About USC
The University of Southern California is a leading private research university located in Los Angeles — a global center for arts, technology and international business. It is home to the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and 22 exceptional academic schools and units. USC’s Health Sciences campus houses renowned specialized care and research in cancer, stem cell and regenerative medicine, orthopedics and sports medicine. The university is the largest private sector employer in the city of Los Angeles, responsible for $8 billion annually in economic activity in the region.
Opened in 2017, the USC Village is a next-level student living and learning complex nestled in a community-facing retail town center. Living spaces are organized into eight residential colleges, each guided by faculty-in-residence who curate an array of extracurricular programs.
Facts and Figures
Students (2021-2022 academic year)
| Undergraduates | 21,000 |
|---|---|
| Graduate and professional | 28,500 |
| Total | 49,500 |
Student Demographics (Fall 2021)
| Asians | 19.1% |
|---|---|
| Black/African-American | 5.8% |
| Hispanic | 15.6% |
| White/Caucasian | 27.3% |
| International | 23.8% |
| Other | 8.4% |
International Students (Fall 2021)
| Regularly Enrolled International Students | 11,729 |
|---|
All International Students by Places of Origin
Freshman Class (Fall 2021)
| Applicants | 71,031 |
|---|---|
| Admits | 8,884 (12.5 percent) |
| Matriculants | 3,668 |
| Middle 50-percent Average GPA | 3.75-4.00 (unweighted) |
| First-generation college students | 23% |
Freshman Profile and Admission Information 2021-2022
History
Los Angeles was a rough-and-tumble frontier town in the early 1870s, when a group of public-spirited citizens led by Judge Robert Maclay Widney first dreamed of establishing a university in the region. It took nearly a decade for this vision to become a reality, but in 1879 Widney formed a board of trustees and secured a donation of 308 lots of land from three prominent members of the community – Ozro W. Childs, a Protestant horticulturist; former California governor John G. Downey, an Irish-Catholic pharmacist and businessman; and Isaias W. Hellman, a German-Jewish banker and philanthropist. The gift provided land for a campus as well as a source of endowment, the seeds of financial support for the nascent institution.
When USC first opened its doors to 53 students and 10 teachers in 1880, the “city” still lacked paved streets, electric lights, telephones and a reliable fire alarm system. Today, USC is home to more than 48,000 students and over 4,400 full-time faculty, and is located in the heart of one of the biggest metropolises in the world.
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