If you’re considering applying to college in the United States as an international student, chances are that you have the University of Southern California (USC) on your list. International students make up more than a quarter of the total student population at USC, and it’s an extremely popular school for international applicants. The most represented countries outside of the US are China, India, Canada, United Kingdom, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong, but there are students from 135 countries. That’s additionally impressive given that the USC acceptance rate is a mere 10% out of more than 80,000 applicants.
But while USC is so accustomed to international applicants, applying to college in the United States as an international student is unique. In this post, we’ll go into exactly what you need to know to increase your chances of admission to USC as an international student. If you want an extra leg up, send us an email. We specialize in helping exceptional students gain admission to the top colleges in the United States.
What is USC Looking for in International Students?
First, let’s define who an international student is according to USC. USC categorizes an “international student” as any student who will be in the United States on a student visa, including a non-immigrant visa. Students with DACA or undocumented status are not considered international students, but are still eligible to apply to USC. If you are a prospective international student based on the USC definition, you will follow nearly the same application process as students who are US citizens — with a few notable differences that we’ll go into below.
Courses + Grades
Most students who are admitted to USC are in the top 10% of their class. However, there are no required courses and there is no required course distribution. Your academic record is the most important part of your application for USC, but they don’t tell you what courses to take. They do expect to see a well-distributed course load across all major subject categories, though. And they also expect to see you excelling in the most difficult courses you have access to at your school — especially those connected to what you list as your prospective major.
School reports showing your grades, assessments, or scores must be submitted to USC in both the native English and “accompanied by an English translation if the native language is not English.” This is different than many other top colleges, who only want the English version, so be sure to submit exactly what USC is asking for.
Extracurriculars
USC considers your extracurriculars, talent, and ability, and personal qualities to be important aspects of your application as they consider you for admission. They aren’t as important as your grades and courses, but they can make a difference for you when it comes time for the UCS admissions officials to make a final call. They want to know “your individual story,” and what you do outside of the classroom is a great way to tell that story whether it’s through clubs, teams, community service or volunteer work, paid work, internships, or family commitments.
USC looks for these things in your activities section, of course. But what they really want to see is digging deeper into the aspects of what you do that you are most passionate about in your essays and supplement. This helps them to understand and imagine how you can contribute to “the community, tradition, and spirit” of USC.
Standardized Tests
The next aspect of your application that we’re going to dig into are your standardized tests. As an international applicant, you may have additional tests or examination results that you can use to represent how you’ll be a strong fit for USC. The university requests that you send external examination results or predicted results (such as GCSE, IB or A-Level, Indian board examination results, Australian ATAR) to the admissions office as part of your application. They also break down what they expect from students coming from a variety of school systems on their website. This includes what they expect to see from competitive applicants from some countries, such as from India (A1 or A2 above 80), China (90+ out of 100 and 135+ out of 150), and France (14+ points in each subject).
And we haven’t even gotten to the SAT or ACT yet.
You can also send your SAT or ACT scores, although they are not currently required at the time of publishing this post. You don’t need to submit an SAT or ACT score — 50% of admitted and enrolled students don’t. If you’re trying to decide whether to submit, consider whether your scores will stand out in a positive way, or may actually harm your application, you should compare them against previously accepted students. The 50th percentile of accepted and enrolled students is 1510 or 34 for the SAT or ACT respectively.
If your scores fall below these thresholds and if your grades convey greater academic success than the scores suggest, you should strongly consider not submitted your scores. If you do submit your scores, you should also know that your SAT or ACT will be judged for English language proficiency in addition to the overall score.
USC expects international students for whom English is not their native language to submit some proof of proficiency, and there are a few ways to do it. There’s the SAT or ACT, which we just went into, or you can take a test like the TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE. For students who do not have access to these tests, you can take the Duolingo English Test, but will have to take an additional exam proving proficiency upon arrival on campus. You can also choose to supplement any of these tests with a third-party proficiency interview.
Final Thoughts
There are a few other things USC is super specific about for international applicants that we want to be sure to hit on.
Name: The name on your application absolutely must match the name on your passport, I-20, or DS-2019. If the name on your academic record is different from this, enter the name that is on your academic record in the “Preferred name” section of the application.
Address: You must provide a valid address outside the US that is not a PO Box, even if you are currently living in the US.
Aid: USC does not offer need-based financial aid to international applicants, but you may be considered for Merit Scholarships (although they are very competitive and hard to get). And applicants must provide, at time of application, financial documentation “affirming their ability and intent to finance USC’s full cost of attendance…for at least the first academic year.”
Being an international applicant to a college in the US comes with unique challenges and hurdles, but USC is a favorite among international students for a reason. The large on-campus community, supportive administration, and the generally sunny weather joys of living in California continue to attract applications from international students each year.
If you want assistance with your application, we’d love to help.