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The Best Streaming Platforms to Catch USC Football Games Without Paying

Are you a die-hard USC football fan who wants to catch every game live? With the rise of streaming platforms, it has become easier than ever to watch your favorite team in action without having to pay for expensive cable packages. In this article, we will explore the best streaming platforms that allow you to watch USC football games live and for free. So grab your popcorn and get ready for some exciting Trojan action.

YouTube TV: Your One-Stop Destination for USC Football

YouTube TV offers a convenient way to catch all the USC football games without breaking the bank. With its extensive coverage of major sports networks like ESPN and FOX Sports, you can stream every game in high-definition quality. The platform also provides unlimited cloud DVR storage, so you can record and rewatch any missed matches at your convenience.

Not only does YouTube TV offer live access to USC football games, but it also provides a wide range of other channels and content. From news channels to popular shows, you’ll never run out of entertainment options. Plus, with its user-friendly interface and compatibility across various devices, you can enjoy the game from anywhere at any time.

Hulu + Live TV: Get Your USC Football Fix On-Demand

If you prefer flexibility in your streaming experience, Hulu + Live TV is an excellent choice for catching USC football games without paying a dime. With Hulu’s vast library of on-demand content combined with live TV access, you can watch your favorite team play whenever suits your schedule.

Hulu + Live TV includes major sports networks like ESPN and ABC, ensuring that you don’t miss any crucial moments during the game. The platform also offers an intuitive interface that allows easy navigation between live channels and on-demand content. So whether it’s halftime or post-game analysis, you can switch seamlessly between catching up on missed episodes or enjoying the excitement on the field.

Sling TV: Affordable Streaming for USC Football Enthusiasts

Sling TV is an affordable option for USC football fans who want to watch live games without paying hefty cable bills. With its Orange and Blue packages, you can choose the one that suits your needs best. Both packages include ESPN, allowing you to catch all the action from USC football games.

Sling TV also provides cloud DVR storage, so you can record and replay any thrilling moments from the game. Additionally, the platform offers a variety of add-ons and channel bundles that allow you to further customize your streaming experience. From sports extras to international channels, Sling TV ensures that you get more than just USC football coverage.

Pluto TV: Free Streaming with a Twist

If you’re looking for a completely free streaming option for USC football games, Pluto TV might be the perfect choice for you. While it doesn’t offer live access to every game, Pluto TV does provide dedicated sports channels where you can occasionally catch USC football matches.

Pluto TV’s sports channels often broadcast classic games or highlights from past seasons, allowing you to relive iconic moments in Trojan history. The platform also offers a range of other entertainment options across various genres, ensuring that there’s something for everyone.

In conclusion, catching USC football games live and without paying is now easier than ever with several streaming platforms available at your fingertips. Whether it’s YouTube TV’s comprehensive coverage, Hulu + Live TV’s flexibility, Sling TV’s affordability or Pluto TV’s free offerings – there is a streaming platform out there that suits every Trojan fan’s preferences. So sit back, relax, and cheer on your favorite team as they dominate the field.

This text was generated using a large language model, and select text has been reviewed and moderated for purposes such as readability.

MORE FROM ASK.COM

What are you looking for?

Honors program, about the honors program.

The English Honors Program is open to students in English literature and in creative writing. The program provides a unique opportunity to pursue in depth a critical project of your own design. If you are thinking about applying to graduate school or professional school (such as law school) you will find the program especially rewarding. The Honors Thesis is a critical research project and typically runs upwards of 40 pages. Upon successful completion of a critical Senior Honors Thesis your USC transcript will record departmental honors.

• Minimum USC GPA of 3.0
• Minimum English GPA of 3.5
• Completion of introductory English sequence (200-level)
• Completion of at least two USC upper-division ENGL courses
• Be enrolled in, or have completed with a grade of at least A-,  ENGL 491 (for English) or  ENGL 492  (for NARS)
• Prior to the application period, begin thinking about your desired thesis topic.
• Submit your Honors application in the fall (usually in October or early November — an Undergraduate Studies Coordinator will reach out with the precise deadline each year). While once a two-step application, students now submit their project proposal and potential readers’ names at the same time as the other materials.
• If accepted, you will be granted D-clearance to enroll in  ENGL 496  for the following Spring semester during Fall registration.

Steps to being admitted to the Honors Program:

1. ENGL 491 “Senior Seminar in Literary Studies” or ENGL 492 “Narrative Studies Capstone Seminar”

Enroll no later than fall semester. Enrollment is restricted to twelve students. For ENGL 491, multiple sections are always offered in fall; each will be taught by a research professor focusing on a special topic. For ENGL 492, 1-2 sections are always offered in fall (depending on need); through this seminar, students are supported during the process of completing their NARS capstone project.

These fall semester seminars are open to all seniors of the appropriate major, but required for students applying to the Honors Program due to the application prerequisite. You must earn a grade of at least 3.7 (A-) in ENGL 491 or 492 to proceed into ENGL 496 (see below).

