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College Essays

So you have your heart set on going to the University of Southern California . That's great—it's one of the best schools in the country ! Unfortunately, that makes it tough to get into: only 10% of applicants are admitted each year .

But don't worry. This guide will teach you everything you need to know to write an outstanding USC Writing Supplement .

We'll answer all of your questions, including the following:

• What is the USC supplement?
• What are the questions, and how do I answer them?
• Are there tips and tricks for knocking your USC essays out of the park?
• What steps do I take to finish my USC application?

Let's get started!

Feature Image: Sitao Xiang / Wikimedia

What Is the USC Supplement?

The USC Writing Supplement is an additional part of the USC application that you fill out on the Common App website.

The supplement itself consists of two writing prompts (250 words each) and 12 short-answer questions (100 characters each) . The word limits mean you'll have to cram a lot of information into a small amount of space.

Great USC essays are going to be concise, honest, creative, and engaging . Remember, USC designed the supplement to help admissions counselors get a better sense of your personality. Don't be afraid to embrace your individuality here! It's your chance to share aspects of yourself, your life, and your goals that aren't captured by the Common App.

In other words: this is your time to shine.

( Bobak Ha'Eri / Wikimedia)

Where Can I Find the USC Supplement?

The writing supplement is part of the USC Common Application. Once you've selected USC as one of your colleges, it should pop up in the application portal. If you're not exactly sure how to find it, don't worry ... here's a step-by-step guide!

• Log into the Common App website using your username and password.
• Click on the "College Search" tab and look for "University of Southern California."
• Select the search result and then click "add" to add it to your profile.
• Return to your dashboard and look for "University of Southern California." Click the label below the school that reads "Show more details."
• From there, click on the link titled "Writing Questions."
• You can also access the supplement by clicking on "University of Southern California" and scrolling down the school's home page on the Common App to find a link labeled "Writing Questions."

How Do I Answer the USC Essay Prompts?

The writing supplement contains two short writing prompts designed to showcase both your writing skills and your personality. But because you're limited to 250 words, you need to make every word count .

Here are some general strategies to keep in mind.

#1: Use a Standard Format

It's important that you aren't wasting precious space. A good strategy is to limit your intro/thesis statement and your conclusion to one sentence each . That lets you use the rest of the space to answer the prompt.

#2: Show, Don't Tell

Instead of giving run-of-the-mill answers, use stories and anecdotes to illustrate your point. Paint a picture for your audience when you can!

For example, say you're talking about your love of photography. Instead of writing, "I love to photograph people," see if you can capture the feeling of taking someone's picture.

A better sentence might read, "I love trying to capture people's personalities through my camera lens." The first answer tells us that you enjoy photography, but the second response shows us why you love it .

#3: Edit, Edit, Edit

Don't be disappointed if your first attempt at answering these prompts goes over the word limit. That's OK! Keep cutting and revising until you end up with something great.

Here are a few examples of how you can edit a sentence to make every word work:

• OK: "It was the very best experience of my whole life."
• Better: "It was the best experience of my life."
• Best: "The trip was transformational."
• Passive: "Geology would be my preferred major."
• Active: "I plan to major in geology."
• With "is": "Researching cancer treatments is my ultimate career goal."
• Without "is": "I plan to pursue a career in cancer research."

#4: Don't Wait Until the Last Minute

The USC supplement is short, so it's tempting to tackle it at the end of the application process. Don't! Writing short responses is harder than it looks, so give yourself plenty of time .

The USC Essay

USC is making things more streamlined this year: everyone answers the same question! Here's the prompt:

Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections.

What Is This Question Asking You to Do?

No option here: you're stuck with this prompt and limited to 250 words in your response. But that's OK because this is the "Why USC?" question. (It's a version of what we call the "why this college" around here.)

Why do you need to go to USC to fulfill your dreams? Or, put another way: why is USC the only school for you?

This means choosing and discussing your major (and your second-choice major if your program is very competitive). Remember that you're not committed to the major you pick . You can change majors after you've enrolled.

How Do You Answer This Question?

Research, research, research. Visit the USC website and get to know your college, your department, and the classes offered. Also, take a close look at your major's course of study. If you're going to take classes from other departments, figure out which ones and why. For example, if you're majoring in international relations and want to work in China, you'll probably take foreign language/culture courses (like Advanced Modern Chinese) and political science courses (like Chinese Foreign Policy). Research the professors in the department and mention them by name.

• Seize the day. There's more to college than going to class. Making the most of USC means getting involved and taking advantage of opportunities such as internships and study abroad programs. There are over 100 international fellowships and programs available through different colleges, so be sure to look into them . Mentioning programs like the Global Fellows Internship (available to all students) or the Maymester , which is a major-specific opportunity, shows that you're serious about making the most of your education at USC.
• Focus on USC. Your job is to show why USC and nowhere else can help you achieve your dreams.

Optional Essay: Explaining Your Education Gap

Who is this question for.

First thing's first: not everyone needs to answer this question. Only respond to this prompt if you took a semester or more off between high school and enrolling in college, or if you took time off while enrolled in high school.

So if you took a gap year (or two, or three), you should answer this question.

This isn't a trick question. Admissions counselors genuinely want to know why you took time off between high school and starting college. And don't worry if your reason isn't "sexy," like you were rescuing sea turtles off the coast of Argentina or teaching English to underprivileged students in Iowa. For most people, the answers will fall along the lines of getting a job, financial difficulties, or helping out their family.

In short: this question is asking you to honestly explain your education gap so that admissions counselors have a better idea of you and your story.

How Do You Answer the Question?

• Keep it short and sweet. It's tempting to give admissions counselors every detail of your situation. But the truth is, they only need to know the most pertinent information while still being honest. Remember: you only have 250 words!
• Explain why you're choosing now to return to school. Counselors are also going to be interested in why you want to go to college now. Be honest about this, too! It's okay to say that you wanted to take some time off to really figure out what you wanted to do with your life, and now you're prepared and excited to throw yourself into your studies. Whatever the case may be, make it clear that you're ready to be an engaged and dedicated student regardless of your education gap.
• Don't make excuses. This isn't a "woe is me" section. While taking time off between high school and college may have been out of your control, this isn't the time to air your grievances. The best answers to this question will keep things as honest and positive as possible.

Your answers in the next section might be small, but they're mighty.

Freddie Alequin /Flickr

The USC Short-Answer Questions

On the surface, the short-answer questions seem simple, but many students find this section the hardest part of the supplement . That's because these responses are limited to 100 characters or less—shorter than a tweet!

Here are some general tips to make tackling the USC short-answer questions a breeze:

#1: Maximize the space you have. There's room to elaborate on your answers a bit, and you should.

#2: There are no right answers. Admissions counselors don't have specific responses in mind. This is their way of trying to get to know the person behind the application.

#3: You're more than a major. It's tempting to make every answer tie into your major or future career in some way; instead, your answers should capture who you are as a person and hark back to your academic goals only if it makes sense for them to.

#4: Don't be afraid of a little humor. Embrace being funny but not at someone else's expense. 

#5: Avoid clichés.

#6: Keep it tasteful. If you wouldn't say it to your parents, don't say it to an admissions counselor!

Now that you have some solid strategies, let's look at each question individually.

Questions 1-3: Describe Yourself in Three Words

A good way to tackle this question is to ask your friends and family to text you their responses, and look for patterns . For example, if five people say you are nice and caring, combine those into one idea, such as "empathetic."

Adjectives are the most common words to use, but you can pick nouns, too! Just stick to ones with personality (like "bookworm" if you love to read, or "shutterbug" if you're a photographer). Choose words that are highly descriptive (e.g., "enthusiastic" instead of "fun") and avoid clichés as much as you can.

Oh, and the supplement breaks this response into three separate fields , so make sure you don't type all three words on one line ! Also, note that there's a 25-character limit per word, so think "antidisestablishmentarian" or shorter.

Here are some sample responses:

• Whimsical, artistic, collaborative
• Competitive, thoughtful, engaging
• Loquacious, jovial, encouraging
• Reserved, compassionate, giving

Question 4: What Is Your Favorite Snack?

Here's a chance to showcase your personality by being specific . Let's say that you love peanut M&Ms. A specific answer might say, "Eating peanut M&Ms while watching a scary movie."

You can also touch on your personal history , especially if you come from a diverse background. You could say something like "My abuela's enchiladas" or "Almond Crush Pocky" as a nod to your heritage.

Finally, lean into your weird . We all have strange snacks that somehow hit the spot (we're looking at you, hot dog buns dunked in hot chocolate). If there's a bonkers food you enjoy—such as dipping tater tots in soft-serve ice cream—this is your time to shine. An added bonus? It will definitely make an impression.

• Perfectly toasted marshmallows while sitting around a campfire.
• A hot dog and soda from Fenway Park.
• Homemade apple pie with melted cheddar cheese on top!
• A package of Digestive Biscuits (they're cookies!) and a glass of milk.

Question 5: Best Movie of All Time

This question can make applicants anxious because people are passionate about the movies they love ... and the movies they love to hate! That's why we recommend that you either give a serious answer or embrace your silliness.

This goes without saying, but make sure your movie choice is appropriate . If you wouldn't watch it with your family, don't list it here. Also, steer clear of any super-controversial picks—don't pick a film that's clearly discriminatory, such as Birth of a Nation.

• Serious: Blade Runner because of its influence on sci-fi film.
• Serious: Saving Private Ryan . It reminds us that war is hard, dangerous, and tragic.
• Silly: The Lion King . We should all "hakuna matata" a little more!
• Both: Legally Blonde —I love stories about women chasing their dreams.

What is your ideal job? Maybe it's making mini beach dioramas in vintage suitcases.

Question 6: Dream Job

Obviously, this answer should roughly align with your major . (Don't say your dream job is to play Aaron Burr in Hamilton if you're majoring in computer science.)

You should also think big and think ahead. For instance, if you're a computer science major, maybe you want to start a company that develops assistive AI for people with disabilities. Embrace big goals!

The more specific you are, the better. Don't just say you want to be a veterinarian. What kind of animals do you want to work with? Will you specialize in something? Do you want to own your own practice? Adding detail will make your answer stand out.

• A large-animal veterinarian that helps rural farmers care for their livestock.
• The owner of a non-profit that helps women of color succeed in corporate America.
• A judge appointed to the US Courts of Appeals.

Question 7: If Your Life Had a Theme Song, What Would It Be?

Everyone needs a little walk-in music. As you think about yours, choose a song with a title that makes a point . It's tempting to pick a song with a specific lyric that speaks to you, but your admissions counselor might not be able to make the connection. Think more along the lines of "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty or "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" by Aretha Franklin and the Eurythmics.

Be careful that your song title can't be misconstrued. "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred might seem like a funny choice to you, but it could also come across as cocky or overconfident.

Additionally, keep your choice appropriate . Look through the song lyrics to make sure they aren't offensive.

And whatever you do, don't say the Trojan Fight Song . That's probably the most popular—and most clichéd—answer you could possibly give!

• "Beautiful Day" by U2
• "My Shot" from the Hamilton soundtrack
• "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey

Maybe your dream trip is a mix of adventure and van life.

Question 8: Dream Trip

There's no special trick to answering this question. Just be honest and specific! And feel free to focus on experiences as well as destinations. Maybe you want to snorkel with stingrays in the Caribbean or visit the Lord of the Rings set locations in New Zealand. Share that here!

• Letting a lantern go during the Floating Lantern Festival in Thailand.
• Hiking to the top of Machu Picchu.
• Driving from California to Illinois on Route 66 with my best friends.
• Eating paella from a street vendor in Barcelona.
• Visiting Zimbabwe and bungee jumping off the Victoria Falls Bridge.

Question 9: What TV Show Will You Binge Watch Next?

This is another question designed to reveal something about you, your likes, and your dislikes. We suggest that you pick a show you like, as long as it isn't completely without substance. If you're having a hard time choosing, try narrowing it down to your favorite genre first.

• I'll binge Making a Murderer because I'm interested in how the justice system works (and doesn't work).
• The Good Place because it combines comedy and philosophy!
• Friends because it helps you understand interpersonal relationships.

I'm bingeing RuPaul's Drag Race and learning a lot about drag culture and inclusivity.

Question 10: Which Well-Known Person or Fictional Character Would Be Your Ideal Roommate?

This question essentially wants to know who you could see yourself living with on a daily basis , whether it's a fictional character from a TV show or book you love, or a real-life celebrity, such as a movie star, singer, scientist, activist, writer, or historical figure.

The prompt doesn't limit you to living celebrities, so feel free to write about somebody who passed away recently (think Stephen Hawking) or even centuries ago (such as Jane Austen).

Make sure that you're choosing a person who will reveal something positive and/or unique about yourself. It's also OK to throw in a little humor! For example, if you're a huge Renaissance-period buff, you could talk about how you'd love to live with King Henry VIII because he'd entertain you every night with stories of his marriages.

Regardless of who you choose to write about, remember that the admissions committee wants to learn something about you through the person you pick to be your roommate , so be sure that you can clearly tie them back to yourself and your own interests somehow.

• Marie Curie because we could conduct experiments together after class every day.
• Hermione Granger! She'd be a great study buddy and could teach me magic on the side.
• David Sedaris. We could write stories together and he'd never fail to make me laugh!

Question 11: Favorite Book

This is a pretty straightforward question that's similar to the "favorite movie" one above. Be honest— don't try to pass off a book as one of your favorites just because it sounds impressive or is highly intellectual . The admissions committee will likely be able to tell if you're trying to show off!

At the same time, don't write about a book that's overly childish or inappropriate , or that fails to reveal anything interesting or impressive about you. For instance, even if you really love Twilight , unless you can say something a little more intellectual about it, such as how you enjoy analyzing its portrayal of codependency in teenage relationships, this book likely won't leave much of a positive impression on the USC admissions committee.

• Wild because this book inspired me to be courageous and go on a three-day hike by myself.
• Lolita is my favorite book because it's downright disturbing yet hauntingly beautiful.
• Definitely The Hobbit . It was the first book I read that showed me the power of taking risks.

Question 12: If You Could Teach a Class on any Topic, What Would It Be?

This final question from USC is truly a thought-provoking one. Basically, the admissions committee wants to know what kind of class you'd teach if you could choose any topic of interest to you .

While the topic you write about doesn't need to directly relate to your major, it should definitely be something you're deeply passionate (and, ideally, fairly knowledgeable) about . Are you really into horror movies and enjoy dissecting their depictions of female characters? Then perhaps you'd like to teach a class on women in horror.

Be as specific as you can be. Don't just say you want to teach a class on the environment because you're committed to combating climate change. What specific topic concerning the environment or climate change would you like others to learn more about, and why?

• A creative writing class that would focus on writing stories from the perspective of children.
• Women of color in astronomy. Too few know about the accomplishments of Beth Brown and Mae Jemison!
• The Navajo language. Not enough schools teach it and we Native Americans must strive to preserve it.

Finishing your supplement is like climbing a really tall flight of stairs. Just put one foot in front of the other! 

Next Steps for Your USC Supplement

Even once you've finished and submitted your Common App and USC essays, you're not quite done. Most of USC's colleges require you to submit additional materials, such as portfolios or writing samples, before your application is considered complete.

