This guide provides you with documentation, reference guides, and direct links that answer common admissions questions about the University of Southern California (USC) Applicant Portal, Configuration Portal, and WebAdMIT. It also contains resources that may help you work more efficiently throughout your admissions process. If you have additional questions or need further assistance, please contact a member of your account team.
Applicant Portal
The Applicant Portal opens in late June and closes in mid-September, over a 15-month period. You can view the specific cycle dates, including final processing dates (e.g., last date to submit transcripts, last date to request letters of recommendation, etc.), on the USC Application Cycle Dates page.
Configuration Portal
Between mid-April and late May configurations are entered into the prelaunch environment. The account team and University of Southern California review submitted configurations in June.
WebAdMIT
You can view new applicants and initiate a transfer settings shortly after the new cycle opens in late June.
The University of Southern California requires all programs to designate two contacts at your institution who will receive all communication from USC, including the configuration, application, and WebAdMIT launch notifications.
The first three sections of the USC application (i.e., Personal Information, Academic History, and Supporting Information) compose the core application. They contain questions that are commonly asked of applicants across all participating programs, such as an applicant's biographic information, standardized test scores, and experiences. The fourth section of the application is Program Materials, which is customized by you through the Configuration Portal (discussed in the next section).
You can access the USC application and USC Applicant Help Center to review the applicant experience. You can also create a test application in the Applicant Portal; we recommend creating a new account and adding "test" to your name (e.g., TestJohn TestDoe).
For a general overview of the applicant experience, review the following documents:
You can direct any applicant inquiries related to the application to USC Customer Service.
Use the Configuration Portal Quick Start Guide to make sure you configure your program(s) efficiently and completely in the prelaunch environment. Be sure to check out your CAS's configuration options and review the best practices found throughout. If any optional sections of the application are required for your program (e.g., experiences, test scores, etc.), you'll want to note this on your program home page.
Once you've configured your program, you'll need to have it approved by the account team and University of Southern California before it is available to applicants. If your program is reviewed after the cycle launches, University of Southern California will approve it.
Review the WebAdMIT Manual for any questions related to working in WebAdMIT. The Reference Guides and WebAdMIT Training and Support sections are additional resources as you configure WebAdMIT for your needs. Documents commonly requested include:
The Release Notes feature new enhancements in the Applicant Portal, Applicant Gateway, Configuration Portal, Liaison Letters, and WebAdMIT, in addition to upcoming training opportunities.
For any questions, contact the Client Support Specialist Team.
The table below contains enhancements for USC for the cycle timeframes noted at the top of this page. Note that some sections have multiple enhancements. If an action is required by participating programs to use the enhancement, click the links under Enhancement Details to learn more. Additional enhancements may have been automatically released; review the Release Notes to learn more.
|
Portal |
Section |
Enhancement Details |
Implementation |
Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Applicant Portal |
Applicant-reported and Official Tests |
Applicants can now submit their self-reported and official GMAT Focus tests. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Program Materials – Recommendations |
Applicants can create a custom recommender pool, where they enter a recommender’s information once and then select the recommender for any programs that they apply to. This enhancement alleviates the applicant burden of entering recommender information for every program and speeds up the application process. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Configuration Portal |
Organization Details |
Org-level questions were enabled for the Viterbi School of Engineering. |
Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement. |
Available now |
|
Configuration Portal |
Program Details Question Rules |
Select users with the Config. Portal Live Editing Access role can edit active and closed programs through the Configuration Portal, such as:
|
Action required by participating programs choosing to use this enhancement. |
Available now |
|
WebAdMIT |
Work Groups |
In WebAdMIT, you can configure Work Groups to allow users to see specific panels on the Applicant Details Page. With this enhancement (from Release 11, 2023) if you remove access to a panel for a Work Group, the fields in that panel are also not available for the Work Group to see when creating exports, lists, or PDF manager templates. For example, if the Race and Ethnicity subpanel is not enabled for a Work Group, its members will not see the information from that panel when creating an export, and will not be able to create filters in List Manager using any of the fields from that panel. As a result of this enhancement, reports that are not shared with Work Groups from the Report Settings page will be inaccessible to anyone who is not a WebAdMIT Administrator. Review the How Work Groups Impact Access to Features and Fields documentation to learn more about the impacts of this enhancement. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
The table below contains enhancements for USC for the cycle timeframes noted at the top of this page. Note that some sections have multiple enhancements. If an action is required by participating programs to use the enhancement, click the links under Enhancement Details to learn more. Additional enhancements may have been automatically released; review the Release Notes to learn more.
|
Portal |
Section |
Enhancement Details |
Implementation |
Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Biographic Information |
A new Sex question, phrased as Legal Sex, was added. This question includes a third custom gender value: X or another gender. This allows CASs to meet their guidelines and new reporting options from state and federal governments. Additionally, the Gender question is now optional. Previously, it was required. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Personal Information – Financial Aid, Awards and Fellowships |
The following questions have been removed:
|
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Experiences |
Applicants can edit in progress experiences after they submit their application. Additionally, the instructions text is updated to better assist applicants. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Supporting Information – Documents |
The following document types have been removed:
Additionally, the instructions text is updated to better assist applicants. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |
|
Applicant Portal |
Official IELTS Tests |
Applicants can submit their official IELTS test scores to the CAS, and you can review those test scores in WebAdMIT. |
No action required by participating programs to use this enhancement. |
Available at cycle launch |