2. HONORS APPLICATION

Typically due in October or early November. Materials are submitted via the Google form provided to students via email prior to the application deadline. List your English or NARS major courses, instructors, and grades (we may wish to speak with your instructors). Attach your current STARS Report, along with a substantial writing sample that shows your research and writing skills to best advantage.

3. PROJECT PROPOSAL

Project proposals are now submitted at the same time as all other application materials. Students submit a 2-3 page proposal for review by the Undergraduate Studies Committee. In your proposal you will describe what you would like to do for your Honors Thesis, and identify several English faculty with whom you have discussed your ideas and who might supervise your independent research. You have all summer before the fall semester begins to think about what interests you, and you should start discussing your ideas as early as possible with your professors.

4. ENGL 496 “SENIOR HONORS THESIS”

If admitted to the program, and if you complete ENGL 491 or 492 with a minimum grade of 3.7 (A-), you will be granted D-clearance to enroll in ENGL 496 “Senior Honors Thesis” for the following Spring semester. In this intensive seminar you will meet with other Honors Thesis students and be supported by our Director of Undergraduate Studies during the process of completing your thesis. You will work independently, but under the direct supervision of two professors who will guide you based on their expertise in your topic. Your completed thesis will be graded by a jury of professors from the Department of English, and you must receive a minimum grade of 3.3 (B+) on your thesis to receive Honors, and finish with an overall GPA of 3.5.

Previous Thesis Presentations

If you want to see what current Honors Thesis students are doing, you are invited to attend the public presentations they will be making in the Spring semester. Drop by, engage in stimulating conversation, and see if this program is right for you. You are welcome to attend even if you are just curious about the Honors Program for a later year.

For additional information, please contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies, whose information is available  here .

Thursday, April 29, 2021 12:00pm – 4:00pm Public (Zoom) presentation of Honors theses

• 12:00,  Jonathan Chang Thesis: “ Quod Me Nutrit Me Destruit : Food, Community, and the Inversion of Nourishment in Early Modern English Witch Drama” Readers: Rebecca Lemon and Thea Tomaini
• 12:30,  Hunter Wilkinson Thesis: “‘Our Small Forever’: Law, Justice and Voice in Louise Erdrich’s Coming of Age Novel,  The Round House ” Readers: David Treuer
• 1:00,  Ryan Fawwaz Thesis: “Girl of the Gilded West: Topophilia and Self-Reflexivity in Joan Didion’s Revised Frontier” Readers: William Handley and David Ulin
• 1:30,  Ryan Nhu Thesis: “The Work of Want: Interracial Desire and Contemporary Literature, 1962-2020” Readers: Viet Thanh Nguyen and Maggie Nelson
• 2:00,  Lucy Kenig-Ziesler Thesis: “Womanly Wiles: An analysis of violent women in Victorian literature and society” Readers: Erika Wright and Hilary Schor
• 2:30,  Sophie Hammond Thesis: “‘Their Own, Sometimes Subversive, Purposes’:  Tipping the Velvet ,  The Persian Boy , and the Possibilities of Historical Fiction” Readers: Hilary Schor and William Thalmann
• 3:00,  Valerie Burgess Thesis: “Exploitation of Feminine Labor: How mid-twentieth century working class women writings engage and critique  The Feminine Mystique ” Readers: Rick Berg and Brighde Mullins
• 3:30,  Katrina Coglitore Thesis: “Beyond ‘Little Brown Brothers’: Tracing Inherited Trauma Across Generations of Filipino Americans” Readers: Thomas Gustafson and Adrian De Leon

For further project details, please read our  Spring 2021 Honors Invitations .

Thursday, April 16, 2020 12:30pm – 4:00pm Public (Zoom) presentation of Honors theses

• 12:30,  Jane Clark Thesis: “Ovidian Heroines Dismantling the Virgilian State in Early Modern Drama”
• 1:00,  Kanak Kapur Thesis: “Death Becomes Her: Melancholia, Secrets and Substitution in the Governess Narrative”
• 1:30,  Danielle Collins Thesis: “Rewriting Fate: Turn of the Century Black Female Authors and The Fight Against a Racialized, Gendered Destiny”
• 2:00,  Jason Collins Thesis: “Between Rational and Fanciful: Religion and Spirituality in the Late Victorian Bildungsroman”
• 2:30,  Megan Ritchie Thesis: “A Castle and a Con: Strawberry Hill and the Complexities of Authorship and Ownership”
• 3:00,  Michael Neely Thesis: “A More Perfect Union? Liberty Versus Equality in American Construction and Reconstruction”
• 3:30,  Lorea Mendiguren Thesis: “Fictions of Female Autonomy & Culpability in Romantic Literature of the Middle Ages”

For further project details, please read our  Spring 2020 Honors Invitations .