Visit the links below to view each college's supplemental application requirements and submission deadlines:

• USC School of Architecture
• Roski School of Art and Design
• Iovine and Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation
• Marshall School of Business (World Bachelor in Business)
• USC School of Cinematic Arts
• Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
• Kaufman School of Dance
• Ostrow School of Dentistry (Junior Transfers Only)
• USC School of Dramatic Arts
• Viterbi School of Engineering
• Thornton School of Music

Need Some Extra Help?

The USC application process can be overwhelming, but PrepScholar is here to help you succeed ! Check out our resources below for more information about how our experts can help you achieve your dreams.

Haven't started your Common Application yet? No problem! We've got you covered with tips and tricks to make your application stand out from the crowd .

Start learning more about USC! Check out their admission requirements , mission statement, admission website, and this great blog post about getting to know USC without leaving your couch.

Still stressed about your supplement? Get in touch with PrepScholar's college admissions team !

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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4 University of Southern California (USC) EssaysThatWorked

Applying to USC in 2023 means that you are facing a lot of competition.

Luckily, one of the most effective tools you have to stand out from the crowd is your essays and responses to USC's writing supplement.

In this article, I've gathered 4 of the best essays from students admitted into the University of Southern California so that you can get inspired and improve your own USC essays.

What is University of Southern California's Acceptance Rate?

This past year, a record 70,971 students applied to USC and only 8,804 students were offered admission. That means USC had an overall acceptance rate of only 12.4%.

If you're trying to maximize your shot of getting into USC, writing essays that show why you should be accepted is one of your best strategies.

USC Acceptance Scattergram

The more competitive a school admissions is, the more heavily your essays are weighed. Let's check out the USC prompts for this year.

What are the University of Southern California Supplemental Prompts for 2022-23?

For its application this year, USC requires students to respond to three short essay questions and ten short answer questions.

USC has an intensive writing section, which means its even more important for you to make your responses the best they can be.

Here are the University of Southern California prompts for 2023:

Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections. (Approximately 250 words) (1-250 words)

Starting with the beginning of high school/secondary school, if you have had a gap where you were not enrolled in school during a fall or spring term, please address this gap in your educational history. You do not need to address a summer break. (0-250 words)

Describe yourself in three words.

What is your favorite snack?

Best movie of all time:

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?

4 University of Southern California EssaysThatWorked

Here are 4 of the best USC essays that worked for this years writing supplement.

Below you can read how admitted USC students answered the short essay and short answer questions. In addition, I've included some Common App personal statements examples recently accepted students.

See exactly how students got into USC and get inspired:

USC Essay Example #1

Usc essay example #2, usc essay example #3, usc essay example #4.

Prompt: What is something about yourself that is essential to understanding you? (250 words max)

If I had a fatal flaw it would be loyalty. Of all the things I value, the one thing I value the most is my family. Coming after family is my friends; I consider my friends to be an extended branch of family. My close friends know that I value my friendship and that I would do almost anything for them if they asked me. I am very trusting with my friends, because I know that if I am there to support them, they will be there to support me. Without my friends, I would not be who and where I am now, as they have helped me through my years and shaped me to be the trusting and loyal person I am.

Very often, I put my friends before me, and this is because I know that if I were in the same situation as them, they would opt to help me. My loyalty to my friends helps them understand why I do what I do, and it helps me make even more friends. Wherever I go, I want to go with friends, because I believe that I can go farther when I have others with me rather than going fast and alone, but not as far.

The sounds of my knife striking kale unnerves my cat asleep in the corner. He quickly runs over to examine the situation but becomes instantly uninterested when he sees green and smells bitterness. Unfortunately, my family has this same reaction every day of every week.

They question, “It’s bad enough that you’re going to eat kale, but do you really have to massage it?” I respond with a deep breath, during which I recall information from nutritionfacts.org. I begin to explain, “Well you see, it takes away the bitterness, because kale is composed of cellulose, so when you massage it with a strong acid–”but as I continue to delve into my rather scientific and oftentimes molecular rationale behind transforming myself into a masseuse to make a salad, everyone begins snoring. I guess no one has ever understood my immense love for the science behind cooking (and probably never will).

Sure, my family, friends, small, undiverse and traditional high school all look at me like I am crazy, but I guess that is because I am. I do not look at kale and think “dark green, bitter, disgusting plant.” Instead, I see proteins and anticarcinogenic properties--analyzing the anatomy of food seems to occupy my mind.

Cooking is an art, visual, creative and instinctive. My favorite nights are spent with knife in hand and sweet potatoes in the oven. Food is my artist outlet, and one of the few things to feed my soul (and my stomach, too).

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Prompt: Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections. (250 words max)

All throughout my life, I always loved doing math no matter what the concept. My love for math led to me taking advanced math classes for my grade. I even had to take a bus to a high school when I was in middle school to take an advanced math class. I always knew that I would want to pursue a career dealing with mathematics, but I was not really sure until my junior year. I had not decided what I wanted to be in the future, so my uncle suggested being a CPA, and I looked into it. When I did my research, it interested me as they made a decent amount of money and they worked with numbers.

At USC, I would like to major in accounting and gain the opportunity to possibly receive an internship at one of the big accounting firms in Los Angeles through the networking of USC. If I were able to get an internship, I would be able to gain experience for when I graduate and search for a job. I would also consider going for a Masters of Business Administration as I know that USC has one of the best business programs in the country.

I had never considered traveling across the country to pursue an education. In fact, living in Pittsburgh all of my life and growing up with people who are so adamant about staying put, forced me to believe that I too had to box myself into this small, yet evolving city. However, now I can confidently tell my friends and family that I want to travel to California for college (and ignore their odd looks).

What strikes me most about USC is its ability to maintain uniformity despite its diverse student body--in interests, ethnicity, and opinion. There are not many schools where I could be best friends with filmmakers, artists, photographers, chemists, potential CEOs, and writers. Although all of these people are spread across different schools, they still seem to maintain a cultural unity. Being surrounded by such a distinct trojan pride combined with the ambitious atmosphere would be both inspiring and propulsive.

At USC, I would not have to confine to merely one of my interests. I have always had aspirations of becoming a doctor and pursuing neuroscience, but have never felt comfortable ignoring the humanities. As a Trojan, I could pursue research at the Dana and David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center or even take part in PIBBS, while also honing my writing skills through the intricate Writing Program.

Much like the students, my interests could somehow be molded into a diverse uniformity, and I could prove my fellow Pittsburghers that perhaps they need to move around more.

What Can You Learn From These USC Essays?

If you want to get into the University of Southern California, you'll need to answer the USC writing supplement questions as best you can. To help improve your essays, you can read these 6 essays that worked for USC and see how students got accepted.

Let me know, what did you think about these USC essays?

Ryan Chiang , Founder of EssaysThatWorked

Want to read more amazing essays that worked for top schools?

Hey! 👋 I'm Ryan Chiang, the founder of EssaysThatWorked.

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Meet the Author

Ryan Chiang

I'm Ryan Chiang and I created EssaysThatWorked - a website dedicated to helping students write college essays they're proud of. We publish the best college admissions essays from successful applicants every year to inspire and teach future students.

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Her baking is not confined to an amalgamation of sugar, butter, and flour. It's an outstretched hand, an open invitation, a makeshift bridge thrown across the divides of age and culture. Thanks to Buni, the reason I bake has evolved. What started as stress relief is now a lifeline to my heritage, a language that allows me to communicate with my family in ways my tongue cannot. By rolling dough for saratele and crushing walnuts for cornulete, my baking speaks more fluently to my Romanian heritage than my broken Romanian ever could....

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A cow gave birth and I watched. Staring from the window of our stopped car, I experienced two beginnings that day: the small bovine life and my future. Both emerged when I was only 10 years old and cruising along the twisting roads of rural Maryland...

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USC Supplemental Essays 2023-24 Prompts and Tips

September 1, 2023

When applying to a school like the University of Southern California, it is important to grasp that their acceptance rate in 2023 is lower than Harvard’s back in the late 1990s. Last cycle, USC received roughly 80,000 applications and admitted just 9% from that pool (their first time in the single digits). We don’t bring up these numbers or the Friends -era Harvard comparison to cause future applicants unnecessary fear. Rather, we want aspiring Trojans to realize that in addition to strong high school grades and standardized test scores, they need to excel in other critical areas of their application as well. This brings us to the topic of the USC supplemental essays.

(Want to learn more about How to Get Into the University of Southern California? Visit our blog entitled:  How to Get Into USC: Admissions Data and Strategies   for all of the most recent admissions data as well as tips for gaining acceptance.)

The supplemental essay section offered by USC is a fairly epic one and presents just such an opportunity for students to differentiate themselves from swarms of other qualified applicants. In addition to several short essays, you are also required to answer 10 short answer questions. Below are the USC’s supplemental prompts for the 2023-24 admissions cycle along with tips about how to address each one.

2023-24 USC Supplemental Essays – Required Prompt #1

Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections. (Approximately 250 words)

This is part “Why Us?” and part “Explain Your Major” and your aim is to seamlessly touch on both topics in a tightly woven 250-word composition. For a deeper dive, let’s examine a list of characteristics of a winning USC “Why Us?” essay:

• How did your interest in your major of choice begin and how has it matured over the years?
• While pursuing your majors(s)/interest(s) of choice, how will you take advantage of the university’s immense resources both inside and outside of the classroom? Be sure to cite specific  academic programs ,  professors ,  research opportunities ,  internship/externship programs , and  study abroad programs . Discuss why they pique your interest.
• Feel free to touch on  student-run organizations  related to your field of study that you would like to join.
• Lastly, don’t ignore your second-choice major in this essay.

In any “Why Us?” composition, you need to show that you’ve done your homework on a given school, but you don’t want it to read like a robotic list of items that you Googled ten minutes before writing the essay (even if the timing of the Google search is roughly accurate). In addition to the pure research element, a lot of the time and skill required in creating a stellar USC essay will involve connecting the classes, professors, opportunities, etc. of interest that you have uncovered to your distinct values, talents, aims, proficiencies, and future goals.

USC Supplemental Essays – Short Answers

(#1 provides 25 characters for each word, and #2-10 provide 100 characters each)

• Describe yourself in three words.
• What is your favorite snack?
• Best movie of all time
• If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
• 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?

USC Supplemental Essays (Continued)

It would be a bit silly to try to advise you on what your favorite snack is. Obviously, the USC admissions committee wants to hear “Pepperoni Pizza Combos” but will also accept “Ranch-flavored Bugles.” As such, we’ll keep our advice on these a bit broader:

• This is a chance to make a personal connection with an admissions officer. Don’t overthink these or pick movies, books, songs, or trips that you think an admissions officer will find impressive. Just be genuine.
• For #1, try to avoid words like “interesting” that are…well, not very  interesting , or words that could describe most of USC’s applicant pool, like “hard-working” or “dedicated.”
• For #10, don’t pick a general topic in a traditional discipline. Instead, pick something about which you are passionate. This could be a blend of pop culture and academics or a highly esoteric topic that you happen to be obsessed with (e.g., the Beatles 1965-67 mid-career era, the history of jai-alai, or how to groom a ferret).
• You have 100 characters to utilize, so do include some short explanations that infuse your answers with extra personality. For example, you could jazz up Ranch-flavored Bugles as follows: “Ranch-flavored Bugles, me and my mom’s go-to Jeopardy snack.”
• Final tip: if you feel stuck, try brainstorming a few options for each one before choosing your favorite.

USC Supplemental Essays – School-Specific Prompts

In addition to the required essays noted above, you’ll also need to answer at least one additional essay question that is dependent on the school or college you are applying to at USC. Below, we’ve broken down the most popular options:

Dornsife College of Letters, 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? (250 words)

What makes you tick? What keeps you up at night? Which subjects could (and do) you talk about for hours if given the opportunity? If you could address one problem in the world, large or small, what would it be? Here’s your chance to tell us all about it. You’ll then want to explain “why”—why will (or should) your passion/topic of choice be made relevant to a wider audience? Why is it so important that others hear your message? Your answer will give admissions readers greater insight into what type of issues are most important to you.

Viterbi School of Engineering

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)

The NAE Grand Challenges list is expansive and includes a number of pressing issues, like clean water access, solar energy, and nuclear terrorism. Basically, you are 100% guaranteed to find at least one item on this list that resonates with you. After reviewing the options, which one are you most passionate about, and why? Is there something from your personal background or experiences that inspired your interest in this area? Alternatively, have you engaged with this topic either inside or outside of school, and if so, how? What would you still like to learn about it? If you choose an issue that you are genuinely interested in and clearly convey your reasoning for doing so, you’ll be well on your way to a compelling response.

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)

Take note of the wide-open nature of this prompt. You are essentially invited to talk about any of the following topics:

• A perspective you hold
• An experience/challenge you had
• A community you belong to
• Your cultural background
• Your family background
• A personality trait
• A skill you hold

Although this prompt’s open floor plan may feel daunting, a good tactic is to first consider what has already been communicated within your Common App personal statement, activities list, and other USC essays. What important aspects of yourself have not been shared (or sufficiently discussed)? The admissions officer reading your essay is hoping to connect with you through your written words, so—within your essay’s reflection—be open, humble, thoughtful, inquisitive, emotionally honest, mature, and/or insightful about what you learned and how you grew. No matter what type of story you tell, the goal is to have the reader come away saying, “I can definitely see this applicant as a contributing member of our talented and engaged Viterbi community.”

How important are the USC supplemental essays?

There are five factors that USC considers to be “very important” to their candidate evaluation process and the essay section is one of them. Along with GPA, standardized test scores, rigor of high school coursework, and recommendations, the Common App and supplement essays play a huge role in the USC admissions staff’s decision-making.

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Lastly, if you are interested in working with one of College Transitions’ experienced and knowledgeable essay coaches as you craft your USC supplemental essays, we encourage you to  get a quote  today.

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USC Supplemental Essays 2023-24

Are you interested in applying to USC? Strong USC supplemental essays can make all the difference in the application process. In this guide, we will discuss the University of Southern California’s supplemental essay requirements and application deadlines. We will cover what role essays play in your application review and discuss how to write a strong why USC essay. Additionally, we’ll provide some examples of USC school-specific supplemental essays.

University of Southern California Background

The University of Southern California, often known as USC, is one of the nation’s premier research universities. Located in Los Angeles, California, USC offers undergraduate and graduate degrees to almost 50,000 students. In addition to USC’s academic accomplishments, it also provides students with a great environment in a bustling city. Impressively, USC is ranked # 25 of all the private and public colleges in the country.

Logically, as such top ranking university, USC enrolls some of the best students in the world. In 2022, USC received almost 70,000 first-year applications. But, they admitted just 12% . Unsurprisingly, those students accepted had impressive academics: an average GPA range of 3.82-4.0 and an SAT range of 1410-1540. Selective institutions like USC receive thousands of applicants with high GPAs and SAT scores. Therefore, this means that they look for students with impressive personal attributes, extracurricular involvements, and essays. 

Keep reading to learn more about the USC essay requirements and how you can use them to your advantage.

USC Essay Prompts: Quick Facts

• University of Southern California Acceptance Rate – US News ranks the University of Southern California as a most selective school, with an acceptance rate of 12%.
• 1 Why USC essay 
• 10 short answer essays 
• Early Action: November 1 st
• Regular Decision: January 5 th
• The USC admissions application is hosted on the Common App . Additional required materials include transcripts, letters of recommendation, optional test scores and a portfolio or additional writing sample if required by major. 
• Some academic programs have their own USC essays, so be sure to research those USC supplemental essays as well. 
• Why School and Why Major essays can be a great way to display how you will fit into the campus community. Don’t forget to mention the academic opportunities in and out of the classroom. 
• Don’t overthink your short answer essays. They are meant to be brief and insightful. 
• Start creating an outline for your essays well in advance. Use that outline to create a structured essay. This will allow you to stay organized and avoid writing your essay at the last minute.

