce why you are interested in this academic pursuit. After you have introduced what you plan to study, you will need some USC specifics to back it up.
Start by doing some research into your selected major and choose 2-3 upper-level courses that you would want to take. Don’t use any 101s. Intro classes are pretty much the same anywhere and don’t show a specific interest in USC. Look for 300-400 level courses. For example, in the Public Policy major you could say, PPD 414 Community Health Policy and Planning and PPD 318 Financial Accounting in Public and Nonprofit Organization. USC makes it easy for students by listing very specific classes under their majors. You can also mention a professor you would like to work with and mention their specific research excites you. When you are finished wrap it up with something to the effect of “and that’s why USC fits my academic goals” but not in a cheesy way.
The next question isn’t required. They ask:
Starting with the beginning of high school/secondary school, if you have had a gap where you were not enrolled in school during a fall or spring term, please address this gap in your educational history. You do not need to address a summer break. (250 words)
Most of our students won’t answer this. If it doesn’t apply to you, just skip it. This is a new question for USC and we think it must have something to do with COVID. If the pandemic made you miss school, it’s ok to answer this question. Just be truthful and tell what happened. Zoom school is still school here. They are looking for people who weren’t enrolled at all, not just those who had their schedules changed.
The final part of the USC supplement is a series of micro-answers. We’ll just say this once: we have no idea how these help USC make an informed decision on a candidate. Maybe some magic will happen. Maybe you and the essay reader will have the same favorite snack (yes that is a real question in this section) and it will make them love you. But we would be lying if we said that there was any way to predict that. These questions seem fun but make most of our students super anxious (USC, if you are reading this, please stop trying to be cute and quirky for their sake).
Most of our students ask us, “is this the right answer?!”And it is hard to say yes or no to them because of how subjective these questions are. This isn’t the first time USC has asked a question that feels unnecessary, (we are happy they got rid of the describe yourself with a hashtag question) so we hope that they edit these out for next year. But in the meantime, let’s go through these.
Describe yourself in three words.
If you have used our way to brainstorm your common app essay, you can use the adjectives from that here. Just make sure you use words that are different from each other. A good choice would be calm, loving, efficient and not calm, chill, easy-going. If you want something a bit more fun, you can also make a three-word sentence. The best three-word sentences are playful, for example: always eating cheese.
What is your favorite snack?
There is no wrong answer to this… except maybe, “me” (we are watching you TikTok!). You can be creative or real. Answers from previous years that we love have included:
cherries
cotton candy grapes
toast jam
turkey rolls
peanut butter fingers
oreos
Best movie of all time:
This one is all about vibe. We usually stay away from anything that would be on the top 10 of a “best movies of all time list. Nothing is wrong with saying Citizen Kane, but there might be a more interesting answer for you to put. Stay away from answers that feel super “meme-y.” If you are being serious with yourself, your favorite movie really isn’t Bee Movie or Shrek 2. You are better than that.
Dream job:
We all dream of being an ice cream tester, but this one should relate somewhat to the area of study you stated above. It should be easy for USC to see how a degree will help you achieve this. If you are going to school for computer science, a programmer is a better choice than a nurse.
If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
No Eye of The Tiger. No Rocky Theme song. No We are the Champions. No WAP. Anything else that’s even remotely appropriate should be fine. (read: no swears in the title please!)
Dream trip:
We cannot think of any bad answers to this but as always slide into our DMs if you have any questions.
What TV show will you binge watch next?
You can say almost anything for this one, just stay away from anything that was very zeitgeisty to binge over the pandemic. Pretty much, no Tiger King. Something a bit off the beaten path might do you well here.
Which well-known person or fictional character would be your ideal roommate?*
This one takes a little reflection. What do you want in a roommate? Probably something along the lines of chill, caring, or friendly. You probably wouldn’t want a real housewife or Michael Scott or Chuck Bass as a roommate. They are all too chaotic. Instead picking someone like Rachel Green, Johnny Rose, or even a Tom Hanks type, shows that you know what you might be looking for in a roomie.
Favorite book:
For this question, don’t choose anything you have read for school or that would be traditionally assigned at a high school. We also suggest staying away from super popular YA books or anything that would be on a “top ten” list. Think of things that you have read for pleasure. The best answers to this question say something about your personality or style. We love books like We are Never Meeting in Real Life, Dark Matter, or Crying in H Mart. If you aren’t someone who likes novels, you can write something that isn’t a novel but make sure it’s actually a good book that you liked for a particular reason. Just because you like history doesn’t mean your favorite book needs to be Ron Chernow’s Hamilton. A more nuanced answer might be something like Jill Leopore’s These Truths.
If you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be?
Stay away from obvious choices here. If you plan to study chemistry and say “chemistry” for this question, we don’t learn anything new about you. Take something you are good at and reframe it as a class. It doesn’t have to be something academic and it can be really small. Making Espresso 101, Crochet 306: Advanced Pattern Making, or Gift Basket Assembly 102 are all perfectly fine. Have some fun with it and show a skill that doesn’t appear anywhere else on your application.
USC has a long application. Make sure you give yourself some time to do it especially for the first questions. We know the final questions are silly, but the first half of this supplement takes some real work and focus.
Still need help? Contact us here.