Wednesday, April 3, 2019 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 10:00am – 1:00pm Public presentation of Honors theses

• 10:00,  Anika Narayanan Thesis: “Bingeworthy: Temporality, Realism, and Consumer Immersion in Serialized Fiction” Readers: Brighde Mullins and Susan Segal
• 10:45,  Madeleine Dile Thesis: “Magic and the Perception of Humanity in Early Modern English Drama” Readers:
• 11:30,  Annamaria Sauer Thesis: “Narrative and Extremity” Readers:
• 12:15,  Katherine Coley Thesis: “From a State of Mutual Exclusion: Non-Native Women Writers and Representations of the Native American ‘Other’” Readers:

Wednesday, April 4, 2018 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 1:30pm – 3:45pm Public presentation of Honors theses

• 1:30,  John Broderick Thesis: “The Short Story: By Knockout” Readers: Elda María Román and Dana Johnson
• 2:15,  Marilyn Crowley Thesis: “Off the ‘Beat’en Path: Diane di Prima and Hettie Jones” Readers: Molly Bendall and David St. John
• 1:30,  Marina Zoukova Thesis: “Women’s Insanity Romanticized: An Exploration into the Portrayals and Implications of Insanity in Women in Gothic Literature in the late Nineteenth-Century” Readers: Margaret Russett and Tania Modleski

Wednesday, April 5, 2017 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 12:00pm – 4:30pm Public presentation of Honors theses

• 12:00,  Amy Hutto Thesis: “Lost Voices, Found Images: Intersections of Poetry and Photography in Stories of Marginalized Groups” Readers: Alice Gambrell and Molly Bendall
• 12:45,  Kevin Volkl Thesis: “The Crisis of Man in the Americas, 1933-1973” Readers: David Treuer, Anthony Kemp and Sharon Lloyd
• 1:30,  Allison Smith Thesis: “The News from Nowhere: William Morris’s Icelandic Landscapes” Readers: Margaret Russett and Devin Griffiths
• 2:15,  Constance Chan Thesis: “Rejecting Utopia: Representation of the Body in Chinese American Poetry” Readers: Viet Thanh Nguyen and David St. John
• 3:00,  Arianna Allen Thesis: “His War, Her Pen” Readers: Thomas Gustafson and Richard Berg
• 4:00,  Kathryn Kelly Thesis: “The Inevitability and Impossibility of Return: An Exploration into the Relationship Between Trauma and Literature in the American South and Central Europe” Readers: Viet Thanh Nguyen and David Treuer

Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 2:30pm – 5:00pm Public presentation of Honors theses

• 2:30,  Luke Nunnelly Thesis: “Donne’s Doors: The  Songs and Sonnets  and the Subtleties of Huxley’s Mind” Readers: Rebecca Lemon and Joseph Dane
• 3:15,  Georgia Soares Thesis: “To See is to Feel: Feminist Symbols of Perception in Woolf and Lispector” Readers: Elda María Román and Beatrice Bennett
• 4:00,  Micaela Rodgers Thesis: “An Anxious Ireland: An Analysis of the Gothic through the Female Role in Sheridan Le Fanu’s  The Purcell Papers ” Readers: Tania Modleski and Ross Scimeca

Thursday, April 17, 2015 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 2:00pm – 4:00pm Public presentation of Honors theses

• 2:00,  Eric Wendorf Thesis: “On the Side of the Flies: The Artists and the Fascist Crowd in Nathanael West” Readers: Professors John Rowe and William Handley
• 2:30,  Sara Newman Thesis: “Searching for Sylvia” Readers: Professors David St. John and Christopher Freeman
• 3:00,  Carrie Moore Thesis: “’Where There Is A Woman There Is Magic’: Unconventional Black Women’s Histories in  Sassafress, Cypress & Some Sing, Some Cry ” Readers: Professors Michelle Gordon and Dana Johnson
• 3:30,  Nandini Ruparel Thesis: “The Ghosts of Our Pasts: The Creation and Dissolution of Identities in the South Asian Diaspora through  Jasmine, The Namesake, and The Inheritance of Loss ” Readers: Professors Viet Nguyen and Karen Tongson

Thursday, April 9, 2015 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 2:00pm – 4:00pm

• 2:00,  Sara Worth Thesis: “’Can it be reversed?’: Thomas Pynchon, California, and the American Betrayal” Readers: Professors John Rowe and William Handley
• 2:30,  Orli Robin Thesis: “Liberating Spirit and  Spirituality:  An Aesthetic of Redemption in Jean Toomer’s  Cane ” Readers: Professors Susan McCabe and Richard Berg
• 3:00,  Kelly Belter Thesis: “A Family Affair: Magical Realism and Narratives of Multigenerational Trauma” Readers: Professors Aimee Bender and Richard Berg
• 3:30,  Sasha Pearce Thesis: “’Crude Conception’: Milton, The War in Heaven, and the Origin of Evil” Readers: Professor Lawrence Green and Ross Scimeca

Thursday, April 10, 2014 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 2:00pm – 4:00pm Public presentation of Honors theses

• 2:00,  Alyra Lennox Thesis: “A Great Mosaic-Like Whole: Intertextuality in Milton and Milosz” Readers: Professor Percival Everett and Julianne Werlin
• 2:30,  Gerri Gonzalez Thesis: “Thinking Time: Temporality and the Moment in the Victorian Serial Novel” Readers: Professors Kate Flint and Ross Scimeca
• 3:00,  Whitney Tolar Thesis: “The Burden of Memory and its Role in Storytelling: the Paradox between Representation and Reality though the Memoirs about the Vietnam War” Readers: Professors Rick Berg and Tim Gustafson
• 3:30,  Ryan Kindel Thesis: “City Animals” Readers: Professors Michael Du Plessis and David Treuer

