The University of Southern California received about 69,000 applications to its Class of 2026. But you wouldn’t know from reading a USC press release that applications were in fact slightly down from last year’s record tally of about 70,000 students. The biggest hint? When an elite college doesn’t plaster the words “record” or “largest” in the headlines, it’s a good indication the figure slipped. But, hey, elite colleges love to give off the impression they endeavor to make the highly selective college admissions process less stressful for all. So wouldn’t that mean printing headlines like, “Applications Drop to Class of 2026” or “Admission to USC Becomes Slightly Easier for Class of 2026.” Yeah, right. In any case, of these about 69,000 applicants, 8,198 students earned admission to the USC Class of 2026. The admission rate was thus a shade under 12% — slightly lower than last year’s 12% figure.

As Billy Harrington, Daniel Marable, Gavin Murillo, Gordon Redfield-Gale, Grace Harrinton, Mateo Gutierrez, and Stephan Serrano (maybe they each wrote one word?) report for USC Annenberg Media in a piece entitled “USC’s class of 2026 is the most diverse class yet despite a shrinking acceptance rate,” “USC welcomed a record number of first-generation students in the 2022 admission decisions, with an increasing number of Black, Latino and Asian/Pacific Islander identifying students…The admitted class of 2026 also boasts an average GPA of 3.9, along with three-fourths of students identifying as either Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander…International students made up 18% of admissions, including students from China, India, Brazil and more.”

Congratulations to all of Ivy Coach’s students who earned admission to the University of Southern California’s Class of 2026! We hope you love SoCal. Fight on!