“Will being a SCion help them get in?” It’s a question we get a lot from USC alumni parents. For those not in the know, ‘SCion’ is the term that USC uses for legacies and the children of donors. The short answer is that yes, it will help but probably not as much as you think. Legacy admissions are more complicated than the easy-in that many alumni parents expect them to be. So, we wanted to break down all the complex ins and out of legacy admissions at USC.
Are legacies accepted at a higher rate?
Yes, but not as high as you might expect. When we talk to alumni parents they often see legacy as a lock. We don’t know USC’s exact legacy acceptance rate, but it’s not that high.
The last time USC released info about the SCion acceptance rate was in 2019. This is a little too old for us to comfortably use, but it helps us make a point so bear with us. In the Class of 2019, SCions only made up 10% of applicants but accounted for around 22% of campus. The overall acceptance rate was 18%. This means the acceptance rate for SCions was around the high 20s or low 30s (take this with a grain of salt, we had to estimate some numbers). At the time, Dean of Admissions Timothy Brunold said, that while USC has no SCion admission quota, “we see the status as being important” and that “They tend to be accepted to USC at a higher rate than the overall acceptance rate for applicants.”
This rate, however, has probably gone down. There are two reasons for this, 1) the number of SCions on campus has fallen (it’s more like 13%, not 22%) and 2) the overall acceptance rate went down. For the Class of 2025, the overall acceptance rate was 12%. With these numbers, our best estimate for the legacy acceptance rate is in the high teens (if everything else stayed consistent).
Who are the legacies that get in?
Since only top legacies get in, you should push your student to be a top legacy. But what does that mean? There is a bit of a stereotype that legacies are lazy and bad students. However, we work with legacies all the time and the ones that get into top schools are also objectively great candidates. Legacies often come from privilege and that means they come from families that invest in their education. The legacies we work with go to top high schools, work with elite tutors, and use their connections to build great resumes. To fit in with them, your student needs to be competitive. That means excelling in a couple of categories.
Get Great Grades
Grades are the first things schools look at. Without great grades, an applicant won’t get in, legacy or not. At USC, the middle 50% GPA of admitted students in 2022 was between 3.88 and 4.0 unweighted. This means over 25% of accepted applicants had perfect grades. Your student should be pushing themselves to do the same.
Send Good Scores
We routinely work with legacies whose parents have invested in top SAT/ACT tutors so their students get near-perfect or even perfect scores. However, USC is test optional. In 2022, 48% of enrollees submitted scores. If your student's scores aren’t great, you can also choose not to submit them. If you are unsure if you want them to send scores or not, reach out. These are the types of questions we advise our students on constantly. We can connect you with tutors or work out a strategy on which schools to send your student's specific scores to.
Everything Else
When schools have a low acceptance rate, as USC does, it's not enough to just get good grades and scores. Applicants also need compelling extracurriculars, essays, and an overall package. This is where we usually come in. Many legacies choose to work with a college counselor. We highly recommend it, obviously. We can start working with students right before they apply to help them package everything or we can start earlier to help them build an eye-catching resume. Either way, working with a professional can make all the difference.
And then there is money…
Ok, so this is where it gets a little slimy. Remember how we said USC tracks both legacies and children of donors? Because of this, donating is important. So important that a bunch of people went to jail over it! Yikes!
USC has used a system of “special tags” in the past. Admissions officers use these tags to mark special applicants. They say they use these tags when "someone at USC knows the applicant or has reason to believe the applicant will make a positive contribution to the university community. In some instances, a special interest tag may be issued because a student’s family has a longstanding relationship with, has donated to, or has the capacity to donate to the university."
Consider applying early
USC only recently started having an early option for applying. We don’t have a ton of data yet for how much early applications will give legacies a bump, but it has at other schools. Across the industry applying early gives students a bump, so if your student is serious about USC, it’s not a bad idea.
We just threw a lot of information and we know it can be confusing and worrying dealing with the ins and outs of legacy admissions. If you need help navigating the college process, we are here for you and want to help your SCion succeed.
Contact us here!