Thursday, April 17, 2014 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 2:00pm – 4:00pm

• 2:00,  Peter Figliulo Thesis: “From the Mountain to the Cradle: Existential Fiction and World War” Readers: Professors Percival Everett and David Treuer
• 2:30,  Betty Fang Thesis: “The Perks of Being the Wallpaper: The Phenomenology of Carceral Spaces in Literary Sites of Heterotopia” Readers: Professors Tania Modleski and Susan McCabe
• 3:00,  Michelle Khazaryan Thesis: “Paved Roads: A Cross-Cultural Exploration of First-Generation Bildungsromans and their Relationship to the Canonization Process” Readers: Professors Elda Maria Román and Karen Tongson
• 3:30,  Christopher Bautista Thesis: “More than a Moor: The Role of Double Consciousness in Othello” Readers: Professors Bruce Smith and Emily Anderson

Tuesday, April 9, 2013 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 2:00pm – 5:00pm Public presentation of Honors theses

• 2:00,  Stephanie Ashley Thesis: “The Daughter’s View: A look at the works of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin through Mary Shelley’s fictions” Readers: Professors Margaret Russett and Kate Flint
• 2:30,  Oriah Amit Thesis: “Putting Women on the Map: Rewriting Kerouac’s mythological road” Readers: Professors Thomas Gustafson and Richard Berg
• 3:00,  Alyssa Arreguin Thesis: “Becoming One of the Joneses: John Fante’s characterization of an Italian American identity” Readers: Professors Thomas Gustafson and Dana Gioia
• 3:30,  Dana Horowitz Thesis: “An Ocean Between Us: Navigating hierarchies of identity in Caribbean literature” Readers: Professors John Carlos Rowe and Richard Berg
• 4:00,  Melinda Guilford Thesis: “Through the Eyes of Zora Neale Hurston: How fiction reflects, represents, and re-imagines social thought” Readers: Professor Michelle Gordon and Alice Gambrell
• 4:30,  Stephanie Nicolard Thesis: ” William Wordsworth’s Revolutionary Imagination in the Prelude” Readers: Professor Margaret Russett and Devin Griffiths

Thursday, April 5, 2012 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 2:00pm – 5:00pm, for ENGL 496 Public presentation of Honors theses

• 2:00,  Daniel Rios Thesis: “from Eden to Babel: Los Angeles Fiction and the Transnational Dialogics of Ethnicity” Readers: Professors Thomas Gustafson and William Handley
• 2:30,  Alysha Owen Thesis: “If the Glove Fits: The Martial versus the Marital Hand and the Importance of Hand Imagery in Shakespeare” Readers: Professors Emily Anderson and Rebecca Lemon
• 3:00,  Julia Cooperman Thesis: “Vigilant Virgins and Matron Martyrs: Literary Representations of the Chaperone in Victorian and Edwardian Fiction” Readers: Professors Kate Flint and James Kincaid
• 3:30,  Aishlin Cortell Thesis: “Beastly Women and Womanly Beasts: Animals, Lesbians and the Modern Subject in Djuna Barnes and Tanizaki Junichiro” Readers: Professors Joseph Boone and Akira Lippit
• 4:00,  Jace Brittain Thesis: “The Rest is Shweigen: German Romantic Translations of Hamlet” Readers: Professor David Lloyd and Dr. Ross Scimeca

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Taper Hall of Humanities 420

• 2:00,  Cordelia Arterian Thesis: “The Male Fantasy: Authorship as superiority in 16th-century England”
• 2:30,  John Graff Thesis: “An Absolute is Reached: F. H. Bradley’s final problem as reconciled in  To the Lighthouse “
• 3:00,  Alexandra Kretowicz Thesis: “‘Don’t Dream It, Be It’: The paradoxical tendency of countercultures to reflect the structure of mainstream culture”
• 3:30,  Victor Luo Thesis: “The Metafictive Dialogues of Identity in Libraries and Books: A reading of Jorge Luis Borges’ ‘The Library of Babel’ and ‘The Book of Sand’, and Haruki Murakami’s  Kafka on the Shore ” Creative Project : “Dragonfly Used Books and the Eternal Springtime”
• 4:00,  Caitlin Coyne Thesis: “The Modern Political and Social Implications of Christa Wolf’s  Cassandra ” Creative Project : “India Marone”

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Taper Hall of Humanities 420

