How to Write the University of Southern California (USC) Supplemental Essays (with Examples!) [UPDATED FOR 2024-2025]
Let’s talk about how to write the USC supplemental essays (with examples)...
How do you write USC’s supplemental essays, Lisa? The essays prompts are all over the place, and I don’t know where to start!
The supplemental essays for The University of Southern C (usually called, “Penn” or “UPenn”) are out, and I’m already getting calls for how to start writing them!
It’s no surprise. The University of Southern California has become a tremendously popular school for students in recent years. While USC has always been a “name” school in California, now it’s also become a high-desired school for students coast-to-coast. As a result, the overall acceptance rate at USC has dropped to an all-time low of less than 10% last year. (Some facts about admissions at USC).
USC: An Overview for Admissions
The University of Southern California (USC) is a private research university located in Los Angeles, California, known for its strong academic programs, vibrant campus life, and influential alumni network. Founded in 1880, USC is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions in the United States, offering a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. The university is particularly renowned for its programs in business, film, engineering, and the arts. USC's campus is situated in the heart of LA, providing students with access to a dynamic urban environment rich in cultural, career, and entertainment opportunities. With a commitment to innovation, diversity, and global engagement, USC continues to be a leading institution in higher education.
USC’s undergraduate application includes a number of supplemental essay prompts…
As an aside, USC is a school that is near and dear to my heart. One of parents worked at USC while I was growing up, so a lot of childhood was spent at USC. I’d study at Doheny library, and cheer on the Trojans at football games on weekends. Eventually, I would earn a business degree from USC Marshall myself. USC is a school that’s meant a lot to me, and I know it very well.
But enough on that…
For this year (2024-2025), USC’s undergraduate application includes a number of supplemental essay prompts…
What Are the USC Supplemental Essay Prompts?
One of USC’s supplemental essays is required for all first-year applicants.
USC Supplemental Essay #1: The Academic Interests Essay (“Why Us?)
Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests at USC Please feel free to address your first and second choice major selections. (250 word limit)
USC Short Answer Questions
In addition, USC asks all undergraduate applicants a series of short answer questions:
Describe yourself in three words.
What is your favorite snack?
Best movie of all time
Dream job
If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
Dream trip
What TV show will you binge watch next?
Which well-known person or fictional character would be your ideal roommate?
Favorite book
If you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be?
(#1 allows 25 characters for each word, and #2-10 allows 100 characters each)
Then, many of USC’s individual schools have their own school-specific essays which are required. The essay prompts for the Dornsife College of Arts & Sciences and the Viterbi School of Engineering are the USC school-specific supplemental essay prompts that I’m asked about most often: …
The USC Dornsife College of Arts & Sciences Essay Prompt:
Many of us have at least one issue or passion that we care deeply about – a topic on which we would love to share our opinions and insights in hopes of sparking intense interest and continued conversation. If you had ten minutes and the attention of a million people, what would your talk be about?
The USC Viterbi School of Engineering & Applied Sciences Essay Prompt #1:
The student body at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering is a diverse group of unique engineers and computer scientists who work together to engineer a better world for all humanity. Describe how your contributions to the USC Viterbi student body may be distinct from others. Please feel free to touch on any part of your background, traits, skills, experiences, challenges, and/or personality in helping us better understand you. (250 words)
The USC Viterbi School of Engineering & Applied Sciences Essay Prompt #2
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and their 14 Grand Challenges go hand-in-hand with our vision to engineer a better world for all humanity. Engineers and computer scientists are challenged to solve these problems in order to improve life on the planet. Learn more about the NAE Grand Challenges at http://engineeringchallenges.org and tell us which challenge is most important to you, and why. (250 words)
Let’s start unpacking these supplemental essays!
Let’s talk about how to write USC’s first supplemental essay prompt: Why us?
How to Write the USC Supplemental Essay #1 (Why Us?)
Here is the supplemental essay prompt required for all applicants to USC:
Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests at USC Please feel free to address your first and second choice major selections. (250 word limit)
This is a pretty straightforward “why us?” kind of an essay. and a rather short one at that. If you’re still relatively early in your college essay-writing process, you’ll probably be writing more than a few of these types of essays and if you’ve already been at, you’re probably an old hand.