Please note that essay requirements are subject to change each admissions cycle, and portions of this article may have been written before the final publication of the most recent guidelines. For the most up-to-date information on essay requirements, check the university’s admissions website. 

Does USC have supplemental essays?

Are you wondering how to get into USC? Like many other selective institutions, USC requires applicants to write USC supplemental essays. Therefore, these essays will play an important role in your application.

In addition to impressive high school transcripts and glowing letters of recommendation, strong USC supplemental essays can positively impact your application. Unlike some of the materials mentioned above, the USC essay prompts allow students to speak directly to the admissions committee. As such, your USC essays are the perfect chance to showcase your personality, interests, and motivations. 

Since USC does not have an admissions interview, the USC supplemental essays are likely the best way to make a personal connection. 

Check out the USC supplemental essay requirements: 

• 1 required Why USC essay
• 10 required short answer essays
• 1 optional educational progression essay

Technically, that’s a total of 11 USC supplemental essays and 1 optional USC writing supplement. In this guide, we’ll summarize the Why USC essay, the short answer USC supplemental essays, and the USC requirements.

Overall, don’t be intimidated by the number of USC supplemental essays. Instead, view your USC supplemental essays as a chance to highlight what makes you stand out.

Additional USC supplemental essay requirements

The application also requires prospective students applying to certain majors to complete additional USC essay prompts. The USC supplemental essays for these majors vary, but they all center around specific academic interests. 

If you are interested in one of these programs, you may need to complete additional USC supplemental essays: 

• Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Science
• USC School of Architecture
• Roski School of Art and Design
• Iovine and Young Academy for Arts
• Technology and the Business of Innovation
• Marshall School of Business (World Bachelor in Business)
• USC School of Cinematic Arts
• Kaufman School of Dance
• USC School of Dramatic Arts.

Keep reading to learn more about the USC supplemental essays and USC essays for specific majors. And, don’t forget to register for our webinar below to learn more about application timelines! 

Why USC Essay

The Why USC essay prompt is one of the most important USC writing supplements. As such, all students applying to USC must complete a Why USC essay. Luckily, the Why USC essay uses a similar format to many Why School or Why Major essays. So, you’ve probably seen similar prompts. Now, let’s review the prompt below and discuss how to structure a compelling Why USC essay. 

PROMPT #1: Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections. (250 words)

As we can see, the Why USC essay prompt asks the student to articulate their academic plans on the USC campus. Therefore, a strong Why USC essay should show that the student has done their research and is passionate about their academic interests.

In your Why USC essay, try to highlight specific features of USC that excite you. This can take many different forms. For example, some Why USC essays might discuss a high-powered research lab on campus. Alternatively, other Why USC essays might focus on the unique studio culture found at the USC School of Architecture (one of the best architecture schools in the country). 

Most importantly, showing your passion for your desired USC academic program should include evidence and context. So, in your Why USC essay, share what sparked your initial curiosity and what you have done to further explore the discipline. For example, a student applying to the Iovne and Young Academy could discuss how starting an e-commerce business during the pandemic sparked their interest in entrepreneurship and human-centered design. 

Undecided students

Fortunately, admissions officers also understand that not all students have a solidified career plan. If this is you, you can still write a stellar Why USC essay. How? Well, students can still craft a compelling Why USC essay by discussing their academic interests more broadly. Even if you haven’t chosen your career path, you can use your USC essays to highlight your intellectual curiosity and academic strengths. 

Looking for more information on how to write a strong Why USC essay? Then check out our guide on how to write a strong Why Major supplemental essay to help you craft a strong Why USC essay for your major. 

USC Short Answer Essays

In addition to the Why USC essay, the USC requirements also include 10 short answer USC supplemental essays. But, don’t let these short supplemental essays intimidate you. The admissions office looks for responses that reflect your interests, passions, and motivations. Therefore, like the Why USC essay, your answers should be unique to you. However, the answers to each of these questions should be no more than 25 words.

The short answer USC supplemental essays are:

1. Describe yourself in three words. 

2. what is your favorite snack, 3. best movie of all time:, 4. dream job:, 5. if your life had a theme song, what would it be, 6. dream trip:, 7. what tv show will you binge watch next, 8. which well-known person or fictional character would be your ideal roommate, 9. favorite book:, 10. if you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be.

The beauty of the short answer USC supplemental essays is they are incredibly personal. This allows you to separate yourself from what you think the admissions committee wants to hear and allows you to foreground who you really are. As such, there is no single right answer to this collection of USC essay prompts. In fact, there are many possible excellent answers.

USC School-Specific Supplemental Essays

Additionally, a handful of majors at USC require applicants to submit a USC writing supplement as part of the admissions application process. So, keep reading for a few examples of school-specific USC requirements and USC supplemental essays. 

Check out the list below to find out more about all the programs that require additional USC essays.

But, what are the major specific USC supplemental essays? Well, keep reading for a few examples of USC essays required by specific programs on the USC campus. 

USC Dornslife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences

The USC Dornslife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences includes the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. Whether you want to major in computational neuroscience or art history, USC Dornslife wants to learn more about your passions through its USC writing supplement. 

Most importantly, a strong application to USC Dornsife includes introspective and well-constructed USC essays. There is one required essay for the USC Dornslife College of Letters, Arts and Science. Now, let’s review and discuss the best way to approach this essay. 

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? (250 words)

This USC essay asks the student to discuss a topic that they are passionate about. A strong response to this essay prompt may directly connect to your major or another interest. However, don’t forget, there is no right answer here. First and foremost, this is your opportunity to discuss what you are passionate about. Likewise, you may even connect your academic interests to this passion. But, when choosing what to write about, be sure to stay true to yourself. While you may be inclined to discuss a major world problem, don’t shy away from the smaller topics and messages that might resonate with a large audience. 

Next, we’ll discuss USC supplemental essays for the School of Architecture. 

USC School of Architecture Supplement

Impressively, the USC School of Architecture is one of the best architecture schools in the nation.  The School of Architecture offers a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Inventive Technologies.  Applying to the USC School of Architecture requires students to complete two additional USC essay prompts and a video prompt. 

Our school views architecture as a “human right,” and that design should exhibit “social consciousness.” How do you think architecture can contribute to the greater social consciousness?

At usc architecture we will teach you to become strong critical thinkers. with that in mind please tell us about a piece of architecture that you’ve personally experienced and how its design resonated with you..

The first prompt requires students to connect architecture to the world around them. How might architecture and the built environment contribute to social consciousness? For example, you might focus on sustainable design or buildings that prioritize community spaces. 

This prompt requires reflection, so don’t hesitate to workshop a few essay ideas. Then, choose the one that best suits you. The second prompt asks students to name a specific architectural work that resonates with them. This USC essay also provides the perfect opportunity to share how the world of architecture influences your daily life. 

USC Architecture aims to engage students as critical thinkers through their USC supplemental essays. Therefore, these USC essay prompts ask students to think beyond their favorite skyscraper. Instead, you should consider how architecture and design interact with society, social consciousness, and you as a person. 

USC Video Essays

In addition to the USC essay prompts, the USC School of Architecture also has a USC supplemental video prompt.

Video Prompt:

Please produce a video that presents what you consider to be your favorite project in your portfolio and why. try to be as informative and concise as possible when you’re speaking about the project but also remember to be yourself. we are looking for students that are passionate with a keen curiosity about architecture and design..

In your video response, make sure you choose a project that reflects your interests and potential. Don’t focus on using lofty language—instead, highlight where your ideas came from and how your critical thinking skills inform the work you produce. 

Next, we will discuss the USC supplemental essays for the Viterbi School of Engineering. 

USC Viterbi Supplemental Essays

The USC Viterbi School of Engineering offers a variety of degrees in engineering and computer science. Like other programs, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering requires two additional USC supplemental essays.  Most importantly, the Viterbi USC essays seek to get into the minds of future engineers . Like the School of Architecture USC supplemental essays, the Viterbi USC essays require students to reflect on their personal experiences. 

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 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..

The USC Viterbi School of Engineering wants to learn more about you through the USC supplemental essays. In the first USC writing supplement, applicants should talk about the ways their unique traits and experiences add to the USC Engineering student body. In fact, the USC Viterbi admissions blog summarizes this prompt as ”How will you make a unique contribution to the USC student body?” 

You might find some inspiration from your Why USC essay, but be sure to make each of these USC essays unique. 

Additionally, in the second Viterbi USC supplemental writing prompt, students are instructed to review key engineering challenges laid out by the National Academy of Engineering. Students then choose a specific challenge and discuss why it’s important to them. 

Structuring your essay

As you review this prompt, pay attention to the directions. Most importantly, make sure you only choose one challenge and craft a strong argument about why it matters. According to the Viterbi Admissions blog , the challenge does not have to be related to your major. Additionally, you don’t have to provide a solution to the challenge, and there is no right answer.

In each of the Viterbi USC supplemental essays, students respond to USC essay prompts that allow them to represent their most authentic selves. If you aim to study engineering or computer science at USC, these USC supplemental essays give you the chance to share your unique story and perspective. 

Does USC care about essays?

Absolutely! In fact, the more selective the institution, the more your essays might matter. Logically, highly selective schools receive many applications from students with high GPAs and test scores. Therefore, having stellar USC essays can help you stand out to the admissions committee. And, given the USC acceptance rate is just 13% , the USC essay prompts let you set yourself apart. 

In other words, admissions committees look for ways to envision you on their campuses. Indeed, they want to make sure you would enrich their community. So, your Why USC essay is one of the ways you can discuss why USC is the perfect match for you. 

USC essays are one of the ways that the admissions committee can get to know you as a person. Have you heard college admissions representatives encourage you to use “your voice” in your essay? Being authentic and introspective can allow the admissions team to learn more about you while reading your USC supplemental essays. 

What is the application deadline for USC?

Now that you know more about USC supplemental essays, let’s discuss application dates and deadlines. 

USC has two application plans: Regular Decision and Early Action. However, majors requiring a portfolio or audition are not permitted to apply Early Action or Regular Decision. Instead, they have a deadline of December 1 st . Check out this list of majors with a December 1 st deadline.  

The Early Action USC application deadline is November 1 st . The Early Action plan is non-binding and non-restrictive. Therefore, you can apply to as many colleges as you wish and there is no obligation to enroll. Early Action applicants will be notified of their results in January. The Early Action plan leaves ample time for students to review financial aid letters and visit campus before deciding on where to enroll. 

If you are not ready to submit your application in November, the Regular Decision USC application deadline is January 15 th . The Regular Decision plan is also non-binding and non-restrictive. These applicants will be notified of their admissions decision on April 1, 2024. Whether you are applying Early Action or Regular Decision, your USC supplemental essays are due on the application deadline. 

If you are already in college and are interested in transferring to USC, transfer students have a USC application deadline of January 1 st if they are already enrolled at USC and February 15 th if they are currently enrolled at another college.

Starting early

No matter what admissions plan you choose, it is critical to begin working on your USC supplemental essays well ahead of their deadline. Overall, it is never too early to begin brainstorming ideas and creating an outline. By getting organized early and not procrastinating, you can ensure you submit the strongest application possible. 

Your USC essays will also be used in your overall review for merit scholarships. But don’t forget to view the USC scholarship and financial aid deadlines! All students interested in being considered for a USC merit scholarship must apply Early Action (or by December 1 st if their major requires a portfolio or audition).

Keep reading for more resources to help with your USC essays. 

More USC Resources to explore

Are you looking for more insight on how to get into USC and craft strong USC essays? Well, CollegeAdvisor has got you covered. Now that you know more about the USC Supplemental essay requirements, check out these examples of USC supplemental essays. 

Additionally, as you are researching the USC essay prompts, don’t forget about merit scholarships and financial aid. In fact, learning about USC merit scholarships and prestigious external awards, like the Questbridge scholarship, can ease anxiety about the financial aspect of enrolling at USC.

CollegeAdvisor also hosts tons of interactive webinars to help you learn more about USC essays and admissions in general. So, get informed and watch them! Specifically, check out this Q&A webinar with former Georgetown and USC admissions officers. 

Remember that the University of Southern California is just one of many great schools in the State of California. Check out this guide to see how USC stacks up to other California colleges. 

Also, check out USC Admission’s resource videos on YouTube! The video below offers tips for approaching this year’s USC supplemental essays as well.

USC Supplemental Essays – Takeaways 

As we’ve seen in this article, USC supplemental essays are a critical part of the USC admissions application. Here’s a list of 7 takeaways to help you write strong USC supplemental essays.

7 USC Supplemental Essays Takeaways

1. usc has 11 required essays: the why usc essay and 10 short answer essays. all students, regardless of major, have this requirement., 2. your why usc essay is a great opportunity to show why you would be a great fit for usc. , 3. your short answer essays are meant to be brief and authentic. don’t overthink these , 4. depending on your major, you may have additional usc essays to submit. refer to this guide for the list of majors that have additional usc essays. , 5. the deadline for your usc essays is the same as the application deadline. so, it is incredibly important that you prepare by giving yourself ample time to write and edit your usc essays., 6. the usc office of admissions views essays as a valuable part of the application. in fact, they just might be the thing that makes you stand out., 7. be yourself these essays are structured to get a closer look at who you are. don’t shy away from this element..

Looking for more guidance on the USC essays? CollegeAdvisor is here to help. Click here to schedule a meeting with our experts today and start receiving personalized college admissions guidance.

This essay guide was written by Chelsea Holley. Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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How To Answer The USC Supplemental Essay Prompts For 2022/23

Located in the heart of Los Angeles, the University of Southern California (USC) is home to a large student body, incredible research advancements, and a large football stadium and culture. USC is ranked one of the best public universities in the US. It boasts a competitive admissions process with an acceptance rate of just 11%, meaning only about 1 in 9 students gets accepted.

USC Supplemental Essay Prompts

Essay 1: please respond to one of the prompts below. (250 word limit).

• USC believes that one learns best when interacting with people of different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. Tell us about a time you were exposed to a new idea or when your beliefs were challenged by another point of view. Please discuss the significance of the experience and its effect on you.
• USC faculty place an emphasis on interdisciplinary academic opportunities. Describe something outside of your intended academic focus about which you are interested in learning.

What is something about yourself that is essential to understanding you?

Essay 2: (250 words limit).

Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests at USC. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections.

Essay 3 (optional)

Starting with the beginning of high school/secondary school, if you have had a gap where you were not enrolled in school during a fall or spring term, please address this gap in your educational history. You do not need to address a summer break.

Short Answers Questions

• Describe yourself in three words. First Word: (25 characters), Second Word: (25 characters), Third Word: (25 characters)
• What is your favorite snack? (100 characters)
• Best movie of all time: (100 characters)
• Dream job: (100 characters)
• If your life had a theme song, what would it be? (100 characters)
• Dream trip: (100 characters)
• What TV show will you binge watch next? (100 characters)
• Which well-known person or fictional character would be your ideal roommate? (100 characters)
• Favorite book: (100 characters)
• If you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be? (100 characters)

How Anushka Got Into USC with Crimson

How to Answer the Short Essay Questions

Usc believes one learns best when interacting with people of different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. tell us about a time you were exposed to a new idea or when another point of view challenged your beliefs*. please discuss the significance of the experience and its effect on you.*.

