Our freshman application deadlines have passed which means we are in the thick of file review. The chatty nature of recruitment and catching up with colleagues is replaced by quiet concentration in cubicles as we review thousands of applications. I love file review and getting to read the stories of my applicants but also know that now thousands of applicants are now twiddling their thumbs waiting for a decision. A lot goes in to the review of an application and we take this responsibility quite seriously but I promise you April 1 seems just as far away to us as it does to you.

What is the point of a college application? If you’ve started working on your applications this may be a question you’ve asked yourself either out of reflection or perhaps frustration. We ask you for an application because we want to get to know you and get a sense of how you may thrive academically and personally at USC. We don’t have time to sit down and talk to every applicant one on one so we ask you to give us a variety of information to try and gain a sense of who you are. As you complete your applications, ask yourselves if the content reflects who you are, not just as a student but also as a person.

I’m going to pop your bubble.  Ready?  There is no such thing as your perfect school.  I know this goes against what you may have been hearing since you started learning about college.  I know you probably don’t believe me, especially if you have a dream school.  You’ve been told that when you find the right school you’ll get a feeling and you’ll just know, but I’m here to tell you that there is more than one college for you, where you’ll get a great education and have a memorable experience.  Same thing goes for your first apartment, job or move to a new city.  I think we do ourselves a disservice in searching for just one, solitary option and ruling out the rest instead of focusing on our attitude and readiness to embrace something new.

At the beginning of my senior year I was very aware of the looming college process.  The majority of people at my high school went on to college so “where are you applying?” was a common question.  At this point, I had already met with a couple college counselors, been on a trip to the south and east coast to visit schools and taken the SAT.  You would think that that would have made me feel prepared, or like I understood what the application process and overall purpose of college was, but that was far from the truth.

We’ve talked a lot about how summer is the slowest season in admission and how important it is for us to relax.  Contrary to what may be popular belief (do you even think about us over the summer!?), we do find ways to keep ourselves busy throughout the summer months.  From fabricated things like Chicken-Nugget-Offs and water bottle jousting to more important tasks like hosting high school counselors and developing a new way to track the more than 700 college fair invitations, rarely are we just sitting around doing nothing.

Have you ever wondered if the email you addressed to Rice but sent to USC traveled between the two schools?  Did your high school counselor really used to sit next to your admission counselor at your dream school?  Are they actually still friends?  How did the YouTube video you made for your high school open house make it to the admission counselor who is interviewing you?  Do counselors who work at rival schools hang out!?

Living at home is amazing.  I moved back into my parent’s house for the first three months of graduate school and was happy to do laundry without quarters, not worry about the functionality of my wireless internet (Pictured: trying to train my cat to fix my internet) and not have to parallel park every evening.  I happily allowed my parents to take over the mechanics of my life again but was very ready to move out, even though it meant having to call Time Warner Cable/Kaiser/everywhere on my own.  For many high school students, the college application process is the first big process they are navigating on their own.  Certainly we expect parents and counselors to help guide a student, but here are five things I think every high school student should do to help them own the process instead of letting their parents take the lead.

Whether you think social media is the downfall of a generation or you can’t imagine living without it, there is no question that it has become embedded in the lives of most high school and college students.  So, how do you maintain a social media profile that shows your personality and allows you to connect with friends but is also appropriate should someone who doesn’t know you stumble upon it?

  Hey Everyone!  My name is Sam and I am so excited to be joining the USC Admission Blog! I’ve been working in the office for almost four years now and have worked with Houston, Austin, San Antonio and the central coast of California since I started. I’m from SoCal and attended Calabasas High School before going to Nashville, TN for college. At Vanderbilt, I double majored in Spanish and psychology and then came back to LA and did a masters in social work here at USC.