USC Viterbi Supplemental Questions: How to Write a Strong Response
A clear guide to helping you craft outstanding answers for your USC Viterbi School of Engineering application.
We are so glad you’re considering our community of problem solvers, innovators and collaborators. It is strong applicants like you who make the Viterbi program so impressive.
To help you submit a strong application for admission consideration, this post that breaks down how to approach the Viterbi supplementals questions with confidence and authenticity.
The Purpose
Supplemental questions are designed to give the admissions office a better understanding of your personality, interests, and goals. They allow you to showcase aspects of yourself that might not come through in other parts of your application. Before we dive into these supplemental questions, please keep in mind they aren’t meant to trip you up—they’re an opportunity for you to showcase your uniqueness and passion.
Dissecting the Questions
In the Common App, once you have selected the Fall 2026 term, your choice of Early Action or Regular Decision in the General Section, AND an engineering or computer science major (any major starting with the prefix ‘VSE’) as your first-choice major in the academics section, two short answers questions should appear near the bottom of the “Questions” tab under the header “Writing Questions“.
Here is the truth: there is no one way to answer these questions. No magic formula, and certainly no specific phrase that will guarantee and admission decision.
BUT, there is one thing we do recommend: Authenticity. We want to get to know who you are, what excites you, what types of problems do you enjoy solving, what is your story?
1. Your Unique Contributions to USC Viterbi
The student body at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering is a diverse group of unique engineers and computer scientists who work together to engineer a better world for all humanity. Describe how your contributions to the USC Viterbi student body may be distinct from others. Please feel free to touch on any part of your background, traits, skills, experiences, challenges, and/or personality in helping us better understand you.
Think of it this way: “How will you make a unique contribution to the USC Viterbi student body?”
Our main goal in reading your entire application is to find out who you are. We aren’t looking for one type of applicant and we want to know your story. As we read your application, we’ll notice aspects of it that are unique. This question is your chance to give us your own perspective on what you believe your unique contribution to USC Viterbi will be.
Each year, we receive about 15,000 first-year applications and over 1,500 transfer applications. It’s a highly competitive process, and we spend a lot of time getting to know each applicant. That’s why this question matters: it helps us understand, directly from you, what you believe makes you a standout candidate.
Notice that in the last sentence of this question, we really leave the door wide open for you to choose from a wide variety of different things to talk about. There’s no “right” direction. You can focus deeply on one key part of your identity or weave together multiple threads that show us a bigger picture of who you are.
2. The Engineering Grand Challenges
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and their 14 Grand Challenges go hand-in-hand with our vision to engineer a better world for all humanity. Engineers and computer scientists are challenged to solve these problems in order to improve life on the planet. Learn more about the NAE Grand Challenges at https://viterbiadmission.usc.edu/challenges and tell us which challenge is most important to you, and why.
Here’s the easiest way to interpret this question and go about answering:
First, visit the link above and read about the NAE’s Grand Challenges. Then, reflect on which one you think is most important, and tell us why it’s the most important one to you. That’s it.
The most common email we get about this question is if it’s okay to discuss a Grand Challenge that isn’t related to your major. Of course it is!
The question is asking you which Grand Challenge is most important to you and why–not which Grand Challenge is related to your major. The truth is that there is no Grand Challenge that is solvable by one engineering discipline alone. These are interdisciplinary problems that will require people coming together from a wide variety of backgrounds, so you don’t have to discuss the problem through the lens of your major (although you can do that if you want).
The second-most common email we get about this question is if you need to tell us how you would solve the problem. Don’t worry, we’re not expecting any solutions here. These challenges are very complex, and solving them is beyond the scope of a 250-word response.
Another common question we get is if there is a correct answer to the question. There is no ‘right’ answer that we’re looking for, and there is not on a single Grand Challenge that is objectively more important than another. All we want to know is which one you care about the most, and why. There are countless reasons why a Grand Challenge might be the most important one to you, and we’re hoping that your answer to this question reveals more about yourself and your perspective on a big engineering-related problem.
In Conclusion
These supplemental questions are your chance to shine. While you’re writing your responses, you may want to ask yourself the following:
- Am I writing in my authentic voice?
- Does this reflect who I am and what truly interests me?
- Is my writing clear, concise, and concrete? Or is it vague, wordy, and abstract?
Remember: You’re the only one who truly knows your story, and your story matters to us. Use this opportunity to give us a real sense of you.
Most importantly, don’t over think it.
We wish you the best of luck with your application!