The first supplemental essay (and its three prompt options) asks you to speak from experience about a non-academic moment of growth or the formation of a particular value. While the first prompt is the only one that demands you narrate a specific experience, a solid response to any of the three prompts should describe a particular instance and unpack its implications .

In generating a topic, the experience you choose does not have to be overly serious, but the analysis should show how it speaks to your growth in a powerful way that does not feel too grandiose. USC admissions officers are looking for applicants to demonstrate their understanding that learning is not just sitting in class and pursuing academics but is also significantly impacted by personal growth and a transformation of values .

If you choose this prompt, consider the different circumstances that caused you to change your thinking about a particular issue .

• Maybe it was a passing conversation with a stranger or friend,
• an experience engaging with a social
• a civil issue in your community,
• Or even a slightly more rigorous debate or academic setting.

Whatever topic you choose, vivid language that examines how events made you feel in the moment will be essential to drawing out moments of actual growth . Remember that genuinely changing an established view is hard work, so please be honest with yourself as you look over the depth of these implications. Whether you write about how your experience attending a protest deepened your empathy for a particular cause or how a dare with your friend caused you to deactivate Facebook and rethink the role of social media in your life, try to craft a narrative story with clear consequences.

USC faculty place emphasis on interdisciplinary academic opportunities. Could you describe something outside your intended academic focus about which you are interested in learning?

Responding to the second prompt should show that your intellectual curiosity expands beyond your professional aspirations . Try to recall when you were surprised by how an experience outside your area of expertise affected you. This experience could be anything from how your experience on a safari led to an unexpected interest in endangered species preservation to finding meaning in a collection of poetry you were required to read. Your essay should construct a narrative demonstrating genuine intellectual curiosity in an area outside your prospective academic focus.

A response to the third prompt can take on a variety of topics. Whether you explain the influence of a familial structure, a hobby, an experience as part of a larger community, or even some other unusual facet of your expertise, your narrative should discuss how this influence has positively shaped you .

Again, this is not a spot for arrogant essays about accomplishments and ambition. Instead, it’s for examining a topic that will lead the admissions committee to fully understand you and how you hope to use a USC education. Ideally, the topic will be distinct from your Common App essay topic (which can be similar). It will explain an aspect of your thinking or reasoning that’s not in any other part of your application.

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Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests at USC. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections. (250 words)

The second supplemental essay question helps the admissions committee understand why you are interested in USC instead of another school . The question requires you to research USC’s specific offerings. You’ll use this knowledge, alongside language that introduces your main academic interests and their origins, to explain why USC is a perfect fit for you. Evaluators want to see a response that shows you are attracted to their school and how you have thought deeply about the particular ways USC would help you realize your academic goals.

Tip 1: set the stage by anecdotally introducing your academic interests

Talk about how your struggles with precalculus and the extra time spent working with a teacher sparked a blooming interest in mathematics or how your experience watching the nightly TV news with your family compelled you to intern for a political campaign and learn about the history of international relations.

Tip 2: Reference USC Resources

Once that framework is established, you should reference specific USC resources — classes, notable professors or researchers, proximity to specific professional opportunities, or extracurricular activities — that will help you pursue your interests most effectively.

An excellent place to start is by checking the extensive list of possible majors posted on the USC website and identifying departments that closely match your academic preferences. Then, you can go to departmental websites to identify class offerings and professors you can reference in your essay. Resources like the Undergraduate Research Program in the School of International Relations , or the chance to work with a figure you admire in a specific field, are good examples that help you realize certain career aspirations.

Tip 3: Relate USC Resources to your interests

Finally, relate the USC resources to your interests. Suppose you began by writing about watching the news. You can describe how the “Visual and Popular Culture” within the “American Popular Culture” major would help you answer questions about the power of television news you’ve had since you were young.

How to Answer the Short Answer Questions

It’s easy to try and impress examiners with your short answers. Instead, use these prompts to give the readers an authentic representation of yourself .

Tips for Option 1

The first prompt (three words that best describe yourself) is one of the hardest to answer without sounding ingenuine or fake.

First, avoid descriptors like “ambitious” or “hardworking.” There are far better forums in your application to express your academic accomplishment and drive.

Second, spend time reflecting on the elements of your experience that have forced you to learn something new. If you can identify a quality, like humor or levity, and reflect on how that affects the lens through which you approach the world, you should include this quality.

Otherwise, think about the activities you engage with most and what type of qualities they foster. Maybe your experience doing debate after school has made you “community-oriented,” or your growing interest in running live DJ sets has made you more “adaptable.” Whatever your experience, finding descriptors to reflect your experience (which you’ll write about in other parts of the application!) will help you avoid overly generic descriptions and stand out from other applicants.

Tips for preference-based prompts

For the preference-based short answer questions, you’ll want to dwell similarly on your past experiences, especially pivotal moments of growth, sidestepping the temptation to answer to impress. It may be hard to think of the most technically proficient movie you’ve ever seen. Still, it will be easy to remember movies that have significantly impacted your life or personal development.

Unless you’re an established film academic, you probably can’t humbly claim you think the best movie of all time is Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane or Godard’s Breathless. It’s more likely you feel that it’s a movie you used to watch with your family when you were sick or an accessible old classic that opened your eyes to the aesthetic possibilities of cinema in a new way. The character limits are restrictive but don’t limit yourself to one word. Begin the question with your answer, then use your remaining space to offer a brief piece of context for the preference that speaks to your background or passions.

How to Stand Out in Your USC Supplemental Essays for 2022/23

The essay components of the application are crucially important to make sure you stand out among the rest! The USC application has several essays prompts, especially short answer questions .

Knowing how to approach the supplemental questions for the USC application can take time and effort. The various questions, ranging from short-answer responses to short essays, ask a lot about your personality and academic or personal aspirations . But if you’re not careful, your answers to these prompts might appear insincere or common.

Supplemental questions give you space to demonstrate genuine passion, personality, and growth in your personal and academic life that arises directly from lived experience and suggests an apt fit for USC. Below are several strategies and ideas for each prompt designed to avoid common mistakes and stereotypical answers and create responses that can help present your authentic self to the admissions office.

How Crimson Can Help You With Your USC Supplemental Essays

Crimson takes a personal approach when helping students with their supplemental essays. Advisors get to know their students first. Then they show them how to incorporate their dreams, aspirations, goals, and any unique story aspect into their supplemental essays.

Final Thoughts

Writing supplemental essays for USC, as with any school, should attempt to present the sense of a complete, ambitious person engaged in the business of thinking about the world, one who goes beyond grades and a resume, to the admissions committee. When you write, please remember the more prominent themes of what you are trying to communicate, and rewrite or remove anything that feels extraneous or inauthentic. If you follow the tips above, you should be well on your way to generating a USC supplement that you can be proud of — best of luck!

What Makes Crimson Different

Key Resources & Further Reading

• Acing your College Application Essay: 5 Expert Tips to Make it Stand Out from the Rest
• MIT Supplemental Essay
• Harvard Supplemental Essay
• Columbia Supplemental Essay
• Princeton Supplemental Essay
• Cornell Supplemental Essay
• Brown Supplemental Essay
• Upenn Supplemental Essay
• Dartmouth Supplemental Essay
• Johns Hopkins Supplemental Essay
• University of Chicago Supplemental Essay
• NYU Supplemental Essay
• Northwestern Supplemental Essay
• How to Tackle Every Type of Supplemental Essay
• 2021-22 Essay Prompts Common App Essay Prompts
• What are the Most Unusual US College Supplemental Essay Prompts?

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A Guide to the USC Supplemental Essays 2021-2022

Padya Paramita

October 28, 2021

You could be applying to the University of Southern California as an aspiring actor hoping to benefit from the “Acting for the Stage, Screen, and New Media” program as a stepping stone to Hollywood. Or you could be more of a STEM-oriented person, hoping to break into the gaming industry, ready to take on the “Computer Science: Games'' major. Whatever your academic focus, taking advantage of the USC supplemental essays 2021-2022 is an effective way to highlight who you are and why you’ve chosen the home of the Trojans.

USC appreciates students who are willing to take advantage of their wide range of programs. The university looks for candidates who are interested in “ global issues and aren’t afraid to speak up in class or fight for a cause .” If you believe you check these boxes, it’s time to let the college know why by taking advantage of the writing component. To help you, I’ve outlined the prompts, the dos and don’ts for your responses, and additional tips for writing the USC supplemental essays 2021-2022 .

Prompts for the USC Supplemental Essays 2021-2022

Please respond to one of the prompts below. (250 words) .

USC believes that one learns best when interacting with people of different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Tell us about a time you were exposed to a new idea or when your beliefs were challenged by another point of view. Please discuss the significance of the experience and its effect on you.

When choosing what to write about for this prompt, think critically about your experiences. You don’t have to choose something incredibly grand. Your topic can highlight a situation on a smaller scale and still convey a meaningful story that shaped your perspective. What matters is that your narrative is personal, and shows you as an intelligent, likable, and self-aware individual. Think about a time you might have realized you were wrong about something, for example. You could show your realization that previously made assumptions were proved to be incorrect, e.g, if you were too quick to put someone in a box, but they are now one of your best friends or most influential members.

250 words are not enough to detail every single second of what happened when your viewpoint was challenged. If you choose this prompt for the USC supplemental essays 2021-2022 , you should emphasize the latter part of the question. Your response should elaborate on why this experience mattered so much, how it has changed the way you think, and what it means for you moving forward.

Admissions officers should be able to see your open-mindedness to different points of view and believe that you would be a valuable addition to the USC community. 

USC faculty place an emphasis on interdisciplinary academic opportunities. Describe something outside of your intended academic focus about which you are interested in learning.

Answering this prompt within the USC supplemental essays 2021-2022 is a great chance for you to talk about an interest that hasn’t come across in the rest of your application. If you’re a STEM student, your courses and extracurriculars probably revolve around science, and similarly, if you’re a musician or a writer, you might have been more involved in creative activities. At the same time, your choice of major doesn’t define who you are. You could be a science major who is also a talented violinist. You could also have unusual hobbies such as cross-stitching or competitive eating that you could elaborate on if you pick this question. 

Don’t spend too much time detailing the activity. Your response should mainly highlight why the topic matters to you so much, how you’ve gone out of your way to explore new issues within the field, and how you hope to continue to explore the area in college. Admissions officers would appreciate knowing you’re a multifaceted individual, that you’re invested in a topic outside your primary intellectual pursuits, so choose this essay if you’re excited to portray a different side of you. If the interest is different from your primary interest, but somehow connects, it’d be good to describe that here.

What is something about yourself that is essential to understanding you?

This is the most open-ended prompt offered by the USC supplemental essays 2021-2022 . There are a couple of points to keep in mind when answering it: 1) What have you not already covered in your personal statement and activities list? and 2) What experience, aspect of your background, or unique extracurricular interest distinguishes you from other students your age? If there’s a quality that you love about yourself, you could elaborate on that. Make sure it’s not something simple such as “I’m funny.” If you’ve got an exceptional sense of humor, you have to show it in action. Why is it fundamental to you? How has it developed over time? Why do you appreciate it?

When it comes to framing such an essay, anecdotes are essential for getting your point across to the reader. If you’re just going to state a fact, you’ll have hundreds of words remaining. Instead, narrate a story that covers exactly what makes you unique, and you’ll help admissions officers understand you much better, as well as get a sense of your voice and what matters to you. 

Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections. (Approximately 250 words)

This is the closest to a “why school” question as USC gets. The school wants to know whether you’ve actually put thought into your decision to apply, or if you’re just interested because it’s a well-ranked school in sunny LA. So before you sit down to write your answer, it’s important to go through the list of academic programs at the college and think about how they will help you reach your goals. 

Because this prompt is all about looking towards the future, don’t focus your essay too much on how your interest in the topics originally arose. The main point of your response should highlight how you will take advantage of unique USC majors such as “Cinematic Arts, Film, and Television Production,” or “Animation and Digital Arts.” If you’ve chosen a major that’s available at other colleges such as Chemistry or Music, you need to drive home exactly why the courses and resources offered by USC can help your specific aspirations. Don’t limit yourself to just academic offerings. If there are any relevant clubs or programs of an academic nature, mention those as well.

Each of your points should be tailored to USC. Do the research and see if a given program is unique to UC or a national one available at every school.

Describe yourself in three words. First Word:*

Second Word:*

Third Word:*

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?*

USC wants to know how you would fit into the college. Help them to see where on campus you’d make contributions and how its resources boost you toward your goals. So instead of choosing common and vague adjectives to describe yourself such as “loyal” or “kind,” choose three words that convey more information about who you are and what you enjoy, such as “eclectic” or “globetrotter.” The words you pick shouldn’t all mean similar things. Each entry should throw a new element into the mix to express information about you.

The key to writing these very short answers is to make sure you’re being truthful. Don’t just try to aim for what you think the admissions officers want to read. Just because you’re a prospective history major, doesn’t mean your favorite TV show necessarily has to be Downton Abbey. If you enjoy the humor of Kimmy Schmidtt, that’s fine as well. These responses among the USC supplemental essays 2021-2022 are designed to get to know you. 

Some of the questions could help convey a more fun side of you, such as choosing a fictional character or a famous person as your roommate, or your theme song. Think carefully about these answers. Even though you haven’t been asked “why” for these questions, think about what the hundred characters can convey about you. What do you hope that admissions officers will deduce about you based on your answers? Don’t try extra hard to be witty. But if it comes naturally, don’t be afraid to add it in.

While it’s important to be yourself, you also need to remember that you want to stand out from your peers. Don’t say Disneyland for a dream trip or The Avengers as your favorite movie of all time because these are common answers that the reader is bound to encounter from other students. Saying Harry Potter is your favorite book won’t really make for a memorable application. Try to think outside of the box, while making sure you’re staying true to yourself at the same time.

For Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences: 

Answer one of the following questions.

The word “education” can take on a variety of meanings. To some, receiving a high school or college diploma is the ultimate mark of being “educated,” while others take a different view. Looking past receiving a diploma, what does it mean to you personally to be “educated”? What standards will you put in place to define whether or not you’ve obtained a great education? (250 words)

This is an interesting—but tricky—question. You can answer this prompt if you have thought a lot about what education and particularly a college education means to you. See that the question has mentioned “past receiving a diploma.” So, when writing the USC supplemental essays 2021-2022, if you do choose this prompt, remember that you shouldn’t just be saying “to get a degree” or anything of that accord. Have you gained significant experience in a certain area due to your education? Do you believe pursuing higher education can help you reach certain goals? Or, do you have a unique perspective on the matter that provides a different way of thinking about the matter entirely? No matter what you write about, make sure admissions officers leave the application with an idea of your perspective and how your way of thinking would contribute to their campus.

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? (250 words)

This is a very open-ended question. The school values students who are particularly invested in activities and topics that are meaningful to them, no matter what the scale. If you have a meaningful hobby that isn’t a conventional extracurricular per se, or you have a favorite movie that you watch over and over again, USC is telling you to write about it. Just the introductory paragraph to most essays requires over 250 words—you might find it difficult to restrain yourself while talking about your favorite topic. In order to get your point across, you need to put less emphasis on describing the activity or object or issue at hand—limit it to one or two sentences—and more on why you could talk about it for so long. Why is it your favorite? Why does it get a fire out of you in a way other topics don’t? Has it shaped your perspective in a significant way?