Still, let’s take this apart for a minute…
Why Does USC Ask This Question?
Well, as I’ve said, this is a pretty common and straightforward question. In this question, USC wants to know about where you academic interests lie, and how you plan to pursue them at USC.
You are applying to college after! So it makes sense that they want to know what you actually plan to study, that you’ve done some research as to what USC’s program is like and how it can support you in your interests, and what your thoughts are as to why USC would be a good fit for you.
As I said, this isn’t mean to be a long essay, but there are two key points that you need to hit in this essay…
USC Supplemental Essay Point #1: You and Your Academic Interests
The first question that you need to answer for this essay is all about you: What are you curious about?
In other words, what are your interests? And to answer this question well, think about how how your interests came about? Was there a moment that sparked your curiosity about this area or is it something you’ve always been interested in? And how have you furthered your interest in this over time?
This is still a short essay, but USC needs to know that your curiosity comes from you as opposed to your parents, teachers, coaches, etc.
It’s easy for students to get carried away talking about all the amazing things they want to do in college, but the first part of this essay needs to be about your interests. You are one half of this “good fit” question!
USC Supplemental Essay Point #2: You and USC
The second part of this essay is about USC and how you would be furthering your interests at USC.
This means it’s time for a little legwork, and it should be fun! Take a look around USC’s information (i.e. its website) and see what you can find about the subjects you’re interested in and what opportunities may be available around them like research, programs, year abroad, student groups, etc. Note down the things that sound interesting to you.
Also, if you know anybody who is at USC or recent graduate, they would also be terrific resources for you to interview about this. Reach out and ask them about life at USC, and if they have similar interests, ask them about what they’ve done. This can give you a real perspective on what these activities are and campus life is like.
The more specific to USC you can be, the better your essay will be, so take your time and really think about what is unique to USC that draws you to it.
Once you’ve done your research, sit down and really try to visualize what your life at USC would look like. What would you want to participate in? How would you be spending your time?
Let’s take a look at an example of the USC supplemental essay: Why us?
An Example of the USC’s Supplemental Essay (“Why Us?”):
Again, this will be a short essay, but here’s an example from one of my students who was admitted to USC:
My curiosity for physics started with a simple flying static ring demonstration in high school. In high school, I became passionate about physics and started venturing outside the classroom with physics competitions and my curiosity has taken me to a quantum physics class at Princeton, and then research in optics and quantum entanglement under a mentor from the University of Pennsylvania.
My fascination evolved to include a fascination with technology and the engineering behind it. Things such as 3-D printers, electric scooters, and robots, all gave inspiration to my curiosity about how things worked and the science and technology that went into them. I signed up for a software internship where I assumed responsibilities such as the back and front end of the website, insourcing donations, and connecting businesses and programs to underprivileged communities, which is one of my proudest accomplishments.
USC would be the ideal place for me to continue my interests in physics and technology. With my interest in research, USC's research in quantum physics excites me like its projects on Condensed Matter and Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics projects present outstanding potential opportunities for me to learn from top scientists in the field of quantum physics.
USC’s science and engineering programs would also be an excellent fit for me because of its outstanding work in artificial intelligence combined with its focus on solving real-world problems through technology. I would love to participate in groups like Code for Change and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
The portion of the application which is required for all of USC’s undergraduate applicants also includes a short answer section…
How to Answer the USC Short Answer Questions
Here are USC’s short answer questions:
Describe yourself in three words.
What is your favorite snack?
Best movie of all time
Dream job
If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
Dream trip
What TV show will you binge watch next?
Which well-known person or fictional character would be your ideal roommate?
Favorite book
If you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be?
(#1 allows 25 characters for each word, and #2-10 allows 100 characters each)
Now, I get a lot of questions from students about the USC short answers: “Do they really want to know my favorite snack?”, “What if I think the best movie of all time is “Weekend at Bernie’s”?, “Is this really as straightforward as it looks? Or am I psyching myself out about this?”
So let’s unpack this for a moment…
USC asks the short answer questions and supplemental essay prompts to get a better sense of you!
Why Does USC Ask The Short Answer Questions?