• 2:00,  Kelly Baron Thesis: “Staring Intently Inward: Sexuality and self-awareness in David Foster Wallace’s  Brief Interviews With Hideous Men ” Creative Project : “Whenever You’re Ready”
• 2:30,  Yu Sara Kanematsu Thesis: “Farce, Fools and  Doctor Faustus : Pushing societal boundaries through Marlowe’s comic tragedy”
• 3:00,  Tanvi Mirani Thesis: “South Asian immigrants and the Domestic Sphere: The Establishment of an American Identity in Jhumpa Lahiri’s works”
• 3:30,  Lauren Perez Thesis: “Horrifying Hungers: Domestic space, consumption and women in horror fiction” Creative Project : “The Resurrectionist’s Gallery”
• 4:00,  Cara Dickason Thesis: “Peculiar Women, Manly Men, and the Construction of Gendered Identity in  Angels in America “
• 4:30,  Colin Dwyer Thesis: “The Beholder of the Eye: Nonsense and naming in  Alice in Wonderland ” Creative Project : The Sneeze that Fell Apart

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 2:00pm – 5:00pm

• 2:00,  Alex Jestin Taylor Thesis: “Visions of Honesty: Kerouac’s Authentic American Myth” Readers: Professors Boyle and Gustafson
• 2:30,  Emiko Suzuki Thesis: “‘its not despair until time its not even time until it was’: Temporality and Experience in the Decay of the Postwar American South in William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury” Readers: Professors Gordon and Eggenschwiler
• 3:00,  Thomas Schaeffer Nelson Creative Project : “This” Thesis: “Whatever You Called It: The Fetus as Destabilizer in 20th-Century Literature of Abortion” Readers: Professors Bender and Johnson
• 3:30,  Sarah Vita Thesis: “Solving the Mystery of the Mysterious: Unearthing Philosophy and Identity in Detective Fiction and Thrillers” Readers: Professors Kincaid and Du Plessis
• 4:00,  Steven Philp Creative Project : “Whisper Room” Thesis: “’Woof’: Chasing the Contemporary Bear” Readers: Professors Bender and Roman

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 Taper Hall of Humanities 420 2:00pm – 5:00 pm

• 2:00,  Ashwin Kannan Creative Project : “Silver Tongues and Slippery truths: The voice of the delusive character” Thesis: “Unstable Irony, Display and Play: Rethinking satiric norms in John Kennedy Toole’s  A Confederacy of Dunces Readers: Professors Everett and Kincaid
• 2:30,  Kate Gong Thesis: “Big God Howled Like a Hot Wind: the Effects of Globalization in  The God of Small Things and  The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Readers: Professors Nguyen and McKnight
• 3:00,  Kevin Kim Creative Project : “The American Scream” Thesis: “A riot by any other name is still a riot” Readers: Professors Nguyen and Iwamura
• 3:30,  Andrei Malikov Thesis: “Unsettling Laughter and Martin McDonagh’s Post-Colonial Ireland” Readers: Professors Lloyd and Roman
• 4:00,  Janet Thielke Creative Project : “Call You By Name” Thesis: “The Short Bus and the Soul Train: Physical and Spiritual ‘Freaks’ in the Works of Carson McCullers and Flannery O’Connor” Readers: Professors Wiggins and Handley

Additional Resources

Contact details, usc department of english.

3501 Trousdale Parkway Taper Hall of Humanities 404 Los Angeles, CA 90089-0354

Office Hours

Monday – Friday

8:30am- 5pm

Times may adjust in accordance with university holidays.

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How to Write the University of South Carolina Essays 2019-2020

The University of South Carolina is a public research university in Columbia, South Carolina. UofSC offers over 320 degrees of study, as well as an Honors College, the Top Scholars Program, and Capstone Scholars Program. 

In the 2018-2019 admissions cycle, UofSC received 30,778 applications and ultimately accepted around 63%. The middle 50% GPA of those enrolled students was 3.78-4.5, and for SAT scores, it was 1200-1350. 

UofSC has one required prompt for all applicants, with 3 options. Applicants to the Music Composition Program have an additional prompt, and those invited to apply to the Honors College or Top Scholars Programs will have an additional two prompts. 

For All Applicants

Required: Respond to one of the personal statement prompts. (100-500 words)

The most important thing here—besides sticking to the word count—is choosing a prompt that speaks the most to you. Since you have choices, your essay should be as strong as possible. Think about how you might answer each prompt, and choose the story that is the strongest and conveys the most positive qualities about yourself, especially if it’s a trait you haven’t been able to discuss at all in the rest of your application! 

Option 1: Who in your life is depending on you? How are they depending on you? (100-500 words)

To answer this question, think about the people in your life—your family, your friends, your peers. How do you interact with them? You likely depend on your parents, but do your parents depend on you too? Your siblings? Remember that there are lots of ways to “depend” on someone. It could mean depending on a person for food and shelter, or for support and leadership. 

• Your sports team might depend on you to be a reliable, motivating captain who encourages everyone and pushes the team to be their best.
• Your younger siblings might depend on you for their after-school care—like snacks, rides and homework help—if your parents/guardians work during the day. 
• Your parents might depend on you to work hard in your education because they made sacrifices for you to have those opportunities. 

The best way for you to write this essay is to tell a story. Show your readers who depends on you and how they depend on you. Pick a snapshot in time and paint a picture with descriptive details and imagery. Try not to say “This person depends on me because…” It will make for bland writing, and you want admissions officers to be fully engaged in your interesting story. 