Since admissions officers will see your activities list through the Common App, you should find ways to include anecdotes that will convey additional information about yourself. While you should not pick a purely academic topic or something that you think USC wants to hear, you also should think of something beyond global warming, a popular movie, or your major choice. Your outlook on the activity or subject should be unique, and help you stand out among your peers.

For Engineering Applicants:

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 word limit)

This is a very open-ended question. You can start by asking yourself the following questions to see if this prompt is right for you:

• Is there a part of you that’s unique that you haven’t been able to talk about in other parts of your application?
• Have you started any initiatives or clubs that you would like to further highlight?
• What is your passion?
• What has been your biggest inspiration?
• How do you spend your free time?
• How are you equipped to be a future engineer?
• How do you work on a team?
• Why are you applying to USC specifically for engineering?

Choose a topic that can help distinguish you from other applicants and make you a memorable engineering candidate in the schools’ eyes. Make sure you write an essay that portrays you as not just a leader or unique applicant—but as someone who would make a difference to the Viterbi Engineering community. Make sure you mention specific resources from the school that can help you get there. And do NOT repeat your personal statement!

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 word limit)

This prompt is a bit different than supplemental essays that you might be used to. USC wants its engineering students to be unafraid to challenge themselves and step up when necessary. Go through the website and think about which challenge is important to you. Whether you select “provide access to clean water” or “make solar energy more economical” don’t forget to explain exactly why the challenge is important to you. And don’t be generic in your answers! We all know why clean water is crucial—but why is the issue personally important to you? Use anecdotes and any relevant experiences that you have to drive home your point!

Additional Tips for Answering the USC Supplemental Essays 2021-2022

• Be Careful About Repeating Your Personal Statement - The University of Southern California is a member of the Common App, so there’s no point repeating what you’ve said in your personal statement , especially considering that Prompt 1 in Question 1 is very similar to the Common App prompt: “ Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?” Prompt 3 in Question 1 is similar to the Common App question, “ Some students have a background, identity, interest or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. ” Because admissions officers want each component to add something new, don’t repeat what you’ve said if you’ve chosen these Common App prompts. Or, if your USC and Common App questions overlap, write about a different experience for USC. If you keep repeating information, your application is pretty much bound to bore the admissions officers. That’s the last thing you want.
• Choose the essay option that’s best for you - For most of the questions, you have the option to choose from the three prompts. Make sure you think carefully about your choices. Pick a topic that you believe will bring the strongest response out of you and help paint an accurate picture of your personality. If you can’t come up with a time your viewpoint was changed, instead try thinking about your other academic interests. If neither of those appeals to you, brainstorm what you could tell the admissions officers through the questions. Take advantage of the flexibility provided by the USC supplemental essays 2021-2022 .

USC asks a wide range of questions to get to know you better. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to expand on why you’re an exceptional and must-have applicant. By thinking carefully about how you can distinguish yourself from your peers—along with making sure your answers focus on you and your interests—you can be a standout candidate through stellar responses to the USC supplemental essays 2021-2022 . You’ve got this!

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• USC Marshall School of Business Essay Tips and Examples

September 16, 2023

Jeremy Shinewald

USC Marshall 2023–2024 Essay Tips

Essay #1 (required): what is your specific, immediate short-term career goal upon completion of your mba please include an intended position, function, and industry in your response. (word limit: 100).

Quite simply, Marshall wants to know that you have a specific intention in mind and are not just applying to business school with the expectation of figuring everything out later, once you are enrolled in the program. Many MBA applicants have a long-term vision for their career, of course, but with this prompt, Marshall is asking you to prove you have really given thought to the necessary steps in between. Your goal in this short essay is therefore to demonstrate that you do indeed have a plan , not just broad ambition. The school’s other key concern is whether its MBA program is truly the right one to help you attain your stated goal and that you have done the necessary research to discover and confirm this for yourself. Marshall has very little impetus to admit you—and you have very little to attend it—if you will not ultimately be equipped or positioned to pursue your intended goal once you graduate! For example, if you aspire to work in a field or position for which Marshall is not known to have particularly strong courses, professors, or other offerings, or if you want to work for a company that has no recruiting history with the program, it might not be the best choice to get you where you want to go right away. 

At just 100 words maximum, your response needs to be fairly straightforward. Avoid any generalities and vagueness. Do your research to ensure that Marshall can indeed position you to attain what you intend, and simply spell things out. Given that this essay involves at least one key element of a traditional personal statement, we encourage you to download a free copy of our mbaMission Personal Statement Guide , which provides advice on effectively addressing this topic in an essay.

Essay #2 (Required) – Please draft a letter that begins with “Dear Admissions Committee.” (word limit: 600)

This letter is meant to be your personal statement that provides the admissions committee with an understanding of your candidacy for marshall beyond what is evident in other parts of your application. this essay is purposely open-ended. you are free to express yourself in whatever way you see fit. our goal is to have an appreciation for and an understanding of each candidate in ways that are not captured by test scores, grades, and resumes. .

As the admissions committee itself admits in the prompt, this is essentially a request for a personal statement, which typically covers (1) why the candidate feels they need an MBA, (2) why the MBA is necessary now , and (3) why they wish to attend the specific school in question. So, at the risk of sounding repetitive, we will start by encouraging you—again—to download a complimentary copy of the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide , which is available for free and includes detailed guidance on approaching and writing such essays, along with multiple illustrative examples.

Note the admissions committee’s acknowledgement that it already has a lot of information about you from the other parts of your application, including your resume, extracurricular activities, recommendations, short-answer question responses, academic transcripts, and GMAT/GRE score. You should therefore think first about what these elements convey about who you are as an individual and candidate, so you can determine which parts of your profile would best complement this information and the image it collectively presents of you. This does not necessarily mean that you cannot touch on anything mentioned elsewhere in your application but rather that you do not want to use up valuable word count repeating anything unnecessarily. Focus on supplementing the data the school already has. And despite the somewhat stuffy intro the school provides—“Dear Admissions Committee”—keep in mind that this is an opportunity for you to present yourself as a well-rounded, dynamic individual who would be a positive addition to the Marshall community, so do your best to infuse your essay with authenticity and personality, as well as information.

Optional Essay: Please provide any additional information you would like the admissions committee to consider. (word limit: 250)

In general, we believe candidates should use a school’s optional essay to explain confusing or problematic issues in their candidacy, which this prompt does indeed allow. So, if you need to, use this opportunity to address any questions the admissions committee might have about your profile, such as a poor grade or overall GPA, a low GMAT or GRE score, or a gap in your work experience. Consider downloading our free mbaMission Optional Essays Guide , in which we offer detailed advice (and multiple annotated examples) on how best to approach the optional essay to mitigate any problem areas in your application.

That said, Marshall clearly leaves the door open for you to discuss any other information about your candidacy that you feel might be pivotal or particularly compelling—that you think the admissions committee truly needs to know to be able to evaluate you fully and effectively (and that might not have been appropriate for your required essay). We caution you against submitting a response to this prompt just because you fear that not doing so would somehow count against you, though (it will not). Remember that with each additional essay you write, you are asking the admissions committee to do extra work on your behalf, so you must make sure that the added time is warranted. If you decide to use this essay to impart information that you believe would render your application incomplete if omitted, strive to keep your submission brief and on point.

Essay #4 (Required for all candidates requesting a test waiver) – Test Waiver Essay – Please submit a brief statement that summarizes why you believe you qualify for a test waiver. (word limit: 200)

If you wish to receive a test waiver, you will need to make a compelling, well-reasoned, and persuasive argument as to why you do not need, or should not be expected, to take one of the exams that aspiring MBAs traditionally complete. Marshall, like all business schools, uses these tests to gauge applicants’ verbal and quantitative abilities (including their command of the English language) and their readiness for the rigors of the MBA curriculum. The school does not want to admit and enroll individuals in such an academically demanding program who will ultimately struggle to keep up; this would not be good for the student, nor for their classmates. So you will need to demonstrate clearly for the admissions committee that you already have the skills and knowledge base necessary to absorb and engage with the content and assignments Marshall will require. The school clearly states, “While professional experience can be included as a component of the waiver request, the Admissions Committee will most strongly consider two elements: 1) overall academic achievement; and 2) performance in quantitative coursework.” In your brief essay response, share all the evidence you have of times you have excelled academically in the areas the MBA curriculum is founded on.

2023-2024 Business School Essays MBA Essay Tips University of Southern California (Marshall)

Tags: business school essay MBA application essays optional essay USC Marshall

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• Apr 29, 2024 UNC Kenan-Flagler (Round 4)
• Apr 30, 2024 Georgetown McDonough (Round 4)

Click here to see the complete deadlines

2023–2024 MBA Essay Tips

• Berkeley Haas School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
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• Harvard Business School 2+2 Deferred MBA Program Essay Analysis 2024
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• Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management Essay Analysis, 2023–2024
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Click here for the 2022–2023 MBA Essay Tips

MBA Program Updates

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How to Write the University of Southern California Application Essays 2015-2016

(note: this post has been updated for the 2016-2017 application cycle. to view the updated post, click here .).

“Fight on!” These two words ring through every hallway at the University of Southern California, invoking the spirit and camaraderie of the mighty Trojans themselves. USC is a private institution based in Los Angeles, California, with an emphasis on research and strong athletics. USC athletic teams boast a total of 123 national titles across various sports, and fans from across the nation often deck themselves out in cardinal and gold in support of the dominant Trojan football team. The USC social dynamic is diverse and happening, and if Greek life is your thing, about 25% of men are in a fraternity and 20% of women are in a sorority. With a total enrollment of 18,000, there is opportunity around every corner of USC’s beautiful campus, and while parts of LA off-campus are places to stay away from, life on campus makes up for any restrictions. With amazing academics and a gung-ho student culture, it’s no wonder that USC alum come away loving their four years as a Trojan.

USC is very selective, choosing about 18% of the thousands of applicants every year, and yields about 35%. Certain schools, like the Viterbi School of Engineering, may be even more difficult to get into, so it’s best to be well prepared when applying to USC, whether that’s early acceptance or regular decision.

USC students are known to be involved. Briefly describe a non-academic pursuit (such as service to community or family, a club or sport, or work, etc.,) that best illustrates who you are, and why it is important you. (250 word limit)

This question may feel like an extension of the Common App in that it simply asks more about your extracurricular interests, but this question is a good opportunity to go more in depth and reveal new things about your personality. As this question states, they want to see how the activity you choose to write about “best illustrates who you are,” so you have room to talk more about yourself and your background. For example, you could elaborate on how you grew up doing outdoor aerobics with your uncle, and how that eventually lead to your participation in triathlons. This pursuit can be commonplace or unique, but it’s best not to mention the sports or clubs you already listed on your Common App (unless you can write a strong story about what they mean to you personally). If possible, use an activity out of the usual or very personal and expand upon it, because chances are it will be easier to explain why this unique activity is important to you and differentiates you than a more clichéd extracurricular will. No matter your approach to this rather basic question, your response can leave a strong impression on admissions as they try to gauge how you as a person will fit into USC and the non-academic opportunities there.

Describe your academic interests and how you plan to pursue them at USC. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections (250 word limit).

While this question may also seem like an extension of the Common Application, the admissions are trying to create a wholesome picture of you, so use this essay to go in depth about your intellectual passions and why you want to pursue what you want to pursue. This is an ideal “Why major” question, so make sure to also address why you are qualified to pursue your first and second choice majors, and why you want to study these subjects at USC in specific. Even if your essay seems conventional or boring, that’s fine – this prompt is straightforward, and you don’t want to leave admissions more confused about your academic interests with an unnecessarily complex narrative. You can even give a little background, or approach this essay somewhat from a “Why school” style, but there’s no need to do something too fancy. Just remember to be precise about what you are interested in, why you are passionate about that, and why you are meant to study this at USC.

If you plan on applying to the School of Engineering:

How do you plan to use your engineering degree to benefit society? (250 word limit)

This essay evaluates two main things: what your career plans are as an engineer, and how much you have researched and looked into USC engineering. First off, you want to talk about what you would do with your engineering degree, specifically with respect to how that degree would “benefits society,” because they want to see whether or not you should be put into the engineering school. If you put a second major as non-Viterbi school of engineering, this essay can be a large factor in whether or not they accept you into Viterbi or some other school like Dornsife College of LSA. While your career plans may be the same no matter what engineering program you enter at whatever school, an engineering education at USC is unique, and the admissions will want to see if you know facts about USC engineering and know what you can get out of specific programs at the Viterbi school of engineering. So, do your research and mention professors you can collaborate with (be specific, name-drop only if the professor is actually relevant to you and what you want to do) or programs you can join at USC that will help you in the long run. Much like the other USC essays, this prompt is straightforward, so be clear and be bold in how you believe your career plans and engineering goals will change the world.

Some people categorize engineers as geeks or nerds. Are you a geek, nerd, or neither? Why? (250 word limit)

Feel free to be creative with this one! This essay is a perfect chance to be quirky, funny, and honest about who you are and what makes you an engineer personality-wise. You don’t have to talk about engineering projects you have done, but rather you can talk about the small nerdy or geeky things you do for fun (or don’t do, since neither is still an option). You want to convey how your personality makes you an ideal engineer, so even if you don’t feel as if you are geeky or nerdy, you want to talk about yourself and what makes you feel like building, creating, simplifying, engineering.

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

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University of Southern California (USC) 2023-24 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Regular Decision Deadline: Jan 15

You Have: 

University of Southern California 2023-24 Application Essay Questions Explained 

The Requirements: 2 or 3 essays (depending on major selection) of up to 250 words; 2 short-answer lists.

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why , Oddball , Short Answer , Community

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 USC’s take on the classic Why essay. In asking how you plan to pursue your interests, admissions is really trying to suss out your core reasons for choosing USC. While college will offer you a wealth of social and professional opportunities, its primary function is academic — and your primary role is as a student. So, what kind of student do you hope to be? Where do you hope your studies will take you? What resources and opportunities does USC offer that will meet your needs and guide you towards your goals?

To answer these questions, set aside an hour or two to pore over the USC website (there’s no hack, you’ve just got to put in the time). Beyond the basic departmental listings, look up information about news and research coming out of your department, the kinds of courses available, the opportunities that other undergrads have had studying in your area of choice. Even if you have a wide array of interests, consider explaining how two to three departments might complement each other or foster your interest in a larger idea or theme. Your ultimate goal is to show that your interest in USC (just like your intellectual curiosity) runs deep!

Describe yourself in three words (25 characters).

Your answers do not need to be so outlandish that admissions needs a thesaurus to look them up, but they should avoid the generalities that so often populate these questions: loyal, kind, smart… you get the idea. We’re sure you are all of these things — and they are lovely qualities to showcase in the stories you tell elsewhere in your other written responses — but these sorts of terms can ring hollow. Think about how different people in your life would describe you. Though this assignment is short, you may need to spend some time wordsmithing different combinations. When the prescribed format is a list, order matters just as much as content, so use every element of the assignment to your advantage!

The following prompts have a 100 character limit:

What is your favorite snack, best movie of all time:, 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.

