In addition to learning more about the research opportunities here at USC, I really wanted to learn more about the admissions process.  I think this past admissions season was a shocking year for students who applied to USC.  Last year was the first year that USC was on the Common Application and they receive 46,000 applications.  That was up from 37,000 from the previous year.  Their acceptance rate went from around 23% to 18% so USC became significantly more competitive.  Their average SAT score from last year was a 2050 to 2250 and the average ACT was a 31 to 33. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about the selective process and what their thoughts are on what could happen next year.  Basically it is anyone’s guess.  Those numbers can continue to rise and those numbers could also fall back a little bit.  It basically shows that the world of admissions can be unpredictable and while a jump in increase in applications of that size does not happen very often, it does show that you have to take your time and do your research. You need to make sure you have a balanced college list. You need to make sure you have a good number of reach schools, a good number of safety schools and  a good number of obtainable schools in the middle so when you do have surprises like that, you are very well prepared and you still have a great college to attend in the fall.

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Today I had the opportunity to visit the campus of the University of Southern California.  Now I always enjoy doing on campus visits even if I feel that I am fairly familiar with the school because I always learn something new.  One of the things that I appreciated learning about USC today was their emphasis on research.  Both on the campus tour and in the admissions presentation, there was a lot of talk about the opportunities for students to do research. 

Everything from looking at temperatures in Antartica  to studying nano particles and how they affect solar panels.  It is clear that students at USC are given hands-on opportunities in order to apply what they are learning in their major.  Basically research was described as anything that would ehance the students skills in the current major that the student is in.  So if they are theatre major, they can produce their own production or a music major may write their own song or again some of the more traditional types of research projects that I previously mentioned.  There are also opportunities for students to obtain money to conduct these research projects and there are grants available to students. 

I did ask how competitive it is to obtain a grant and it was stated that they are competitive, but again USC does provide a way to facilitate any student who is interested in doing research.  They do provide a “Craiglist” like program on-line where students can post what they are interested in researching and faculty can go in a review it and contact students if they are interested.  Likewise faculty can post information on research they are doing and opportunities for students to become involved.  I thought that was a pretty cool way to make students aware of the research opportunities available on campus.
 

The post Research Opportunities at USC first appeared on College Admission Counseling.