Future Trojans celebrate historic admission acceptances

In the span of minutes, the comments on the @USCAdmission Instagram page were flooded with thank you’s, red and yellow heart emojis, and Fight On’s. That could only mean one thing – it’s decision day.

USC offered admission on Tuesday to more than 8,804 students from across the world to begin in fall 2021. Selected from nearly 71,000 applicants, this group is one of the most diverse accepted classes in USC history.

One out of five admitted incoming students are first-generation college students, a record number for USC. More than 3,800 high schools are represented across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, three U.S. territories and 88 countries around the world.

Luc Limentour is a student admitted to Dornsife who plans to study anthropology in the fall. As a first-generation student, he believes the application process was more challenging for him than others, but attributes his success to resources such as his high school AVID class, a program designed to close the college accessibility gap.

Limentour described himself as being overwhelmingly happy to hear of his acceptance. “I definitely cried,” he said. “It feels like everything I’ve been working for throughout high school has finally paid off.”

Caileigh Gold, whose family is from Slovakia, is newly-admitted student planning to study communications at the Annenberg School. She is the first person in her family to attend college in the United States.

“USC has been my dream school since freshman year,” Gold said. “I literally cannot believe this is real.”

For Gold, the application process was stressful, but she says “waiting was the hardest part.” USC was her top choice so she “worked on it really early.”

Approximately 46% of the admitted class is from out of state. Texas, New York and Illinois are the most represented states followed by Florida and New Jersey.

Kyndall Jourdain, an incoming music production student from Texas, reflected on how she felt earlier in the admissions process.

“When I had first applied, I felt imposter syndrome at a maximum because I had heard so many amazing students with great stats that had been rejected from USC,” Jourdain says. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to be considered because my stats were not nearly as good as theirs.”

Now that Jourdain knows the admission statistics for the class of 2025 and has been admitted, she says it’s such an honor and a confidence booster. “USC truly does look at their students holistically and that means so much.”

Jourdain is one of thousands of students who have yet to step foot on their future campus due to the global pandemic. However, she credits USC’s online seminars and virtual tours for creating the best experience for her.

“Also, there are tons of YouTube videos that I have watched of current students,” Jourdain explained. “They’re answering questions and walking the campus, so I kinda get a feel for what it’s like.”

Provided USC offered acceptances to just over 12% of applicants, many students who did not receive admission publicly aired their grievances in the comment section of the @USCAdmission Instagram page.

One user commented “if aunt becky pays for me, will you un-reject me,” a reference to the Operation Varsity Blues admission scandal that nabbed Lori Loughlin who is known for her role as Aunt Becky on “Full House.” While another commented, “don’t call me… don’t come by my house… we’re done.”

Jazmyne Aquino was admitted to the School of Cinematic Arts. She attended the school’s summer program last year under a scholarship, and is excited to work with them again.

“The college admissions process was a bit nerve wracking,” said Aquino. “The most exciting thing for me was filming my 2 minute video for SDA. I wrote and filmed a song about me and why I wanted to go to USC!”

Isabelle Analo was also admitted to the School of Cinematic Arts. “For me, getting into USC SCA is the start of a lifelong dream,” says Analo. “I know USC will help me accomplish everything that I want to achieve from the amazing resources to the notable alumni and professors. I feel so blessed to be accepted.”

Analo fortunately had the opportunity to visit USC in 2019, and says because of that, she is confident that USC is the right school for her.

Kirk Brennan, the USC Director of Admission, shared how the university is planning to conduct admitted students programs, despite the challenges of conducting them virtually.

“We are in competition with the best universities in the world and we want to show off all the great resources that USC offers to prospective students,” Brennan told Annenberg Media. “And that’s a challenge because we can’t show them the beauty of our campus and put them in front of their potential classmates for them to really understand what it means to be a part of the Trojan Family.”

Brennan said the school scheduled more than 175 different events for admitted students, ranging from academic department faculty panels to financial aid information sessions to campus life discussions with current students.

“There really is something for everyone,” Brennan said. “We want everyone to get that excited feel they have when they are on campus.”