Behold! USC’s attempt at being quirky! You’ve been limited to less than the length of a tweet for each answer, so you’d better make every word (and character) count! These prompts don’t have time for generalities or gentle introductions, so you’ll have to cut straight to the point. The more specific your words are, the more memorable your answers will be. Favorite snack? Don’t just say, “popcorn and Junior Mints.” How about, “A box of junior mints melting over hot popcorn as I watch a horror movie” (72 characters). If you can paint a funny picture or display a knack for wit, take this chance, but don’t force it. You also don’t exactly have to think of this as filling in the blanks, but more as filling in any blanks in your application. Anything that doesn’t feel like it merits a full essay can go here as a tweet, hot take, punchline, or elegantly-worded sentence.

USC Dornsife Applicants: Please provide an essay of no more than 250 words on the topic below. In your response, we encourage you to write about something that you haven’t already discussed elsewhere in your application.

For more information, please click here ., 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 (250 words).

We at CEA love this question because it’s a unique way of asking applicants: what do you care about and why? What’s important to you? What information do you wish other scholarly minds had access to? Start by making a list. Maybe you’d like to use your ten minutes to speak about media literacy and how we can and should consider what we see online through the lens of the powers that dictate how and when we receive information. Perhaps you’d want to spread the word about the dangers of climate change and the irreversible impact it will have on the planet if we don’t take action swiftly. What keeps you up at night? What kind of positive effect do you want to have on the world? These are the questions you should be asking yourself when brainstorming for this prompt. Bonus points if you can speak to how a USC Dornsife education will prepare you to address this issue head-on in the future! 

USC Viterbi Applicants:

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).

USC Viterbi School of Engineering wants to accept students who will contribute to diversity on campus. When considering an aspect of your identity or background to expand upon, we recommend choosing one that has had the biggest impact on the way you experience and interact with the world. Ideally, the unique aspect you select should come with a couple anecdotes. Maybe you want to write about your experience as a person living with a disability and how this has shaped your interest in engineering, design, and accessibility. Perhaps you embody #BlackGirlMagic and will bring a fresh perspective to a field in which women of color are underrepresented. Regardless of the part of your identity you choose to address, be specific about how it impacts your worldview and how it will add a distinct perspective to USC Viterbi.

The Engineering Grand Challenges (for USC Viterbi Applicants):

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).

Strong responses to this prompt will showcase self-reflection, care for the greater good, and ambition. Review the fourteen Grand Challenges and see which you connect with the most. Maybe you’re passionate about providing access to clean water, since you know firsthand what it’s like to not have that access in your hometown in Michigan. Perhaps you hope to engineer better medicines in honor of a loved one you lost to illness prematurely. Maybe you’ve always been fascinated with outer space and would jump at the opportunity to engineer new tools of scientific discovery. Make sure to relate your own life experiences and/or interests to the challenges the world is facing and emphasize how you’d like to be part of the solution.

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University of South Carolina partners with CircleIn to boost student success

In an effort to better support students in difficult courses, the University of South Carolina has partnered with CircleIn, a study app, to provide students with a platform that allows them to communicate with classmates, share class notes, ask anonymous questions and study course content collaboratively. 

Who it’s for: USC students interested in interacting with peers outside of the classroom to better engage with difficult coursework.

USC students who are currently enrolled in Accounting 225, Math 141 and Chemistry 333 are part of the pilot program to help university leadership determine how the app impacts DFW rates. 

Why it matters: This partnership with CircleIn marks a new step in advancing Provost Arnett’s goal of increasing student graduation and retention rates. Students in courses with high DFW rates who have access to CircleIn are already showing statistically significant increases in course grades and a decrease in fails and withdrawals.

Of note: Isabella Halliday, a marketing major who used CircleIn in her accounting class, recently won a nationwide competition for her engagement with the app.

• Halliday completed a significant number of study actions and questions over the course of a semester, outnumbering those of other CircleIn users across the nation.
• Accounting 225 is a required course for students in the Darla Moore School of Business and is often a deciding factor in whether prospective majors are able to continue with their coursework in the school. Halliday attributes her CircleIn activity not only to a desire to improve her own understanding of accounting but also a drive to help her peers succeed academically.
• To recognize Halliday’s contributions and competition victory, she will receive an Apple MacBook Air laptop.

What she’s saying: “I want to thank CircleIn for helping me with my accounting class because I have seen that make a difference in my grade overall and my study habits. I feel so lucky to be able to represent my school and know that my work went well and was noticed.” 

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

Mr. Irrelevant history in NFL draft: Every final pick since 1976

Take a look back at the 2019 thriller between Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts before the two face off again in the NFC Championship Game. (1:34)

The nickname "Mr. Irrelevant" -- given to the player selected as the last pick in the NFL draft -- has been used for decades, but San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy rekindled interest in the topic last season. On Saturday, Alabama safety Jaylen Key became the latest to wear the tag when the New York Jets selected him with the 257th and final pick of the 2024 NFL draft .

Johnson will look to scale the same heights as Purdy, who took over the starting job in Week 14 after then-starter Jimmy Garoppolo went out with a foot injury and eventually lifted the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game . He became the only Mr. Irrelevant QB in the common draft era (since 1967) to start and win a playoff game. In his five regular-season and three playoff starts, Purdy ranked third in QBR (68.9), fifth in completion percentage (67.4%) and tied for third in passing touchdowns (14) before suffering an elbow injury . He had surgery on March 10.

Other notable Mr. Irrelevants include kicker Ryan Succop (2009) -- a Super Bowl LV winner with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers whose 82.9% field goal percentage ranks 37th in NFL history, according to Pro Football Reference -- and linebacker Tae Crowder (2020), who had 232 total tackles, two sacks and two interceptions in three seasons for the New York Giants before being signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers .

The nickname and Mr. Irrelevant Week -- a celebration and charity event -- were created by former player Paul Salata to celebrate the underdog. There have been many Mr. Irrelevants since Kelvin Kirk became the first in 1976. Here's the complete list:

2020s | 2010s | 2000s 1990s | 1980s | 1970s

Jaylen Key , S, New York Jets Pick No. 257 College: Alabama

Desjuan Johnson , DE, Los Angeles Rams Pick No. 259 College: Toledo

Brock Purdy , QB, San Francisco 49ers Pick: No. 262 College: Iowa State

Grant Stuard , LB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pick: No. 259 College: Houston

Tae Crowder , LB, New York Giants Pick: No. 255 College: Georgia

Caleb Wilson , TE, Arizona Cardinals Pick: No. 254 College: UCLA

Trey Quinn , WR, Washington Pick: No. 256 College: SMU

Chad Kelly , QB, Denver Broncos Pick: No. 253 College: Ole Miss

Kalan Reed , CB, Tennessee Titans Pick: No. 253 College: Southern Miss

Gerald Christian , TE, Arizona Cardinals Pick: No. 256 College: Louisville

Lonnie Ballentine , S, Houston Texans Pick: No. 256 College: Memphis

Justice Cunningham , TE, Indianapolis Colts Pick: No. 254 College: South Carolina

Chandler Harnish , QB, Indianapolis Colts Pick: No. 253 College: Northern Illinois

Cheta Ozougwu , DE, Houston Texans Pick: No. 254 College: Rice

Tim Toone , WR, Detroit Lions Pick: No. 255 College: Weber State

Ryan Succop , K, Kansas City Chiefs Pick: No. 256 College: South Carolina

David Vobora , OLB, St. Louis Rams Pick: No. 252 College: Idaho

Ramzee Robinson , CB, Detroit Lions Pick: No. 255 College: Alabama

Kevin McMahan , WR, Oakland Raiders Pick: No. 255 College: Maine

Andy Stokes , TE, New England Patriots Pick: No. 255 College: William Penn

Andre Sommersell , LB, Oakland Raiders Pick: No. 255 College: Colorado State

Ryan Hoag , WR, Oakland Raiders Pick: No. 262 College: Gustavus Adolphus

Ahmad Miller , DT, Houston Texans Pick: No. 261 College: UNLV

Tevita Ofahengaue , TE, Arizona Cardinals Pick: No. 246 College: BYU

Michael Green , DB, Chicago Bears Pick: No. 254 College: Northwestern State

Jim Finn , FB, Chicago Bears Pick: No. 253 College: Pennsylvania

Cam Quayle , TE, Baltimore Ravens Pick: No. 241 College: Weber State

Ronnie McAda , QB, Green Bay Packers Pick: No. 240 College: Army

Sam Manuel , LB, San Francisco 49ers Pick: No. 254 College: New Mexico State

Michael Reed , DB, Carolina Panthers Pick: No. 249 College: Boston College

Marty Moore , LB, New England Patriots Pick: No. 222 College: Kentucky

Daron Alcorn, K, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pick: No. 224 College: Akron

Matt Elliott, C, Washington Pick: No. 336 College: Michigan

Larry Wanke, QB, New York Giants Pick: No. 334 College: John Carroll

Demetrius Davis, TE, Los Angeles Raiders Pick: No. 331 College: Nevada

Everett Ross, WR, Minnesota Vikings Pick: No. 335 College: Ohio State

Jeff Beathard, WR, Los Angeles Rams Pick: No. 333 College: Southern Oregon

Norman Jefferson, DB, Green Bay Packers Pick: No. 335 College: LSU

Mike Travis, DB, San Diego Chargers Pick: No. 333 College: Georgia Tech

Donald Chumley, DT, San Francisco 49ers Pick: No. 336 College: Georgia

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Lessons from Amazon’s Early Growth Strategy

If you’re interested in strategies for scaling start-ups, this episode is for you.

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So much has been written about Amazon’s outsized growth. But Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta says it’s the company’s unusual approach to strategy that has captured his scholarly attention. Gupta has spent years studying Amazon’s strategy and its founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos.

In this episode, Gupta shares how Amazon upended traditional corporate strategy by diversifying into multiple products serving many end users, instead of having a narrow focus.

He argues that some of Amazon’s simplest business strategies — like their obsession with customers and insistence on long-term thinking — are approaches that companies, big and small, can emulate.

Key episode topics include: strategy, innovation, leadership, scaling, Jeff Bezos, long-term thinking, customer focus.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: How Jeff Bezos Built One of the World’s Most Valuable Companies (2020)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org .

HANNAH BATES: Welcome to HBR On Strategy , case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, hand-selected to help you unlock new ways of doing business.

So much has been written about Amazon’s outsized growth. But Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta says it’s the company’s unusual approach to strategy that has captured his scholarly attention.

Gupta has spent years studying Amazon’s strategy and its founder and former CEO, Jeff Bezos.

In this episode, Gupta shares how Amazon upended traditional corporate strategy by diversifying into multiple products serving many end users instead of focusing more narrowly.

And he argues that some of their simplest business strategies – like their obsession with the customer and insistence on long-term thinking – are approaches that companies, big and small, should emulate.

If you’re interested in innovation strategy, this episode is for you. It originally aired on HBR IdeaCast in November 2020. Here it is.

ALISON BEARD:  Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review.  I’m Alison Beard.

If you had to name the most successful business leader alive today, who would you say?  I can’t hear you from my basement podcasting room, but I would bet that for many of you, the answer is Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.  This is a man who over the past 25 years turned his online bookstore startup into a diversified company currently valued at $1.6 trillion.

Amazon is a digital retailing juggernaut, it’s also a web services provider, media producer, and manufacturer of personal technology devices like Kindle and Echo.  Oh, and Bezos also owns the Washington Post and Blue Origin, a space exploration company.  Forbes tells us he is the richest person in the world.

How did he accomplish so much?  How did he change the business landscape?  What mistakes has he made along the way?  A new collection of Bezos’s own writing, which full disclosure, my colleagues at Harvard Business Review Press have published, offer some insights.  Here’s a clip from one speech that’s included.  The book is called Invent and Wander.

And our guest today, who has spent years studying both Amazon and Bezos, is here to talk with me about some of the key themes in it, including the broad drivers of both the company and the CEO’s success.  Sunil Gupta is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and cochair of its executive program, and cochair of its executive program on driving digital strategy, which is also the title of his book.  Sunil, thanks so much for being on the show.

SUNIL GUPTA:  Thank you for having me, Alison.

ALISON BEARD:  So Invent and Wander.  I get that Bezos is inventive.  You know, he created a new way for us to buy things – everything.  How is he also a wonderer?

SUNIL GUPTA:  So he’s full of experiments.  His company and his whole style is known for experimentation, and he says that in so many words that if you want big winners, then you have to be willing to have many failures.  And the argument is, one big winner will take care of a thousand failed experiments.  So I think that’s the wandering part.  But also his experiments are not aimless.  There is a certain thought and process behind what experiments to do and why they will connect to the old, old picture of what Amazon is today.

ALISON BEARD:  And your expertise is in digital strategy.  How does he break the traditional rules of strategy?

SUNIL GUPTA:  So for the longest time the way, at least I was taught in my MBA program and the way we teach to our MBA students and executives, is strategy is about focus.  But if you look at Amazon, Amazon certainly doesn’t look like it’s focusing on anything, so obviously Jeff Bezos missed that class, otherwise it’s a very, very different thing.

And then you’d say, why is it that so called lack of focus strategy seems to be working for Amazon?  And I think the fundamental underlying principle that he’s guiding his whole discussion of strategy is, he’s changed the rules of strategy.  So the old rules of strategy were, the way you gained competitive advantage is by being better or cheaper.  So if I am selling you a car, my car is better of cheaper.  But the inherent assumption in that strategy statement is, I’m selling one product to one customer.  And what Amazon is basically arguing is, the digital economy is all about connection.  We have got to connect products and connect customers.  Let me explain why that is so powerful.

So connecting products, here the idea is, I can sell you, this is a classic razor and blade strategy.  I can sell you a razor cheap in order to make money on the blade.  So I can sell you Kindle cheap in order to make money on the ebooks.  Now, at some level you might say, hey, razor and blade have been around forever.  What’s so unique today?  I think unique today is razor could be in one industry and blades could be in completely different industrys.

So for example, if you look at Amazon’s portfolio of businesses, you sort of say, not only Amazon is an e-commerce player, but also is making movies and TV shows, its own studio.  Well, why does it make sense for an e-commerce player, an online retailer to compete with Hollywood.  Well, Walmart doesn’t make movies.  Macy’s doesn’t make movies?  So why does it make sense for Amazon to make movies?

And I think once you dig into it, the answer becomes clear that the purpose of the movies is to keep and gain the Prime customers. Two day free shipping is fine, but if  you ask me to pay $99 or $119 for two day free shipping, I might start doing the math in my head, and say, OK, how many packages do I expect to get next year?  And is the Prime membership worth it or not?

But once you throw in, in addition to the two-day free shipping, you throw in some TV shows and movies that are uniquely found only on Amazon, I can’t do this math.  And why is Prime customers important to Amazon?  Because Prime customers are more loyal.  They buy three or four times more than the non-Prime customers, and they’re also less price sensitive.

And in fact, Jeff Bezos has said publicly that every time we win a Golden Globe Award for one of our shows, we sell more shoes.  So this is, and he said it in your book, Invent and Wander, also, that we might be the only company in the world which has figured out how winning Golden Globe Awards can actually translate into selling more products on the online commerce.

So this is a great example of the razor being in a very different industry and blade being in another industry.  Take another example.  Amazon has a lending business where they give loans to small and medium enterprises. If Amazon decides to compete with banks tomorrow, Amazon can decide to offer loans to the small merchants at such a low price that banks would never be able to compete.  And why would Amazon be able to do that?  Because Amazon can say, hey, I’m not going to make money on loans, as much money on loans, but I’ll make more money when these businesses, small businesses grow and do more transactions on my marketplace platform.  And I get more commissions.  So again, loan can become my razor in order to help the merchants grow and make money on the transaction and the commission that I get from that.  The moment I make somebody else’s, in this case the banks, core business my razor, they will make a very hard time competing.  So I think that’s the key change, the fundamental rules of strategy and competition in that direction.

