How many letters of recommendation/reports does USC require?
On the USC site,http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/apply/fresh_standards.html, it says that it requires one Counselor/Teacher Report and letter of recommendation (which means that I only need to send one teacher report and letter of recommendation if I wanted to?). Also, one of the admissions officers visited my school and said they only require one recommendation. But my some of my friends say that I need at least one counselor report and recommendation and one teacher recommendation. The problem I'm having here is that I don't know my counselor at all because my old counselor had to retire due to health problems last year and now I have a counselor that I've talked to only once.Also, I'm getting the feeling that my counselor would just BS my whole recommendation and I would have to write an extensive fact sheet for him. The deadline is in two weeks for me (scholarship and music deadline), and I would prefer to get just one counselor report and a few teacher reports and recommendations. Thanks for any help!
Any scholarships that don't require a letter of recommendation?
Well you have missed the deadline for this year, the post ones for next year around October, then you will be able to do a search for scholarships. Scholarships that require you to write an essay that are not merit based usually do not require letters, and some departmental scholarships are merit based and just go off of your grades and statement.
What does USC film school look for in a letter of recommendation?
Hey, Steven, I wrote about this as part of my larger answer on how to get into film school: How do you get into one of the top tier film schools master programs?The only thing I would add based on your question above is that you not have all three of your letters be from teachers. Show a range of recommendations. As a former student, not a faculty member, I can't speak to exactly what the SCA admissions committee is looking for, I can only speak to what worked for me. I had one letter from a professor that I respected a great deal, one letter from the NYU administrator that I worked most closely with as a member of NYU's student government, and one letter from a former President of the East Coast chapter of the Editor's Guild.I never told them what to write and I never read their letters -- they came to me sealed in envelopes already. If you're still concerned about what to say about yourself remember this: the underlying truth of filmmaking is that it's an extremely collaborative process. Whether one works as a producer, in charge of an entire film, a director in charge of the film's story, a DP in charge of a camera crew, or even a costume designer in charge of a wardrobe department, you want to surround yourself with smart people, you can rely on, who do their jobs to the best of their ability. So you cannot go wrong by providing evidence that you are a creative collaborator who can be relied upon and serves as an asset to every endeavor he or she is involved in. I hope that helps.
Is a letter of recommendation requirement for graduate school admissions an outdated model of verifying if an applicant is good enough to pursue graduate studies?
I can see your argument if that is what the professor is writing. In part, the professor may speak to your ability to handle graduate-level work; but much of that is coming from your GPA and GRE. Remember that graduate school is about projects and/or research. The professor should be speaking to your research topic, how that topic may fit in the field, and if you are capable of conducting a research project of that caliber. Ideally you would be getting a letter from someone who can speak to your research potential.I hope that helps.
How hard is it to get into USC? (Requirements?)?
On the USC admissions website there are profiles of the average GPA's and test scores of the recently admitted classes. USNEWS also has the 25%-75% test scores for tons of universities as well as USC. You can use those sources above to perhaps see where your own GPA and test scores would place around those numbers, but I would by no means say that there is a set criteria for GPA and test scores for admission to USC. I believe the school places value in well rounded students and looks for that in applications. Therefore, your essays, letters of recommendation and extracurricular activities will all be considered as well. I wish you the best of luck in your college application and admission process.
The USC PhD program asks for 3 letters of recommendation. I'm planning to ask my undergrad advisor to write one of them, but how can I get the other two?
The professors you ask need to be ones who will actually remember you and like you. If you were just a body in class and made less than a B, don’t bother. If you went to them for help, participated in class, made an effort, and your grades reflected that effort, then yes, that professor might be willing to write a letter of recommendation for you. If you did student research with someone, you should have shown up on time, been a self-starter, someone who was trustworthy, and at least shown signs that you had potential as a future researcher. Don’t go and ask someone for a recommendation who is likely to have a less than stellar opinion of you.And before you say, well, duh, of course I wouldn’t do that! You’d be surprised. I’ve got several friends who are currently professors and I can’t tell you how many times they’ve talked about how Stu A asked them for a rec and they have no idea who Stu A is, or Stu B asked them for a rec and Stu B made a C in their class and missed half of the classes to boot.Oh, and one last tip: Don’t wait until the day before the recs are due to ask your people to submit them. Give them at least two weeks. A month would be better. A polite follow-up a week before they are due would not be amiss to make sure they weren’t forgotten. Professors do get busy and some get a lot of requests for recommendations.
Which top graduate schools do not require a letter of recommendation for their admission?
Technical University of Munich.Atleast when I applied, things have changed I’ve heard.
Some USC graduate programs do not require a letter of recommendation. Why?
When I asked Kelly Goulis - Graduate Associate Dean at USC Viterbi School of Engineering- this question this is how she replied and I quote:'If you are applying for a MS degree, then you are probably a senior undergrad and you don't have to bother your professors to give you bogus LORs since they will not be able to testify for neither your aptitude nor your success in pursuing research. On the other hand, submitting LORs are optional because we may be receiving MS application from people with work experience and they will be able to demonstrate performance with strong LORs from their supervisors. This is why LORs are not mandatory for submitting your MS applications; however, we do require that our Ph.D applicants submit at least three LORs because we need to be convinced that they will deliver (given that most Ph.D students at USC are tuition+stipend funded.)'