How to Write the USC Admissions Essay

 USC Excerpt

by Sarah O'Neill, Coatesville, Supreme Editing

According to USC admissions (via their website):

“We are also looking for your potential to make an impact: willingness to go beyond the requirements, to dig deeply into texts, to explore ideas and become a lifelong learner. Ultimately, we look for students who will become enthusiastic partners in

learning and research.” USC looks for students with a variety of perspectives and passions, who will enrich each other’s education by challenging each other, inside the classroom and out. Your essay and short-answer responses should reflect your unique personality and your voice. Your narrative should reveal your values and paint a picture of you and how you will contribute to the dynamic USC community. Share your strengths, passions, and experiences in your own distinct way. Simply put, your application should reflect the unique and interesting person that you are.

“There is no “best” or “right” answer. We simply want to know more about you and your motivations and passions. Because application reviewers will have access to all portions of your application, we suggest that you focus your Dornsife supplemental response on a different topic than what you’ve already discussed elsewhere in your application.”

In history, the types of students admitted consisted of those who articulate how they had a realization and overcame adversity. They also detail personal passions that help them stand out as unique, whether as a lover of math, cooking, or traveling. Students also highlight their values through specific narrative experiences (such as loyalty, diversity, or close relationships). Essays revealed a creative, positive person who is willing to grow both in and out of the classroom as a life-long learner.

Supplemental Essay Excerpt

Would you rather be a pained philosopher or a happy straw dog? I thought of this question when I did a research project on the Laozi, a Pre-Qin Chinese philosophical text. Reading Laozi makes me ponder how to build a peaceful and happy society. Laozi suggests that knowledge hampers happiness as it stimulates contention which disturbs peace. “Straw dogs,”according to Laozi, have no desire or knowledge. I understand the Laozi vision of peaceful simplicity and stability within society, but the cost of sacrificing art and knowledge seems unbearable for people like me who seek happiness from wisdom and truth.

Studying Philosophy, Politics, and Law in USC will help me explore my questions. To find peace for citizens in modern day society, I will take The Politics of Peace as it explores how social changes in national and international institutions affect human’s mentality. To understand the relationship between citizens and political institutions, I will take The Social and Political Philosophy as it discusses the nature of man and society. I’m eager to conduct research with Dr. Sharon Lloyd– she investigates political philosophy, and programs about moral responsibility, political obligation, and social ethics, areas which I believe lay the foundation for collective happiness in a peaceful society. Reading philosophical texts makes me ask questions about life and society. I know I can’t fully see the truth, but I will search for more angles to approach it. Studying PPL at USC, I can explore the complexity of truth with an undisturbed heart.

by Sarah O'Neill, Coatesville, Supreme Editing


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