The second part of connection is connecting customers, and this is the classic network effect.  So marketplace is a great example of network effects.  The more buyers I have, the more sellers I have.  The more sellers I have, the sellers I have, the more buyers I get, because the buyers can find all the items.  And that becomes flywheel effect, and it becomes a situation where it’s very hard for a new player to complete with Amazon.

ALISON BEARD:  In this diversification that Amazon has done, how have they managed to be good at all of those things?  Because they’re not focused.  You know, they’re not concentrated on an area of specific expertise.  So how have they succeeded when other companies might have failed because they lacked that expertise, or they were spreading themselves too thin?

SUNIL GUPTA:  So I think it depends on how you define focus.  Most of us, when we define focus, we sort of define focus by traditional industry boundaries, that I’m an online retailer, therefore going into some other business is lack of focus.  The way Amazon thinks about is focus on capabilities.

So if you look at it from that point of view, I would argue that Amazon had three fundamental core capabilities.  Number one, it’s highly customer focused, not only in its culture, but also in its capability in terms of how it can actually handle data and leverage data to get customer insight.  The second core capability of Amazon is logistics.  So it’s now a world class logistics player.  It uses really frontier technology, whether it’s key word, robotics, computer vision, in its warehouse to make it much more efficient.

And the third part of Amazon’s skill or the capability is its technology.  And a good example of that is Amazon Web Services, or AWS.  And I think if you look at these three core capabilities, customer focus and the data insight that it gets from that, the logistics capability, and the technology, everything that Amazon is doing is some way or the other connected to it.  In that sense, Amazon, and there’s no lack of focus, in my judgment on Amazon.

Now, if he starts doing, starts making cream cheese tomorrow or starts making airplane engines, then I would say, yes, it’s got a lack of focus.  But one of the other things that Jeff Bezos has said again and again is this notion of work backwards and scale forward.  And what that means is, because you’re customer obsessed, you sort of find ways to satisfy customers, and if that means developing new skills that we don’t have because we are working backwards from what the customer needs are, then we’ll build those skills.

So a good example of that is, when Amazon started building Kindle, Amazon was never in the hardware business.  It didn’t know how to build hardware.  But Bezos realized that as the industry moved, people are beginning to read more and more online, rather, or at least on their devices, rather than the physical paper copy of a book.  So as a result, he says, how do we make it easier for consumers to read it on an electronic version?  And they’re spending three years learning about this capability of hardware manufacturing.  And by the way, Kindle came out long before iPad came out.  And of course, that capability now has helped them launch Echo and many other devices.

ALISON BEARD:  Right.  So it’s the focus on the customer, plus a willingness to go outside your comfort zone, the wander part.

SUNIL GUPTA:  Exactly.

ALISON BEARD:  Yeah.  How would you describe Bezos’s leadership style?

SUNIL GUPTA:  So I think there are at least three parts to it.  One is, he said right from day one that he wants to be a long-term focus.  The second thing is being customer obsessed.  And many times he has said that he can imagine, in the meetings he wants people to imagine an empty chair.  That is basically for the customer. And he says, we are not competitor focused.  We are not product focused.  We are not technology focused.  We are customer focused.  And the third is, willingness to experiment.  And fail, and build that culture in the company that it’s OK to fail.

ALISON BEARD:  What about personally, though?  Is he a hard charger?  Is he an active listener?  What’s it like to be in a room with him?

SUNIL GUPTA:  Oh, he’s certainly a hard charger.  I mean, he’s also the kind of guy, when he hires people, he says, you can work long, hard, or smart.  But at Amazon, you can choose two out of three.  And I think this is similar to many other leaders.  If you look at Steve Jobs, he was also a very hard charging guy.  And I think some people find it exhilarating to work with these kind of leaders.  Some find it very tough.

ALISON BEARD:  Do you think that he communicates differently from other successful CEOs?

SUNIL GUPTA:  So the communication style that he has built in the company is the very famous now, there’s no PowerPoints.  So it’s a very thoughtful discussion.  You write six-page memos, which everybody, when their meeting starts, everybody sits down and actually reads the memo.

In fact, this was a very interesting experience that I had.  One of my students, who was in the executive program, works at Amazon in Germany.  And he is, he was at that point in time thinking of moving to another company and becoming a CEO of that company.  So he said, can I talk to you about this change of career path that I’m thinking about?  I said, sure.  So we set up a time, and five minutes before our call, he sends me an email with a six-page memo.  And I said, well, shouldn’t he have sent this to me before, so I could at least look at it?  He says, no, that’s the Amazon style.  We’ll sit in silence and read it together.  And so I read it together, because then you’re completely focused on it.  And then we can have a conversation.  But this discipline of writing a six-page memo, it’s a very, very unique experience, because you actually have to think through all your arguments.

ALISON BEARD:  You also mentioned the long term focus, and that really stood out for me, too, this idea that he is not at all thinking of next year.  He’s thinking five years out, and sometimes even further.  But as a public company, how has Amazon been able to stick to that?  And is it replicable at other companies?

SUNIL GUPTA:  I think it is replicable.  It requires conviction, and it requires a way to articulate the vision to Wall Street that they can rally behind.  And it’s completely replicable.  There are other examples of companies who have followed a similar strategy.  I mean, Netflix is a good example.  Netflix hadn’t made money for a long period of time.  But they sold the vision of what the future will look like, and Wall Street bought that vision.

Mastercard is exactly the same thing.  Ajay Banga is giving three year guidance to Wall Street saying, this is my three-year plan, because things can change quarter to quarter.  I’m still responsible to tell you what we are doing this quarter, but my strategy will not be guided by what happens today.  It will be guided by the three-year plan that we have.

ALISON BEARD:  There are so many companies now that go public without turning any profit, whereas Amazon now is printing money, and thus able to reinvest and have this grand vision.  So at what point was Bezos able to say, right, we’re going to do it my way?

SUNIL GUPTA:  I think he said it right from day one, except that people probably didn’t believe it.  And in fact, one of the great examples of that was, when he was convinced about AWS, the Amazon Web Services, that was back in the early 2000s, when a majority of the Wall Street was not sure what Jeff Bezos was trying to do, because they say, hey, you are an online retailer.  You have no business being in web services.  That’s the business of IBM.  And that’s a B2B business.  You’re in a B2C business.  Why are you going in there?

And Bezos said, well, we have plenty of practice of being misunderstood.  And we will continue with our passion and vision, because we see the path.  And now he’s proven it again and again why his vision is correct, and I think that could give us more faith and conviction to the Wall Street investors.

SUNIL GUPTA:  Oh, absolutely.  And he’s one of the persons who has his opinion, and you always surround yourself with people better than you.

ALISON BEARD:  How has he managed to attract that talent when it is so fiercely competitive between Google, Facebook, all of these U.S. technology leaders?

SUNIL GUPTA:  So a couple of things I would say.  First of all, it’s always good fun to join a winning team.  And all of us want to join a winning team, so this certainly is on a trajectory which is phenomenal.  It’s like a rocket ship that is taking off and has been taking off for the last 25 years.  So I think that’s certainly attractive to many people, and certainly many hard charging people who want to be on a winning team.

And a second thing is, Amazon’s culture of experimentation and innovation.  That is energizing to a lot of people.  It’s not a bureaucracy where you get bogged down by the processes.  So the two type of decisions that we talked about, he gives you enough leeway to try different things, and is willing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into things that may or may not succeed in the future.  And I think that’s very liberating to people who are willing to take on the ownership and build something.

ALISON BEARD:  But don’t all of the tech companies offer that?

SUNIL GUPTA:  They do, but if you think about many other tech companies, they’re much more narrow in focus.  So Facebook is primarily in social media.  Google is primarily in search advertising.  Yes, you have GoogleX, but that’s still a small part of what Google does.  Whereas if you ask yourself what business is Amazon in, there are much broader expansive areas that Amazon has gone into.  So I think the limits, I mean, Amazon does not have that many limits or boundaries as compared to many other businesses in Silicon Valley.

ALISON BEARD:  So let’s talk a little bit about Bezos’s acquisition strategy.  I think the most prominent is probably Whole Foods, but there are many others.  How does he think about the companies that he wants to bring in as opposed to grow organically?

SUNIL GUPTA:  So some acquisitions are areas where he thinks that he can actually benefit and accelerate the vision that he already has.  So for example, the acquisition of Kiva was to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the systems that he already put in place in his warehouse.  And logistics and warehouse is a key component or key part of Amazon’s business, and he saw that Kiva already was ahead of the curve in technology that he probably wanted to have that in his own company.  So that was obvious acquisition, because that fits in the existing business.

Whole Foods is kind of a slightly different story, in my judgment, because I some ways, you can argue, why is Amazon, an online player, buying an offline retail store, Whole Foods?  And in fact, they bought it at 27% premium.  So that doesn’t make sense for an online retailer commerce to go to offline channels.  And I think, in fact, part of the reason in my judgment is, it’s not just Whole Foods, but it’s about the food business, per se.  And why is Amazon so interested in food?  In fact, Amazon has been trying this food business, online food delivery for a long period of time without much success.  And Whole Foods was one, another way to try and get access to that particular business.  And why is that so important to Amazon, even though you could argue, food is a low margin business?

And I would say, part of the reason is, food is something, grocery is something that you buy every week, perhaps twice a week.  And if I, as Amazon, can convince you to buy grocery online from Amazon, then I’m creating a habit for you to come onto Amazon every week, perhaps twice a week.  And once you are on Amazon, you will end up buying other products on Amazon.  Whereas if you are buying electronics, you may not come to Amazon every day.

So this is a habit creation activity, and again, it may not be a very high margin activity to sell you food.  But I’ve created a habit, just like Prime.  I’ve created a loyal customer where you think of nothing else but Amazon for your daily needs, and therefore you end up buying other things.

ALISON BEARD:  And Amazon isn’t without controversy.  You know, and we should talk about that, too.  First, there are questions about its treatment of warehouse employees, particularly during COVID.  And Bezos, as you said, has always been relentlessly focused on the customer.  But is Amazon employee centric, too?

SUNIL GUPTA:  So I think there is definitely some areas of concern, and you rightly said there is a significant concern about the, during the COVID, workers were complaining about safety, the right kind of equipment.  But even before COVID, there were a lot of concerns about whether the workers are being pushed too hard.  They barely have any breaks.  And they’re constantly on the go, because speed and efficiency become that much more important to make sure customers always get what they are promised.  And in fact, more than promised.

Clearly Amazon either hasn’t done a good job, or hasn’t at least done the public relations part of it that they have done a good job.  Now, if you ask Jeff Bezos, he will claim that, no, actually, they have done things.  For example, they offer something called carrier choice, where they give 95% tuition to the employees to learn new skills, whether they’re relevant to Amazon or not.  Pretty much like what Starbucks does for its baristas, for college education and other things.  But I think more than just giving money or tuition, it requires a bit of empathy and sense that you care for your employees, and perhaps that needs, that’s something that Amazon needs to work on.

ALISON BEARD:  And another challenge is the criticism that it has decimated mom and pop shops.  Even when someone sells through Amazon, the company will then see that it’s a popular category and create it itself and start selling it itself.  There’s environmental concerns about the fact that packages are being driven from warehouses to front doors all over America.  And boxes and packaging.  So how has Bezos, how has the company dealt with all of that criticism?

SUNIL GUPTA:  They haven’t.  And I think those are absolutely valid concerns on both counts, that the small sellers who grow to become reasonably big are always under the radar, and there are certainly anecdotal evidence there, small sellers have complained that Amazon had decided to sell exactly the same item that they were so successful in selling, and becoming too big is actually not good on Amazon, because Amazon can get into your business and wipe you away.  So that’s certainly a big concern, and I think that’s something that needs to be sorted out, and Amazon needs to clarify what its position on that area is, because it benefits from these small sellers on his platform.

And your second question about environmental issues is also absolutely on the money, because not only emission issues, but there’s so many boxes that pile in, certainly in my basement, from Amazon.  You sort of say, and it’s actually ironical that Millennials who are in love with Amazon are extremely environmentally friendly.  But at the same time, they would not hesitate to order something from Amazon and pile up all these boxes.  So I think Amazon needs to figure out a way to think about both those issues.

ALISON BEARD:  And at what point will it have to?  I mean, it seems to be rolling happily along.

SUNIL GUPTA:  Well, I think those issues are becoming bigger and bigger, and it’s certainly in the eye of the regulators, also, for some of these practices.  And not only because it’s too big, and there might be monopoly concerns, but these issues will become larger, and any time you become a large company, you become the center of attraction for broader issues than just providing shareholder value.

ALISON BEARD:  Yeah.  So those are weaknesses possibly for the company.  What are some of Bezos’s personal weaknesses that you’ve seen in studying him and the company?

SUNIL GUPTA:  So I think one thing that stands out to me, and at least in the public forums, I have not seen any empathy.  And it’s, I mean, we talk about that the leaders have, should have three qualities.  They should be competent.  They should have a good character.  And they should have compassion.  So he’s certainly very competent.  I mean, he’s brilliant in many aspects, right, from the computer vision and AI and machine learning, to the nuances of data analytics, to the Hollywood production, etc.  He also seems to have good character, at least I have not heard any personal scandals, apart from his other issues in his personal life, perhaps.

Those characteristics of competence and character make people respect you.  What makes people love you is when you show compassion, and at least I haven’t seen compassion or empathy that comes out of him.  I mean, he certainly comes across as a very hard charging, driven person, which probably is good for business.  But the question of empathy is perhaps something lacking right now.

ALISON BEARD:  Yeah.  The other issue is his just enormous wealth.  He did invent this colossally valuable company, but should anyone really be that rich?

SUNIL GUPTA:  Well, I guess that’s, you can say that’s the good or the bad thing about capitalism.  But I think, and again, my personal view is there’s nothing wrong in becoming rich, if you have been successful and done it with hard work and ingenuity.  But how you use your wealth is something that perhaps will define Jeff Bezos going forward.  I think Bill Gates is a great example how he actually has used his wealth and his influence and his expertise and his brilliance into some certain thing that actually is great for humanity.

Now, whether Jeff Bezos does that down the road, I don’t know, whether his space exploration provides that sort of outlet which is both his passion as well as good for humanity, I don’t know.  But at some point in time, I think it’s the responsibility of these leaders to sort of say, my goal is not simply to make money and make my shareholders rich, but also help humanity and help society.

ALISON BEARD:  If you’re talking to someone who’s running a startup, or even a manager of a team at a traditional company, what is the key lesson that you would say, this is what you can learn from Jeff Bezos?  This is what you can put to work in your own profession?

SUNIL GUPTA:  So I would say two things that at least I would take away if I were doing a startup.  One is customer obsession.  Now, every company says that, but honestly, not every company does it, because if you go to the management meetings, if you go to the quarterly meetings, you suddenly go focus on financials and competition and product.  But there’s rarely any conversation on customers.  And I think, as I mentioned earlier, that Jeff Bezos always tells his employee to think of the imaginary chair in which a customer is sitting, because that’s the person that we need to focus on.  Howard Shultz does the same thing at Starbucks, and that’s why Starbucks is so customer focused.