You have 500 words to tell this story—that’s plenty of space to not only describe who depends on you and how, but also how this impacts you. Show us your feelings and emotions; does their dependency overwhelm you? Are you honored by it? Do you feel like it has made you a more responsible person? Even though the prompt asks about someone else who depends on you, admissions officers still want to know who you are. 

Option 2: Tell us something about yourself that we have not already asked. (100-500 words)

This is a very open-ended essay, but a fantastic opportunity for you to present something about yourself that you haven’t been able to share in other parts of your application. This open-endedness means there are many different things you could write about:

• You play a sport that you haven’t written about.
• You come from a unique family dynamic (many siblings, multiple parents, same-sex parents, etc.) that has shaped you in some way.
• You speak more than one language.
• You have a medical condition that you have to deal with every day.
• You once summited a mountain. 

To write this, you want to tell a story. Show us what we don’t know about you. Use descriptions and details to place us in the same environment as you. Avoid explicitly stating “I am…” because that becomes dull to read. You want to ensure that admissions officers will hang on to every word you say because they’re so captivated by your story. 

It’s very important that any trait or activity you present here does not have any negative connotations. Saying that you binge watched five different TV shows in the last two months can have negative connotations for an admissions officer, as it suggests you might be more interested in Netflix than engaging with UofSC. Discussing how you failed a class is negative if you don’t show us how you grew and learned from it, but if you show us how you became a better student because of that failure, it shows your determination.

Think about a story about yourself that you want to tell! This is a chance to show that you’re a well-rounded person and offer insight to a side of you that we haven’t seen yet. 

Option 3: What advice would you give your 13-year-old self? (100-500 words)

The first thing to do is think about who you were as a thirteen-year-old. Reflect on how you’ve changed since then. Is there something you wish you would’ve realized earlier? Something you did that you shouldn’t have done? Something you didn’t do that you should have? 

• Maybe there was a year when you tried to do too many different activities and couldn’t devote proper time to any of them and you’d advise yourself to scale it back.
• Perhaps you said something unkind to someone and, looking back, realized that you shouldn’t have said so. 
• Maybe you tried to be someone else to fit in with a group of people who, ultimately, didn’t stick around. In that case, you might advise your younger self to not waste time pretending to be someone else. 

Avoid anything particularly juvenile or negative. Advising your thirteen-year-old self “don’t date that person” is likely to come off as trivial, unless you can back that advice up with an incredibly powerful and compelling story. Similarly, try not to be too cliche; offering advice to “study harder” is quite generic and, again, would require an extremely compelling story for an admissions officer to consider a strong essay. 

Whatever advice you choose to give your younger self, make sure to first give some context as to who you were as a thirteen-year-old. For your readers to understand why the advice you’re giving is important, we need to see details about who you were and how you behaved. This is especially important to show in the context of the advice—we need to see why you feel like you have to give this advice. 

Music Composition Program

Within the University of South Carolina’s School of Music, the composition major begins freshman year with an introductory class on the development of individual work. Upper-level composition classes focus on one-on-one private instruction, and weekly composition seminars allow students to connect with professionals regularly. Applicants are also required to submit a portfolio of written musical examples.

The statement of purpose should take the form of a short letter addressed to the coordinator of composition, Dr. Rogers, that describes why you wish to major in composition, what you hope to accomplish as a composition major, and what you plan to do with your degree when you graduate. (250 words)

You have three things to discuss in this short essay: why composition, what will you do in college, and what will you do post-college? It’s possible for you to merge your answers to the first two questions by explaining how you’ll be pursuing your passion for composition in college. 

Additionally, it’s okay if you don’t know exactly what you want to do following graduation—most freshmen don’t! However, you should have a general idea of how you want to use your composition major after college. 

Be sure to open your essay with a direct address to Dr. Rogers. From there, think about why you want to major in composition, and what you ultimately hope to get out of pursuing that field.

• You may have grown up surrounded by and writing music, so now you want to pursue composition as a career because you love it.
• Maybe you struggled with finding your passion until you discovered composition, and now you dream of composing music for other people who haven’t found their passions.

Your essay will stand out if you are authentic and true to yourself. Think about why you’ve chosen this path and how you intend for it to shape your future. Be straightforward and honest, because admissions officers really want to see that you would be an enthusiastic fit for the program. 

Honors College/Top Scholars Essay Prompts

Beginning September 1, students who are invited to apply to the Honors College will receive an email with additional instructions after submitting the general University of South Carolina application and application fee. Students who apply for the Honors College will also be considered for the Top Scholars Program. Honors College/Top Scholars applicants are strongly encouraged to submit the general admissions application by October 15, 2019. This gives you at least one month to complete the Honors College/Top Scholars application for the November 15, 2019 deadline. 

Doing: How are you doing? What have you accomplished and where do you seem to be heading? We’re not looking for a particular answer. What we are looking for is a thoughtful, vivid, well-written, detailed essay that reveals you think insightfully about yourself.

