Preview Fall Essay

USC uses the Common Application, which will ask you to write an essay in response to one of the prompts shown below. Your essay should be approximately 250-500 words and demonstrate your ability to express yourself in a clear, organized manner. This will help admission counselors get to know you and assess how well you might fit in at USC.

• Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
• Discuss some issue of personal, local, national or international concern and its importance to you.
• Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
• Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
• A range of academic interests, personal perspectives and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
• Topic of your choice.