So I think that’s the first part.  And the argument that Bezos gives is, customers are never satisfied.  And that pushes us to innovate and move forward, so we need to innovate even before the rest of the world even sees that, because customers are the first ones to see what is missing in the offering that you have.

And the second I would say that I would take away from Jeff Bezos is the conviction and passion with what you do.  And many times that goes against the conventional wisdom.  And the Amazon Web Services is a great example of that.  The whole world, including the Wall Street Journal and the Wall Street analysts were saying, this is none of Amazon’s business to do web services.  But he was convinced that this is the right thing to do, and he went and did that.

And part of that conviction may come from experiments.  Part of that conviction comes from connecting the dots that he could see that many other people didn’t see.  I mean, that’s why he went, left his job, and went to Seattle to do the online bookstore, because he could see the macro trends as to what the Internet is likely to do.  So, I think that’s the vision that he had.  And once you have the conviction, then you follow your passion.

ALISON BEARD: Sunil, thanks so much for coming on the show.

SUNIL GUPTA:  Thank you for having me. Alison.

HANNAH BATES: That was Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta, in conversation with Alison Beard on the HBR IdeaCast .

We’ll be back next Wednesday with another hand-picked conversation about business strategy from Harvard Business Review. If you found this episode helpful, share it with your friends and colleagues, and follow our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. While you’re there, be sure to leave us a review.

And when you’re ready for more podcasts, articles, case studies, books, and videos with the world’s top business and management experts, find it all at HBR.org.

This episode was produced by Mary Dooe, Anne Saini, and me, Hannah Bates. Ian Fox is our editor. And special thanks to Maureen Hoch, Nicole Smith, Erica Truxler, Ramsey Khabbaz, Anne Bartholomew, and you – our listener. See you next week.

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• Trojan News
• Trojans in the Pros

USC Women's Basketball Wins Big At Tommy Awards

The Trojans took home some big honors here.

• Author: Matt Levine

In this story:

The USC women's basketball team put together one of the most successful seasons in recent memory of the program. While they didn't meet their ultimate goal of winning a title, the Trojans still have a lot to be thankful for.

They earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and won the Pac-12 tournament. The Trojans also realized the star power of freshman guard JuJu Watkins, who took college basketball by storm this season.

With all their success, the Trojans have a very bright future. But they also got to celebrate their present at the Tommy Awards. USC took home five awards, including being named the most inspirational women's team.

Plenty to celebrate at last night’s Tommy Awards! Our squad won 5 awards, including most inspirational women’s team 👏 pic.twitter.com/8uPrAWseyY — USC Women's Basketball (@USCWBB) April 23, 2024

The growth of the Trojans' program over the last few years has been apparent and speaks to the impact of everyone involved. USC is now seen as a basketball school for women's players and that is a great thing.

With Watkins on the roster going forward, the Trojans should remain competitive and the best is yet to come for her. This Trojans squad should be even better next season, especially now that they have more experience under their belt. The fanbase rallied behind this team all year long and can't wait until tip-off in the fall.

More USC: USC Football: Matt Leinart Gives Thoughts on Reggie Bush Heisman Reinstatement

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USC Football: Lincoln Riley Reveals Team's Biggest Strength Heading Into Spring Practice

USC Football: MarShawn Lloyd Will Visit AFC Contender Today

USC Football: Caleb Williams Reacts to Having Keenan Allen at Pro Day

USC Football: Chicago Bears DB Says Caleb Williams Can't Bring 'Hollywood Stuff' Into Building

Bears Receiver Keenan Allen Links Up With Caleb Williams at USC Pro Day

Tracking the Chicago Bears’ moves in the 2024 NFL draft: Iowa punter Tory Taylor and Kansas edge Austin Booker added on Day 3

A fter months of buildup for the Chicago Bears, the 2024 NFL draft finally has arrived — a chance for general manager Ryan Poles to change the course of the franchise by using the team’s first No. 1 pick since 1947.

The Bears drafted quarterback Caleb Williams with that pick to replace recently traded Justin Fields and then continued to build a team that finished the 2023 season 7-10.

Here’s a look at the players that Poles selected.

2024 Bears picks

Round 1, No. 1: USC quarterback Caleb Williams

Round 1, no. 9: washington wide receiver rome odunze, round 3, no. 75: yale offensive tackle kiran amegadjie, round 4, no. 122: iowa punter tory taylor.

• Round 5, No. 144: Austin Booker, Edge, Kansas

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Height, weight: 6-1, 214.

Why the Bears drafted him

The 2022 Heisman Trophy winner was the consensus top pick after throwing for 8,170 yards and 72 touchdowns with just 10 interceptions in two seasons at USC after transferring from Oklahoma. He also rushed for 503 yards and 21 touchdowns.

“An elite, elite thrower,” according to NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, Williams has been lauded for his ability to deliver from different arm angles and to change ball speed with accuracy. He has rare creative playmaking skills, strong pocket feel and mobility and a confidence to make big plays at big moments. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler noted he didn’t throw an interception on third or fourth down at USC, though he totaled 33 career fumbles.

In his own words

“I’d say the biggest thing is that (the Bears) want to win. …That’s what it really came down to, and that aligns with me. I want to be around people that want to win. I want to be around people that want to achieve high because it only makes me better. That only holds me accountable and it makes me excited to be around people like that.” — Williams on what he has learned about the Bears

Column: Can Caleb Williams reverse decades of Chicago Bears QB problems? The timing couldn’t be better.

Analyst’s take

“It’s not just the skillset, which is terrific. It’s also the sample size. … You’re talking about one of the best 2 ½-year runs for any quarterback prospect in college football in a long time. He immediately changes everything that you can do within the structure of your offense. And we’ve also talked about how outside of structure, one of the difficult players to defend, because even when you think you have a plan, Caleb Williams is so innovative and so creative that he might totally chop that plan in half and next thing you know you might have him running by you or you might have him throwing a 50-yard touchdown pass behind your defense.” — ESPN’s Field Yates

From the front office

“He’s got special instincts, awareness, especially in the pocket to manipulate the pocket, get in and out of the pocket, a feel for space is special. That’s his special sauce. Then once we kind of speed things up and start to identify different coverages and there’s an adjustment to an NFL offense that he’s got to go through as well. So we’re really excited to work with the tools he has.” — Bears general manager Ryan Poles

You should know

Williams is as unique off the field as he is on it. One of the first true stars of the name, image, likeness (NIL) era, Williams already has made millions of dollars and signed endorsements with Dr. Pepper, Wendy’s and Nissan, among others. Poles said evaluating such prospects in the NIL era is different but is in some ways useful to gauge maturity, and Williams, who has a team of representatives working for him, has passed those tests.

“It puts these guys in a spotlight,” Poles said. “It gives them more responsibility. It forces them to prioritize – money, business, football, school. How do they handle that? What kind of structure do they put around them to make sure they’re making good decisions? Do they have people that can say, ‘No, that’s not going to fit with my timeline.’”

Height, weight: 6-3, 215.

Poles has done his best to build up a support system around Williams, and Odunze is the latest addition to that effort. Poles touted Odunze’s versatility to line up inside and outside and his ability to make contested catches and gain yards after the catch. He said he plays big and strong. And he touted his character and work ethic. Odunze had 92 catches for an FBS-best 1,640 yards and 13 touchdowns in an All-America senior season at Washington in 2023.

Why he wasn’t drafted sooner

The 2024 wide receivers class was stacked at the top with Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., who went No. 4 to the Arizona Cardinals, and LSU’s Malik Nabers, who went No. 6 to the New York Giants. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. said he sees “all three of them being great in the NFL.”

“They’re getting a versatile receiver. I think I do a lot of things well on the field, honestly, from playing outside, playing inside, catching contested balls, creating separation. I feel like I do all these things at a high level. And I’m looking to come and make that immediate impact, find my role within the team with great receivers like Keenan Allen and DJ Moore already there. Just finding my role within that and creating avenues for the offense to have success.” —  Odunze 

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“I like big, fast, physical, smart, tough guys who can go play above the rim and who have some route polish to them. As a player I love what he has from a skill-set standpoint. I think all of it translates. Big games in the NFL, especially going to the postseason, I think some of that space disappears. You have to have guys who can win with bodies around them. He can do that. That’s not to say he can’t run. … He can run too.

“There’s a bounce and an energy to him that I love. I love the fact that even though you might have to coach some of this out of him, he hates running out of bounds. You’ll see the competitiveness in him. When he is on the sideline, he tries to get everything he can get. He is a real, real competitive football player.” — Jeremiah

“The kid’s just put time in, and he got better and better every single year and he’s a winner. He can impact the game at any moment. If you’re at quarterback, and you’re in doubt, you want to just go give a guy an opportunity to go finish, he’s your guy. He’s done that consistently.” — Poles

Odunze wore No. 23 in youth football because he was a fan of Devin Hester. The Las Vegas native said he stumbled across a YouTube video of the former Bears great, which sparked his fandom.

“He had this tape to a Lil Wayne track, and I probably watched it over 1,000 times of him returning kicks, returning kicks in the Super Bowl,” Odunze said. “That just really inspired me.”

Height, weight: 6-5, 323

Amegadjie will have an early opportunity to compete with Braxton Jones for the starting left tackle job and impressed the Bears with his combination of size, strength and athleticism. He has shown an aggressive edge the Bears hope to tap into. Amegadjie also has the versatility to be a swing tackle and spent the entire 2021 season at Yale as the starting right guard. Still, the current vision is to pair him with line coach Chris Morgan and push him to become a potential starting option at left tackle.

Amegadjie was the 14th offensive tackle drafted and the sixth to be selected on Day 2. He missed the last six games of the 2023 season with a quadriceps injury and is viewed inside league circles as a developmental player whose technique still needs refinement.

Amegadjie played basketball into high school and believe his five-plus years on the hardwood helped sharpen his abilities for offensive line play. “I think some of the movements translate, even though they’re not the exact same,” he said. “Foot quickness, agility, jumping, changing direction. You need all that when you play basketball. It helped me develop the skills I have now.

Column: Left tackle Braxton Jones emerged as a winner from Chicago Bears’ Round 1 draft bonanza

“He’s huge. A little bit of a project and little top-heavy at times. But he can really collapse people in the run game. There’s really something to work with there.” –  Jeremiah

“He’s a special talent with really rare physical traits. I think he’s a player who’s on the ascent. Obviously, his season got cut a little bit short this fall. But we’re thrilled to have him. His combination of length, athleticism and size (is impressive). And he’s a sharp kid coming out of the Ivy League.” — Bears co-director of player personnel Trey Koziol

Amegadjie is the latest local product Bears GM Ryan Poles added to the roster, joining a fraternity of players who played high school football in or near Chicago, a group that includes tight end Cole Kmet and linebackers T.J. Edwards and Jack Sanborn.

Amegadjie went to Hinsdale Central High School and has been a lifelong Bears fan, with Devin Hester as one of his favorite players growing up. So, yes, he was watching the draft Thursday with curiosity to see how the Bears would navigate the night. After the team drafted quarterback Caleb Williams and receiver Rome Odunze? “How could I not be happy?” Amegadjie said. “I’m just so psyched. I’m excited to get to work with those guys.”

Height, weight: 6-4, 224.

Taylor, the Ray Guy Award winner as the nation’s top punter in 2023, set the NCAA single-season yardage record with 4,479 yards on 93 punts in 2023. His career average was 46.3 yards per punt, with a high of 48.2 yards in 2023. He had a long of 67 yards in 2023 and a career long of 70. He had 103 punts of more than 50 yards in his career.

Taylor is the second punter Poles has drafted in three years. In 2022, Poles drafted Trenton Gill, who has averaged 46.1 yards per punt and 38.5 net yards in his two seasons. Taylor said the Bears will get “someone who can kick for distance and hang time but can also pin them deep and place it where he wants.”

Taylor is the highest-drafted punter since the San Francisco 49ers took Mitch Wishnowsky in the fourth round at No. 110 in 2019. A punter hasn’t gone in the third round since Bryan Anger in 2012. Given Gill is on the roster, they could have gone in another direction. But Taylor’s resume drew them in.

“I was always pretty confident that I was going to get drafted. It was really just a matter of how high. It’s funny my girlfriend’s from Chicago. I was like, ‘Imagine the Bears use their pick at 122.’ And then at 115, I just said it as a joke to my girlfriend I was like only seven picks away. There’s not many punters that are drafted high these days. It’s just really an absolute honor to be a Bear. I just can’t really believe it, to be honest. It’s crazy.” — Taylor

“Tory Taylor was an MVP guy for Iowa. He has unbelievable leg strength and drives the ball on a consistent basis. With field position being such a key component to winning close games, he can flip the field and change the game.” —  ESPN’s Mel Kiper, via Iowa football

Taylor is from Melbourne, Australia, and first played American football in 2019.

“When I first came over here I was like, ‘Oh, I’m just going to have fun and see what happens,’ ” Taylor said. “After a year or so, my coach said you can really be something pretty special. It wasn’t really anything that I thought about too much. I’d always known that I had a big leg. … I’ve had one pretty crazy journey, but it just really shows if you just put in the hard work usually good things prevail.”

Taylor said he received a text from Bears quarterback Caleb Williams congratulating him after he was drafted. The message? “Hey, you’re not going to punt too much here.”

“Which is great,” Taylor said. “That was pretty funny.”

Round 5, Pick 144: Kansas edge rusher Austin Booker

Height, weight: 6-4, 240

Why the Bears drafted him: Still feeling a bit deficient in their defensive front, the Bears rolled the dice on Booker’s upside Saturday, trading a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Buffalo Bills to move back into the fourth round. According to area scout John Syty, the Bears were drawn to Booker’s potential and traits, seeing a player who is tall and possesses great length with 33 7/8-inch arms. Booker also has notable athleticism and has shown he can rush the passer in a variety of ways. In his one season at Kansas after transferring from Minnesota, Booker had eight sacks and 12 tackles for a loss. He’s a competitive prospect who consistently plays hard. Said Syty: “Austin’s a HITS-principle kid from the start. He can win with coordination, his hands, all that stuff. But he also has a relentless motor. I think when you turn on this kid’s tape, it stands out.

Why he wasn’t drafted sooner: Booker still has a lot of room for growth. He just turned 21 in December, played only 18 games in college and declared for the draft with two years of eligibility remaining. Booker is still growing into his frame and didn’t test well at the scouting combine with a 4.79-second 40-yard dash and a vertical leap of 32½ inches. He isn’t proven as a reliable run stopper and might be a situational pass rusher and special teams contributor as he breaks into the league and develops under the watch of coach Matt Eberflus, defensive coordinator Eric Washington and defensive line coach Travis Smith.

In his own words: Booker agrees with the buzz in league circles that he is “raw” with a lot of work ahead to become an NFL contributor. “One-hundred percent,” he said. “I’m 21, so I know I have a lot of years ahead of me to get stronger, get faster. I’m just looking to keep growing in the NFL.”

Analyst’s take: “He didn’t test well (at the combine). But I really like him as a player. He may drop into Day 3 and become a bargain guy there.” — ESPN analyst Mel Kiper

You should know: Booker hit it off with the Bears during his predraft “Top 30” visit to Halas Hall this month and specifically mentioned Smith as a coach he’s looking forward to getting to know better. For what it’s worth, Smith was with Raiders star Maxx Crosby from 2019-21 in Las Vegas. “I know I’ll be in good hands moving forward,” Booker said.

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