An unprecedented surge in applications has made 2018 a historic year for University of Southern California admissions. So far, a record 64,000 students have applied for the upcoming fall, a 14-percent increase from the year before and the biggest jump in two decades.
“We’ve never had a harder time selecting which applicants to put in the classroom,” said Timothy Brunold, USC’s dean of admission. “We could hardly believe the numbers, and now we’re feeling the pain of having to turn away so many candidates we admire. At the same time, it’s a breakthrough year for USC.”
Academic achievement has increased as the average GPA and standardized test scores continue to climb. The record number of applicants forced the USC Office of Admission to accept just 13 percent – the lowest ever for USC. The admission rate dropped a full 3 percentage points.
Of those admitted, 26 percent are from underrepresented minority groups while 69 percent are students of color.
The increase in the number of high school students seeking admission to USC was the biggest since 1999 with the exception of 2012, when the introduction of the Common Application caused a spike in applications. Common Application allows student to apply for admission at multiple universities with just one application.
Brunold, who is in his eighth year as dean of admissions at the private university, said the increase in applications is the result of a decade of expanded recruitment efforts.
“We have a lot of resources and probably the largest admissions office in the country. There are 45 admissions officers,” he said, explaining that admissions staff members visit about 2,200 high schools every year. “We do have an aggressive recruitment outreach process. We send our recruiters all over the world looking for students.
