Why We Don't Track Demonstrated and Continued Interest
At USC, we receive various declarations of interest for the university from some of our prospective applicants. Some applicants believe that expressing interest and enthusiasm for USC outside of their application will increase their chances of being admitted. This intentional display is commonly known as “demonstrated interest”. In the interest of transparency, we want to make sure you know that we do not track demonstrated interest when admitting future Trojans. And here’s why...
The USC Office of Undergraduate Admission does not track demonstrated interest because we want to ensure our process is a fair one. In-person or virtual high school visits, college fairs and USC prospective student events are common ways that some applicants typically express demonstrated interest for certain institutions. We view these events as ways for applicants to get to know more about USC and determine if it’s a good fit for them. We do not want to reward an applicant for attending one of these events over another applicant who does not have the financial means, awareness or opportunity to do so.
Another way schools track demonstrated interest is by keeping track of when students contact them. While an applicant is more than welcome to introduce themself to their admission counselor and reach out with any questions, that applicant won’t get any extra points for doing so.
We want all students to have the same chance to express their interest. So, how can you show you’re interested in USC? By submitting a quality first-year application via the Common App. We assume that you are genuinely interested in USC if you apply! More specifically, there is a section of the application where applicants can explain how they hope to pursue their academic interests at USC. We strongly encourage applicants to take advantage of this section to showcase their enthusiasm by showing they’ve done their research.
In some instances, after submitting their applications, students will email the USC Office of Undergraduate Admission. Sometimes it’s just to provide additional information (such as new awards), which we do not accept out of fairness. Other times, it’s after a student has either been deferred to Regular Decision or been denied. In the email, an applicant may once again profess their love and commitment to USC, in hopes that this will increase their chances of admission. This is commonly known as “continued interest”. We also do not consider continued interest. If a student is appealing a deny decision, we’ll only look at the appeal and provide very specific instructions for what to include in that appeal. If a student is still waiting on a decision, we don’t want them doing any more work (except submitting their fall grades and submitting the deferral form, if they haven’t already). After all, they’ve done enough work by submitting their application!
We still encourage applicants to attend prospective student events hosted by USC and to email their admission counselor to learn more about this great university. Just know that we’re not keeping a tally of each student’s movements. We’re just excited to get to know them through the application.
We wish you all the best of luck on your applications and, as always, Fight On!
Written by: John Russell, Assistant Director – Office of Undergraduate Admission