USC’s short answer questions are quite a shift from some of their more involved essays like the TedTalk essay for Dornsife or the National Academy of Engineering question for Viterbi! And so it’s easy to start wondering what the greater meaning of a question like “What TV show will you binge watch next?”.
You may be asking yourself, Really, does USC want to know what my TV binge-watching habits are?
And the answer actually, is Yes!
With this series of short answer questions, USC really does want to get to know a little more about who you are, what you’re about, and how you think about things that aren’t strictly academic.
This is a chance to show some more of the interesting way that you see the world that’s not like anyone else: your personality, your humor, your goofiness… It’s also a terrific opportunity to show a side of yourself that may not be captured in the rest of your application. For example, if you’re applying for Computer Science at Viterbi but also have a deep, deep passion for Charlie Chaplin and silent films, the short answer gives you a chance to say something about it.
In short, this is a chance to show what makes you… YOU!
How Do Students Go Wrong with the USC Short Answer Questions?
So there’s a lot of room to have fun in answering the USC short answers, but there are a couple of ways that it could go wrong…
First, there’s the obvious way, which rarely comes up, but I figure I should mention it anyway. OBVIOUSLY, you don’t want to answer with anything that could be interpreted as racist, sexist, violence-prone, etc. It goes without saying that USC wants to know that you’re going to be a good citizen in their classrooms, dorms, clubs, etc.
The less obvious, but much more common issue with answering the USC is giving generic, “canned”, or “Hallmark card” answers.
Let me give you an example with the first question: Describe yourself in three words.
On first read, a student may think, “Well, I’m “hard-working,” “intelligent,” and “kind.” That’s three words!”
And sure, those may be three words that describe. Those three words also probably describe 95% of USC applicant pool, and the admissions committee can probably already get a sense that you’re hard-working, intelligent, and kind from all the other pieces of your application: your transcript, your recommendations, your extracurriculars, etc.
What can you say about yourself that’s not already in front of them?
The Big Tip: Be Specific in Your Answers to USC’s Short Answer Questions
So here’s my big tip with regard to the USC short answer questions: Be specific in your answers. What you can you say with your answers that can help the admissions office form a clearer picture of you?
Here are some more specific tips and examples to help you out!
Here are examples and tips for answering the USC short answer questions!
USC Short Questions: Examples and Tips
USC Short Answer #1: Describe Yourself in Three Words
Brainstorm the words and be creative. These can be three separate adjectives, but they can also be a three word phrase like “purple midnight dancer”.
USC Short Answer #2: What is your favorite snack?
This is one of those questions where it pays to be specific, and REMEMBER, you have 100 characters for this question and the ones after it, so you have room!
“Cheetos” is not going to be a very satisfying answer to the admissions committee. “KFC-flavored chips” is a little better, but just that would likely still be puzzling to an admissions officer.
What would be better would be something like: “KFC-flavored chips. They always remind me of fishing with my grandpa in Greece” or “KFC-flavored chips. A delicious, unexpected find from the backstreet bodegas of Chania, Greece.”
USC Short Answer #3: Best movie of all time
Even more than Question #2, this is one that you should definitely explain: Why is this movie the best of all time to you?
And keep in mind, it really doesn’t matter if your answer is “The Wizard of Oz,” “Weekend at Bernie’s” or a European arthouse movie that almost no one’s ever heard of. This is going to be one of those “Why?” matters more than “What?” answers.
Here’s an example:
“The Gold Rush. No matter how I’m feeling, when Chaplin starts dancing with the dinner rolls, I have to crack up and smile.”
USC Short Answer Question #4: Dream job
Dream big! One of the things that can flummox people is how this short answer question can overlap with the main USC essay (“Why us?”). After all, if you explained your passion for medicine and one day caring for patients in that essay, what new aspect of yourself can you bring to this question?
I say, dream big!
Yes, maybe your lifelong dream is to become a doctor, but if you could envision your dream job what would like it look like? Would it be to be the physician for the first human colony on Mars? If your passion is political science, is your dream job to one day represent your hometown in Congress and introduce a bill for clean water in your district?
Here are an example:
My dream job would be becoming the physician for the first human colony on Mars. What a scientific adventure it would be!
