It's admission day at USC
Tomo Chien & Matthew Royer
March 26, 2025
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, and we’re reading about how Gen Z can’t find love. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.
1.
As anxious high school seniors burn prayers in r/USC for today’s admissions decisions, one fact may offer them a glimmer of hope: USC expects to raise its acceptance rate for the first time in years, shirking a habit that saw it reach an all-time low of 9.2% last year. This time around, the number will sit at 10%.
2.
Professors are pissed about USC’s budget cuts. The university, one professor argued, is “blanketly” slashing spending while faculty are in the dark with no “real seat at the table.” It’s the “perfect example as to why we need a union,” said professor and union organizer Michael Bodie.
3.
Snoop Dogg, who has recently demonstrated a willingness to perform at nearly any event, will deliver this year’s graduation address at the Marshall School of Business. Snoop was most recently at Marshall last year when he was named the school’s Entrepreneur of the Year.
4.
The death penalty is back in LA County, a move long promised by tough-on-crime District Attorney Nathan Hochman. The policy reversal, Hochman said, will only apply in special-circumstance murder cases. But it’s mostly BS: California still has a moratorium on the death penalty, which means nobody, even if sentenced, will actually be executed.
5.
An LA-Shanghai flight was two hours over the Pacific Ocean when a pilot realized he forgot his passport. The plane turned back to San Francisco for a six-hour detour to swap out the flight crew. “How could someone mess up this badly at work?” one passenger asked. United gave everybody $30 meal vouchers.