Student-athletes up their academic game in fall semester
Trojans register their highest averages since the figures were first compiled in 2000
BY Jordan Moore
USC student-athletes recorded their most successful academic semester to date in the just-completed fall semester.
The university’s nearly 600 student-athletes recorded an average semester grade-point average of 2.95, the highest since figures were first compiled in 2000, as well as an average cumulative GPA of 2.88, tying the all-time best.
Approximately 45 percent of USC’s student-athletes posted a fall 2014 GPA of 3.0 or better. Twelve of USC’s 21 teams had a squad average GPA of 3.0 or better in the fall, led by a women’s team best of 3.39 (soccer) and a men’s team high of 3.25 (volleyball).
The football team’s average GPA was its highest ever for a fall semester, including nearly a quarter of the players earning a 3.0-plus semester GPA. Men’s water polo also had its highest fall semester GPA. Four sports — women’s soccer, tennis and volleyball and men’s volleyball — all registered their best-ever semester GPA during the fall.
USC also had its fewest ever student-athletes below a 2.0 GPA and fewest on academic probation entering a spring semester.
Making the Dean’s List
Some 116 Trojan student-athletes made the university’s fall 2014 Dean’s List, including 13 from women’s soccer, 12 from women’s lacrosse and nine each from football, men’s track and field and women’s crew.
“I believe this is a combined result of the efforts of our student-athletes first and foremost,” said Magdi El Shahawy, who oversees USC’s Student-Athlete Academic Services, “but also their academic counselors, learning specialists, tutors, coaches and senior administration who have worked hard to support these student-athletes in their academic success, set a higher bar for them in the academic arena and hold them accountable if they are not putting forth the required effort in academics.
“We will continue to push to get the department’s GPA above a 3.0,” he added, “as well as help the student-athletes grow and have a great experience while here as we prepare them for life after USC.”
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