USC Short Answer Question #5. If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
Okay, yes, the question asks for a song, but unless the song is really, really well-known and obvious, think more about inspirational song titles that resonate for you with this one. For example:
“Don’t stop believing” by Journey
“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” by Kelly Clarkson
“Brave” by Sara Bareilles
“Take That Chance” by Fearless Soul
You get the idea!
USC Short Ansewr Question #6: Dream Trip
Your dream trip doesn’t have to be a literal place (although it could be!). This could a real place, a fictional one, or even a trip to a difference time and space. So for example:
Spending a summer with our former exchange student and his family working on their farm and biking around Croatia.
I’ve dreamed of riding through the galaxy with Han Solo and Chewie on the Millennium Falcon since I was 5.
USC Short Answer Question #7: What TV show will you binge watch next?
Again, this is one of those things which could go in a lot of different directions, but pick something that shows a different side of yourself. So do you watch the Food Network to relax? Do you dying to bingewatch “Suits”? Or maybe you’re a secret history buff who’s wondering what the big deal is about “The Crown”?
These all could be good ways to go, but pick one that shows something that’s not already in your application!
USC Short Answer Question #8: Which well-known person or fictional character would be your ideal roommate?
Again, this is something that could go in different directions, but you’re definitely going to want to explain this one. What makes would make this person your ideal roommate? And remember, the reason could be something offbeat like:
Winston Churchill. Besides being hilarious, he was a huge animal lover, and I know we’d bond over our love of animals.
USC Short Answer Question #9: Favorite book.
Don’t pick something off the standard high school curriculum if you can help it. They want to know something different about you, so show what you like to read that’s might not so obvious like
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sakegawa
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
USC Short Answer Question #10: If you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be?
Like the TedTalk essay topic for Dornsife (see the guide to that essay below), this could serious or whimsical (or a lot of other things for that matter), but whatever the topic and elaboration you give should show something interesting about yourself.
Here’s an example:
Digital Media, Technology and Society: a Golden Age or the Beginning of the End?
In addition to this questions, many of USC’s individual schools have their own supplemental essay prompts.
Let’s take a look at the supplemental essay prompt required for USC’s Dornsife College of Arts and Sciences…
Let’s talk about how to write the USC supplemental essay for the Dornsife College of Arts & Sciences (the ‘TedTalk essay”).
How to Write the USC Supplemental Essay for the Dornsife College of Arts and Sciences
Here is the supplemental essay prompt required for applicants to USC’s Dornsife College of Arts and Sciences:
Many of us have at least one issue or passion that we care deeply about – a topic on which we would love to share our opinions and insights in hopes of sparking intense interest and continued conversation. If you had ten minutes and the attention of a million people, what would your talk be about?
For many students, this supplemental essay prompt is a headscratcher on first read. so let’s break it down!
Why Does USC Ask This Question?
This is one of those questions like the Penn “Thank you” essay and the Stanford “Roommate” essay which is really specific to a school. I actually don’t know another school which asks a question quite like this, which does make you wonder: What’s the point of this question?
And I think the point is: In making you ponder what you would talk about if you did have ten minutes and the attention of a million people, it’s asking you (again!) in a different way, what is important to you? And what is important enough that you would use this golden opportunity to tell a million people about?
Yes, it’s another of of those supplemental essay questions which is asking you to think about your values!
But how to answer this supplemental essay prompt effectively?
There are two main points that you need to hit with your answer to this prompt…
USC Supplemental Essay for Arts & Sciences Point #1: What Would Your Talk Be About?
So the first point that you need to hit in answering this question is very to the point: What do you want this talk to be about?
If you had ten minutes and the attention of a million people, what would you want to tell them? In short, what would you give your TedTalk about?
This sounds simple, but when I go over drafts of this essay, when I ask students, “Okay, so what is you talk actually going to be about?”, a surprising number of students have a hard time articulating what they envision as their topic.
The first part of the USC-Dornsife supplemental essay is what your Tedtalk would actually be about…
What you should be aiming for is literally 1-2 sentences describing what you would want to talk about. If it helps, think about how you would complete the sentence:
“If I had ten minutes and the attention of a million people, I would want to tell them….”
