AILY ROJAN DWednesday, APril 1, 2020 | STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THET UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SINCE 1912 | VOL. 199, NO. 42 Admission Students rate quarantine increases in USC to 16% USC also saw a 2% increase Hotel in first-generation student acceptance. Keck Hospital workers will also be allowed to stay at the By DAILY TROJAN STAFF hotel amid the pandemic. USC’s acceptance rate has increased By SHAYLEE NAVARRO to 16% for the Class of 2024, increasing News Editor from 11% in 2019 and marking the first rise in admissions rates since 2012. When junior Sandra Olmedo Of the 60,000 applicants that applied returned home March 12 from Photo Courtesy of USC Office of Admission in the 2020 cycle, 9,500 were offered studying abroad in Madrid, Prospective students celebrate their acceptances on an admitted students day in front of the Physical she was scared for her mother’s admission. The average unweighted Education Building in 2018. USC will hold admitted students days virtually this year because of the coronavirus. GPA of the applicant group is 3.88. health. After self-isolating in First-generation students make up her Los Angeles home for three 17% of the incoming class, increasing days, she called Student Health by two percentage points compared to and said that although she was 2019’s admissions. Underrepresented Admitted students grieve asymptomatic, she was afraid minority groups comprise 29% of the she could be a carrier and admitted class, a slight .5% decrease unknowingly transmit it to her from last year. immunocompromised mother. International students composed missed milestones A day later, she checked into 14% of those offered admission in the USC Hotel. Olmedo described Class of 2024, and domestic fall admits Students remain optimistic tours and events for admitted and I saw it, and I was in shock ... the 12-day stay on the sixth floor came from all 50 states, in addition students. The University is now I started crying.” of the hotel as lonesome. to the District of Columbia and four despite missing admissions hosting these events virtually Tran, who plans to major in Unable to walk outside or U.S. territories. California applicants packages and campus visits. to give prospective students a sociology, said she visited cam- interact face-to-face with represent 40% of the admitted class, a glimpse of campus life. pus last September but wishes anyone for the duration of her four-point increase from 2019. By TWESHA DIKSHIT Chloe Tran, a senior at Temple for the chance to explore it on quarantine, she often opened Other universities across the News Assignments Editor City High School and the daugh- her own before coming to cam- the room’s windows, taking country, including the University The prospect of receiving a ter of two USC alumni, had her pus in the fall. She added that comfort in the limited sun and of Pennsylvania and Harvard red acceptance package with a heart set on USC since the age she’s missing out on receiving fresh air and listening to the University, are also seeing increased certificate of admission is a mo- of 2. Her parents would take her the acceptance package. busy streets, all while measuring acceptance rates for the Class of 2024 ment many USC applicants look to the University’s homecom- “I guess I am a little sad be- her temperature every day and as universities increase the number forward to after putting in sleep- ing football games each year and cause to see it physically, I feel speaking with Student Health of students admitted to mitigate the less nights of work for their ac- where she dreamed of joining the like to have it in hand is so much representatives every weekday to impact the coronavirus will likely have ceptance. student section. more real,” Tran said. “But I un- update them on her symptoms. on acceptances as students navigate The Class of 2024 received “I’ve been wanting to get into derstand the reasoning behind it “It was really just trying to financial and educational shifts. admission decisions online USC for a while now,” Tran said. [because of] the virus.” make a routine for myself, taking Students will have until May 1 to Thursday but will miss out on “I was on FaceTime with a friend Ini Obong, a senior at Arizona advantage of the amenities in commit to USC despite the cancellation many of the programs that help [when I got my decision], and I State University Preparatory the room like the TV and WiFi,” of all campus tours and admissions make college decisions easi- made them look first, and they’re School, said she is not only Olmedo said. “Just making time events through May 3. er, including in-person campus like, ‘I can’t see it.’ So I looked, | see ADMISSION, page 7 | go by as much as I could.” She was also provided free room service, $400 in Grubhub gift credit and given cleaning supplies to disinfect her room to avoid putting the hotel workers Breaking down barriers: at risk. Still, she was constantly worried of symptoms appearing, especially since Student Health Erin Pugh is aerospace’s finest was only testing those with severe symptoms. Her only Pugh is the only Black novelties are regular pastimes to many, symptom was a slight dry cough. it isn’t for many of her hometown peers. “I didn’t get to get tested, woman on the AeroDesign Questions of “Who’s your favorite rap- which was kind of frustrating Team. per?” or “Who’s your favorite basket- because I didn’t know if I had it ball player?” are what is traded among or not. I should technically be By ELLICE ELLIS her friends. fine... but not knowing for sure Arts & Entertainment Editor “It was more beat into our brains is a point of anxiety for me,” said Erin Pugh knows she’s a rarity. Not that you should like Black people Olmedo, who has since returned only is she the single Black woman things,” Pugh said. She was called home. on USC’s AeroDesign Team, but the “nerdy” or a “know-it-all” for her love Another student, who Chicago native’s love for complex cal- of planes. “Planes are not Black people asked to remain anonymous culations and manga comics also set things.” because he violated social her apart. Luckily, in coming to USC and join- distancing protocol, described Pugh found her niche in ADT and ing the AeroDesign Team in Fall 2018, his experience at the hotel will serve as the team’s landing gear Pugh found an opportunity to express differently. Arriving back from captain for the 2020-21 school year, her affinity for STEM with like-mind- his Rome study abroad trip in stepping into the role of a leader. But ed students who also knew the differ- early March, the student asked she didn’t always find that her peers ence between a Boeing 747, 737 MAX to be accommodated at USC understood her passions and interests. and a 777 aircraft. Hotel, as classes had not yet Her hobbies and her involvement in In short, the team builds model air- been moved online. aerospace aren’t run-of-the-mill for her planes according to a set of rules and “I pushed to go back to L.A. Chicago friend group. guidelines by the American Institute because I, at the time, didn’t “I go to the comic book club, I read of Aeronautics and Astronautics think that campus would take comics, I watch anime, I read man- and participates in the annual AIAA the steps that it has,” the student gas,” said Pugh, a sophomore ma- Design/Build/Fly competition. said. “I wanted to be part of joring in mathematics, detailing her On the team, Pugh focuses her campus life still, even in the nerdiness. While her love for Japanese event that I could not attend my Sara Heymann | Daily Trojan | see AEROSPACE, page 2 | | see HOTEL, page 6 | INDEX 2 · News 2 · Sudoku 3 · Opinion 4 · A & E 6 · Classifieds 10 · Sports DAILYTROJAN.COM DAILYTROJAN PAGE 2 APRIL 1, 2020 | WWW.DAILYTROJAN.COM NEWS Advertise Here! Small space. Big Visibility. for rates: [email protected] PuzzleSUDOKU 2 (Hard, difficulty | Look rating for0.61) puzzlesDT 4/1/2020 ONLINE in each Daily Trojan edition 437 26 6 9 5 64 37 8 Photo courtesy of Erin Pugh Sophomore Erin Pugh and the AeroDesign Team, which builds model airplanes, won the Best Report award in a 2019 national competition. 7265 1 48 AEROSPACE | Welcoming change at USC | continued from page 1 | Part of this honesty comes from his them?” Pugh said of their first encoun- energy on the payloads committee. candid conversations with students ter. “That’s how it was when I first met 94 1 She and other members build out the about how he struggled as an under- him.” carrying capacity of an aircraft, align- grad at USC, resonating directly with The two initially bonded over in- ing directly with her goal of working at Pugh’s experience. side jokes relating to “urban grit,” as 8 7 Boeing once she graduates. “I let them know I struggled or how Myers, the Baltimore native, described But beyond getting her hands dirty I used to sit in Leavey Library for a lot it. Myers called Pugh an “incognito with wood, foam and plastic — com- of hours until I figured out how to do nerd,” raved about her ever-present 49 183 mon materials used in making mod- this,” Radovich said. “It didn’t just smile and how he looks to her as some- el aircrafts — and winning the “Best come naturally.