This prompt provides you with an opportunity to showcase one of your greatest accomplishments in high school. Strong responses to this prompt will address each of the following:

First, why was what you did important? Including achievements that touched a lot of people or left a lasting impact helps demonstrate that your actions extended beyond your own short-term interests.

Next, what did you bring to the table specifically? Lots of people make some impact on their community, but a truly talented leader, artist, mentor, etc. is irreplaceable. They bring something of themselves to the role that no one else has to offer. Use this essay as a space to unpack part of what would make you a unique contributor to UofSC’s campus culture.

Finally—and most important of all—what does this accomplishment reveal about your long-term purpose? Admissions officers want to know who you are and who you will be as you complete your undergraduate degree. 

As an example, a student who’s an avid violinist and who has made all-state orchestra might share the passion and dedication they have to music. They also enjoy using music as a way to evoke emotions, promote healing, and bring people together. After starting an organization in high school dedicated to playing music to hospice patients, the student hopes to continue combining music and community engagement. Academically, they hope to study the connection between music and psychology, to discover new ways music can be incorporated into healthcare.

This would be a strong topic choice, as the student clearly demonstrates what they’ve accomplished, why it’s important, and how they plan to grow from that accomplishment.

Thinking: What’s on your mind? Pick one thing that is particularly exciting, exasperating, moving, alarming—something that has captured your attention and intellect in some strong way—and tell us about it.

This prompt provides you with another great opportunity to share a bit more about yourself, specifically your inner life. Topic ideas include discussing a favorite podcast, cause you care about, or cultural experience. This prompt is extremely open-ended, so you can basically choose whatever you want.

The one caveat: if you hold any controversial opinions, avoid addressing those in your essay. You don’t want to accidentally offend an admissions officer by stumbling upon some cultural tripwires. 

Overall, try to make each of your essays feature different aspects of your profile and personality. You want to seem mature, thoughtful, and nuanced no matter what your essay topics wind up being.

Want help on your college essays to get into your dream schools?  Sign up for your free CollegeVine account  and get access to our essay guides and courses, as well as our Essay Manager.

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The Honors Programs at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences provide highly motivated students the opportunity to work closely with professors and other motivated students in advanced critical thinking, analysis, research, writing, and communication levels.

USC Dornsife Undergraduate Honors Program has several different honors programs designed to foster intellectual curiosity and to provide rich, diverse, and challenging educational experiences.

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Scholarship Information & Deadlines

Scholarship information will be added as it is received.  It is the responsibility of the student and/or parent to confirm posted scholarship information and inquire about specific scholarship opportunities at individual institutions and/or organizations.  Scholarship information provided through this website are not comprehensive of all scholarships available. Students and parents are recommended to independently search for additional scholarship opportunities as well.

University of south carolina honors college

My daughter will be applying to USC. She will have no problem getting in and will go on a near free ride. She will be a national merit scholar finalist. But her #1 requirement on any school she goes to is to be in the Honors College. Can anyone tell me now hard it is to get into honors college at USC and what they are looking for (grades, test scores, etc are not an issue, but not a ton of extra curriculars). Also, if you get into the honors college are you guaranteed to get into honors dorm?? thanks!

Also - she is out of state if that makes any difference

My DS is a rising freshman at the South Carolina honors college. He got in with a higher than average test score and a lower than average GPA. He also did not have many extra curricular activities. We are local and know a lot of kids who got in. That being said I do know of a few that didn’t, so pay extra attention to the essays since I understand that they are very important for admission. As for dorms I do believe the honors dorm is guaranteed. DS just received his assignment yesterday. To be safe apply to USC as early as the app opens. Dorm assignment priority is based on this date. It will also give you plenty of time to write the essays for honors college. Good luck!

Getting into the Honor’s College is very competitive, but she should be able to get in with top scores and stats. I would not count on any type of full ride, even with the NMF status. The essays are weighed very heavily for the Top Scholars awards and there are very few near full rides for out of state students and it is super competitive. Both of my daughters were accepted into the honors college (oldest will be a senior and youngest turned down and will be attending Duke). Getting into the honor’s dorm is pretty much a given, but I know that my oldest daughter’s freshman class had a higher than anticipated yield and about 40 students were placed into other housing because of lack of space. Most were given the option to live on the Horseshoe in the apartments. Housing priority is based on application date. Also make sure not to chose a non honor’s student as a roommate, that can potentially create complications with getting into the honor’s dorm if the yield is higher than anticipated.

I would recommend reading through their scholarship awards in order to understand exactly what they award. My dd is an OOS McNair TS and NMF and she is not attending full-ride. Her brother attended Bama on a true full-ride where every single thing was covered by scholarships. With dd we still owe a few thousand plus books every yr. (From a btdt POV, it feels very different.)

Agree that essays matter. Our dd did not have a long list of ECs, but she did have some significant achievements like international level awards.When we attended TS weekend, they stated that test scores and GPA were not the deciding factors and that plenty of top scoring students including 36s were not invited to TS weekend. The group of kids at TS weekend were all kids with pretty amazing levels of accomplishments.

