Admission to degree or certificate programs in the Graduate School is granted through the USC Office of Graduate Admission, which receives and processes all applications, evaluates credentials and issues notification letters. The Graduate School establishes and monitors the standards under which students are admitted for study in degree programs under its jurisdiction. Admission to the university, under the standards of the Graduate School, is determined by the Office of Graduate Admission on the recommendation of the appropriate academic department. The following are the basic requirements: (1) a Bachelor of Arts degree or its equivalent from an accredited college or university, comparable in standard to that awarded at USC; (2) satisfactory scores on the verbal and quantitative portions of the General Test of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE); (3) intellectual promise that indicates an ability to do acceptable graduate work; (4) strong personal qualifications, including good moral character. Credentials for admission must include a complete record of all previous college or university work.
It must be stressed that while every student must be qualified for admission to the Graduate School, the fact of qualification does not guarantee admission. Consequently, the higher an applicant's qualifications, the better the prospects of securing a place are likely to be.
Admission documents are reviewed by the applicant's prospective department. Applicants are advised that individual departments may establish additional admission standards, such as requiring the appropriate GRE Subject Test and letters of recommendation from professors in their major field to the chair of the appropriate department at USC. The applicant should contact the department in which graduate work is to be done for information on supplementary documents required. See the departmental sections of this catalogue.
Test scores on the GRE that are more than five years old at the time of application are not accepted. Students are advised to repeat the GRE if they have not taken the test within five years.
Students who are not residents of the Los Angeles area should inquire at their own institutions concerning times and places the examinations are given. Residents of the Los Angeles area may apply for the examinations at the USC Testing Bureau.
Some departments only admit graduate students to begin study in the fall semester and require completed applications as early as January 15. Departmental deadlines are listed in the Application for Graduate Admission booklet. Those who wish to submit applications after the deadline should check with the intended major department first to insure that applications will be accepted. Applications received subsequent to closing dates will be considered for the next available semester.
Notification of an admission decision depends upon the method of application review used in each department. Some departments send an informal notice of departmental recommendation for admission; official notice of admission, however, is sent only by the USC Office of Graduate Admission.
Correspondence with department chairpersons or individual faculty members does not constitute admission. Only a letter from the Office of Graduate Admission grants official admission to a degree objective in the university.
Produced by the USC Division of Student Affairs, Office of University Publications, May 1, 1995