University of Southern California
USC publishes an acceptance rate of 9.8% and is test-optional for the 2026-27 cycle.
Acceptance rate
What USC's 9.8% is made of
The published rate averages groups with very different odds. These are the splits USC reports itself.
Transfer
Fall 2025 degree-seeking transfer applicants (CDS 2025-26, Section D2) · as of August 2026 · 2.4× easier than first-year
Read the transfer analysis →Part of Real Acceptance Rates, our series decomposing published rates from each school's own Common Data Set.
Testing
Test-Optional for 2026-27
- Policy
USC is test-optional; applicants choose whether SAT/ACT scores are considered and are not penalized for omitting them. If scores are submitted, they must come as official reports directly from the testing agency (self-reported scores are not accepted).
- SAT middle 50%
- 1450–1550sum of section 25th–75th percentiles
- ACT middle 50%
- 32–35
- Average HS GPA
- 3.85Fall 2025 first-year class (CDS 2025-2026) · Source
Applying
Deadlines, essays and AI policy
- Early deadlines
- Nov 1, 2026 (ED); Nov 1, 2026 (EA)
- Regular decision
- Jan 10, 2027 (Dec 1, 2026 for the Kaufman School of Dance, Thornton School of Music, and School of Dramatic Arts)Source
- Supplemental essays
- 2 required
USC's writing supplement for Fall 2027 applicants requires 2 essays (up to 250 words each) plus roughly 10 very short (100-character) rapid-fire short-answer prompts. Essay-count figures come from a secondary essay-guide site since admission.usc.edu's own writing-questions page did not render prompt content to the fetch tool — recommend spot-checking exact current prompts against the live Common App USC supplement before publishing.
- AI use in essays
No Official Policy
We reviewed USC's how-to-apply, first-year, and what-we-look-for pages, the admitted-students FAQ and academic-policies pages, and the admissions blog — no applicant AI policy published.
Full cycle calendar: Application Deadlines.
At a glance
Size and cost
- Undergraduate enrollment
- 20,443
- Tuition (out-of-state)
- $72,097
- Category
- Elite Private
- Admissions site
- www.usc.edu
Dewey Smart
Dewey students who got into USC
Mentors who got into USC
Our mentors who go to USC, or just graduated from it.
What should this school mean for your list?
A published rate is one input. Working out what it means alongside the rest of your list is the part that actually changes an application. Free 25-minute call, no commitment.
Sources
- USC test policy (2026-27)
- USC GPA (Fall 2025 first-year class (CDS 2025-2026))
- USC admissions pages
- USC admissions pages
- Acceptance rate, test-score percentiles, enrollment and tuition: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, pulled 2026-08-19.
Test policy and deadlines last verified 2026-08-17.
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