As the second largest private research university (behind NYU), UCS’s goal is to promote social change. Admissions boasts that no race accounts for more that 30% of the student body, 24% are Pell Grant eligible, and 20% the first generation to attend college. Currently, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, USC’s main competitors include UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard. 33% of students who did not yield at USC, enrolled in one of these other universities. USC added an Early Action deadline this year and anticipates admitting about 30% of the class in the EA round. Those not admitted will be deferred into the regular round. Their overall yield (the percentage of students who enroll after being admitted) lies at approximately 40% but the most competitive film and business programs yield above 60%.

New this year is a joint program from the School of Business and the School of Engineering in Artificial Intelligence. The School of Law now offers an undergraduate major in Legal Studies and a few years ago, the School of Pharmacy kicked off a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology. USC offers an open course policy allowing students to sample classes throughout the university, often resulting in cross disciplinary majors and minors. The 21,000 undergraduate students enjoy an impressive 9:1 student to faculty ratio. Admissions has not yet determined the ACT/SAT policy for next year but testified that they would prefer being test-free than test-optional.