So, for example, would you want to say very literal like:
“If I had ten minutes and the attention of a million people, I would want to tell them about how so many environmental policies discriminate against Third World countries….”
or would you want other say something more inspirational like:
““If I had ten minutes and the attention of a million people, I would want to tell them about the importance of giving gratitude….”
or perhaps you would want to go the whimsical route like:
““If I had ten minutes and the attention of a million people, I would want to tell them to eat a chocolate chip cookie every day….”
Believe it or not, this is actually not the most important part of your essay. The much more important part of your essay, is the next point…
The second part of the USC TedTalk supplemental essay is why is it worth telling a million people.
USC Supplemental Essay for Arts & Sciences Point #2: Why Is This Worth Telling a Million People?
This is one of those essays like Penn’s Thank You Essay or the University of Texas’s “The Extracurricular You’re Most Proud of” where the What? doesn’t matter nearly as much as the Why?.
What I mean by that is that, as I mentioned, you can approach the immediate answer many different ways. You could give a policy-driven answer. You could give an answer that leans into the spiritual. Or you can go the whimsical route.
Any of those choices (or any number of other choices for that matter) can work for your answer, but what the admissions committee really wants to understand is your why, if given the opportunity to speak to a million people for ten minutes, you would make that choice.
What are the values that are so important to you that they’re guiding you in this once-in-a-lifetime choice? Why is this what you would want to communicate to a million people?
Do you want to tell me people that environmental policies discriminate against Third World countries because, as we make hard choices about how we allocate resources towards environmental projects, equity is important?
Do you want to tell people about the importance of giving gratitude every day because, in giving gratitude every day, we celebrate the present, improve our mental well-being, and strengthen our relationships with those around us?
Do you want to tell people about how a chocolate chip cookie is an opportunity for people across the political spectrum to come together in a moment of authentic social interaction and shared joy?
This essay prompt is all about giving you a vehicle to share your guiding values, so take advantage of it!
But what does this actually look like?
Here’s an example of the USC Dornsife supplemental essay (the “TedTalk essay”).
An Example of the USC Supplemental Essay for Dornsife (the “TedTalk Essay”):
Here’s an example of this essay from one of my students who was admitted to USC…
If I had the attention of a million people, I would want to tell them about my life as an “American bacha”.
That’s what my grandfather would playfully call me, when he would tease me about no longer being a real Tajik.
It used to puzzle me when he’d call me an "American bacha" as it seemed to mean that my grandpa saw me as an outsider. Born in Uzbekistan, I had grown up speaking five languages, including Russian, Uzbek, and Tajik. However, in the States, even my native language, Tajik, has become less fluent, leading to moments of embarrassment.
What I would want people to know is that being an American bacha isn’t about losing my own identity. It’s about how much I’ve gained in the experience. While I take pride in my own Tajik culture, in my Indian friend's home, I learned the significance of familial support. My Chinese friends emphasized respect for elders, teaching subtle acts of respect, and my Jewish friends underscored the importance of aiding those in need
With these experiences, conversations with my grandfather took on a new significance, as I shared my cultural experiences with him , and asked him more about our own cultural history. I’m even working on my Tajik again!
Being an American bacha has made me appreciate my own cultural identity more, not less, so I embrace it now. It’s part of who I am, and that’s what I would want people to know.
Let’s start taking a look at how to write the USC Viterbi supplemental essay prompts…
How to Write the USC Viterbi School of Engineering & Applied Sciences Essay Prompts
Coming soon!
Need more help with your college essays?
Check out my college essay coaching!
And for additional help with your college applications, check out my college admissions consulting and college interview preparation and coaching.
Are you applying to NYU? Check out my blog on How to Write the NYU Supplemental Essay (with an Example!).
Are you applying to the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)? Check out my guide: How to Write the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) Supplemental Essays (with Examples!)
Or How to Write the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) Supplemental Essays (with Examples!)
Check out my blogs on popular college admissions topics like:
How to Write the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay
How to Write a College Essay about Leadership (with Examples!)
9 Good Questions to Ask During Your College Interview
What Not to Write About in Your College Essay
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