Students flash the victory sign at the Residential College Spirit Rally. (Photo/Michael Owen Baker)
2017’s Freshmen Hit New Benchmark: Most Competitive Class in USC History
Incoming first-year students set new university records for achievement.
For the first time in nearly a decade, incoming USC freshmen come from all 50 states. This fall’s first-year students also represent the largest group of freshmen—and most competitive—in school history, with record-high test scores and GPAs. Out of nearly 57,000 applications, the university sent acceptance letters to fewer than 9,000 students for an all-time-low 16 percent admission rate. Here’s what you need to know about this newest batch of Trojans, in numbers.
USC FRESHMAN CLASS BY THE NUMBERS
16%
Acceptance rate
17%
Freshmen who are first in their families to attend college
16%
Freshmen who have a parent who graduated from USC
56,675
Number of applicants received
3,358
Students in freshman class
MOST-REPRESENTED STATES
California
New York
Texas
Illinois
Washington
Florida
MOST-REPRESENTED NATIONS
U.S.
China
India
Canada
South Korea
Taiwan
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
2 in 3 USC students receive some form of financial aid
$330 million: Amount USC students receive in financial aid from university sources
USC SCHOOLS WITH HIGHEST ENROLLMENT
(As a proportion of overall class)
37%
USC Dornsife
19%
USC Marshall
17%
USC art schools
14%
USC Viterbi
5%
USC Annenberg
ACADEMIC ALL-STARS
3.76
Average high school GPA of freshman class (unweighted)
651
Number of students with a 4.0 GPA