We also know a couple of great students who did not get accepted into the HC (not sure exactly why, but in hindsight they think they didn’t put enough effort into their essays), though most of the top kids we knew about did get accepted into the HC.

IIRC, the HC is about 500 students.

A NMF with close to 4.0 unweighted gpa should be able to get into Honors, but getting Horseshoe or McNair is very difficult. Don’t count on it. My kid got into Stanford but didn’t get Horseshoe or McNair.

@themcgees full ride?

Yes, my kid did not put that much effort into Honors essays because he did not find their questions all that interesting. However, he also did not possess top GPA or test scores, so didn’t think he would get it. Also, the CA rep quit her job the same year, and the school really did not seem all that motivated to bring in kids from CA. Got NMF merit and Coopers merit that year which was expected, as well as Honors and IB major. Would have made an official visit had he not gotten into Stanford early.

Does anyone know what the extra fee for honors students covers? I heard its $575 per semester additional.

@freebie73 The official answer is that the fee primarily helps defray the costs of offering almost 600 Honors courses per year. It also allows the Honors College to fund student research, internships, study abroad, service learning, and senior thesis research. My oldest is graduating in May from USC, as a Honor’s student and has nothing but positive experiences with the program. I will say that you also need to be mindful that specific departments will have additional fees as well. She is in the Darla Moore School of Business and that is an additional $678 per semester.

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Freshmen Students

Incoming USC Aiken students (freshmen) who have received a letter of invitation or who have a high school GPA of 3.5 or higher (4.0 on the SC Uniform Grading Scale), and an SAT score of 1170 and/or ACT score of 25, may apply for admission into USC Aiken's Honors Program. The application deadline for the Fall 2024 semester is no later than April 12, 2024. Early acceptance applications are due by December 1, 2023.

To apply, complete the online application form , which includes the following information:

• Mailing address
• E-mail address
• High school attended 
• High school GPA
• A short narrative on why one would like to join the honors program (approximately 200 words)

Please submit a writing sample from a recent high school course and two letters of recommendation from your high school teachers. The writing sample is very important, and  we do not accept personal narrative essays . Please use the guidelines at the bottom of this page to aid in your selection of the writing sample.

Dr. Michelle Vieyra, Director Honors Program, USC Aiken 471 University Parkway Aiken SC 29801, Box #26

Continuing Students

Continuing USC Aiken students with 45 credit hours or less and a UofSC Aiken GPA of 3.5 or higher may also apply to the Honors Program. Applications for the Fall semester must be submitted by  July  15  and for the Spring semester by  January 31 .

• Mailing address 
• Email address
• USC Aiken GPA

Continuing students must submit two letters of recommendation from USC Aiken professors and a writing sample from a UofSC Aiken course. Again, please use the writing guidelines below for selection of the writing sample. 

Transfer Students

Transfer students with 45 credit hours or less and a college GPA of 3.5 or higher may also apply to the USC Aiken Honors Program.  

• Previous college/university
• College GPA

To apply, please submit two letters of recommendation from university professors and a writing sample from a university course based on the writing guidelines below. 

Honors Program Writing Sample Guidelines

The Honors Steering Committee uses the writing sample to evaluate each applicant’s writing proficiency and critical thinking ability. Applicants should carefully choose a writing sample that exhibits excellence in both of these areas and meets the criteria below:

Collaborative essays are not allowed. All elements of the writing sample, with the exception of cited quotations and/or paraphrases, must be completely the work of the applicant.

A researched argument or analysis with cited sources is strongly preferred. However, other types of writing that showcase the applicant’s abilities in both writing proficiency and critical thinking may be submitted instead. Such examples include position papers; lab reports; critical, discursive, or comparison/ contrast essays; explications of literary works; and technical writing assignments.  Personal narratives will not be accepted. In all cases, a writing sample that includes the use and appropriate citation of external sources is preferred. 

Note 1:  Please attach a brief description of the writing assignment from the course or class from which it was assigned. This will give the committee the context of the assignment. This is a required piece of the writing sample.

Evaluation Criteria:

Clarity of Purpose –  Positions are clear, thesis/claim/intent is obvious, multiple viewpoints are expressed/accommodated, clear sense of audience.

Quality of Thought –  Unified and strong control of content; opinions and/or claims are well-supported; evidence is provided.

Organization of Content –  Ideas are well connected through structural and linguistic transitions; structure complements the content.

Synthesis and Integration of Sources –  Sources are presented clearly and concisely to support/examine/compare/evaluate various opinions and/or claims.

Attribution and Documentation–  The audience can clearly identify the purposeful use of sources and can track source material. Each source is identified in the text and on the work cited/references page.

Language and Style –  Diction and syntax are well-chosen to express ideas.

Grammar and Usage –  Grammatical structures are well-chosen and correct.

NOTE 3:  All of the above criteria need not apply to every writing sample, but applicants should keep the above rubric in mind when selecting a sample for submission. 

Click here to apply to the honors program

• Director Dr. Michelle Vieyra
• Phone 803-641-3608
• Email [email protected]

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