Class of ’26 boasts highest GPA

The 2026 class of 3,420 students broke numerous admissions-related records after going through USC’s second most selective admission cycle ever with an acceptance rate of 12% — just above the 2019 acceptance rate of 11.5%. The class of 2026 has the highest entering average GPA in USC history: 3.87 on an unweighted 4.0 scale, an increase from the 3.83 entering average GPA of last year’s class.

USC Dean of Admission Timothy Brunold said the class of 2026 has shown great progress in terms of “diversity and talent.” A third of students in the class of 2026 come from historically underrepresented groups. Twenty-two percent of students are the first in their family to go to college, an upward trend in USC admissions: only 12% of students in the class of 2012 were first-generation. 

Debra Erdenemandakh, a freshman majoring in philosophy, politics and economics sees herself as a “minority within a minority” because of her Asian and Mongolian background. Before starting at USC, she worried about fitting in on campus but said she was pleasantly surprised about the level of diversity in the class of 2026. 

“When we think of USC, we think of very prestigious, all-white, higher-income individuals, but I’ve met a surprisingly good amount of Black and Indigenous people and people of color who come from lower-income backgrounds,” Erdenemandakh said. “Although it is a minority, since we go to a predominantly white institution, those people still have a voice…and an identity on campus.”

This year’s freshman class is also geographically diverse. ​Students come from 49 states — only North Dakota is not represented — the District of Columbia, four U.S. territories and 72 countries outside the U.S. California, home to 41.3% of students, is the most represented state, followed by New York, Washington, Texas and Illinois. Eighteen percent of freshmen are international students, a 5% increase from the previous year’s freshman class.

“There was a bit of a downturn [in the number of international students] during the Trump administration … because of the way that other countries saw U.S. policies and whether or not this country was friendly to international students,” Brunold said. “Then there was the pandemic and so people weren’t able to travel. There were a lot of things in the three to five-year backwards horizon that was depressing the numbers.”

The Spring Admission Program will welcome 489 freshmen students next semester as of now. The program functions as both a waitlist and an enrollment management tool to keep enrollment steady from term to term. Brunold said the University has extra capacity in the spring because many students graduate mid-year or study abroad. 

“[The program has] really served the needs of the University,” Brunold said. “It isn’t for everyone, and we also understand that a lot of students who are admitted to the spring term are disappointed about that. But the fact is that we continue to work quite diligently to make sure that these students’ transition and experience at USC remains good.”

Initially, Katherine Lee, a freshman majoring in film and television production, felt discouraged when she was accepted to the University as a spring admit.

“I was super confused,” Lee said. “I feel like a lot of us don’t really know what’s wrong with us … I don’t think that helped with our confidence because a lot of kids got in in the fall and that makes us think we’re like extras in the way.” 

Joining the spring mentor group helped change Lee’s mindset on entering USC in the second semester. She looks forward to the social events with other spring admits, as well as working with her two mentors.

“Doing my own research has definitely helped me a lot to realize that I’m not any lesser,” Lee said. “People [in the group] share their experience with you, like what they’ve gone through as a spring admit … It definitely decreased my imposter syndrome.”

The USC Office of Admissions dealt with its third cycle of test-optional admissions for the class of 2026. The Office will decide whether to keep the university’s current test-optional policy very soon, Brunold said.

“We’re still studying what the impacts have been,” Brunold said “We’ve been able to select fantastically prepared students and students who fit very well into the University even in the absence of test scores … I would be surprised if we didn’t continue to be test-optional at least for a few more years as we continue to study this.”

Half of the entering students in the class of 2026 submitted test scores. Erdenemandakh said she supports USC’s current test-optional policy because it allows students to showcase their talents without feeling the pressure to let a number define them. 

“Standardized testing sometimes hurts applicants, especially if you couldn’t take standardized tests because you didn’t have the money or the resources,” Erdenemandakh said. “It [disproportionately affects] certain people in certain groups rather than helping uplift an application.”