The written application

What to know when submitting your written application

Written applications are how we get to know you initially! We ask a lot of questions so you have a chance to show us who you are, your background, what you care about, and where being part of Spark's leadership fits into that picture. Here are all of the questions we ask on our written application each semester.

In Spark recruitment, each application is read three separate times by three different board members that do not know the identity of the applicant. All members read applications. Our Core Team facilitates the process and normalizes scores.

Application questions

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Application tip We recommend brainstorming and write out your application somewhere other than Typeform. It's super helpful to bullet-point everything you want to include, then workshop it all down into a few cohesive sentences that meet the word count.

After we close submissions, three Spark Board members will review and evaluate your anonymized application.

We anonymize, triplicate, and divide the apps among the Spark members who are available to read (20-30 people). Their job is to evaluate your responses along with the questions we listed above. When you apply, your reviewer can see the following information:

Your graduation year
Your major and minor
Your responses to each of the questions

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FAQ: Why do reviewers see my graduation year? Our reviewers need to understand how much time you have left to grow within Spark and impact the entrepreneurship community at USC. We typically admit people with four or more remaining semesters at USC including the semester of application. Most of our acceptances go out to freshmen and sophomores, though we've accepted up to four juniors in one semester.

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FAQ: Why do reviewers see my major and minor? We don't recruit for or against specific disciplines like majors or minors. Your major and minor give us context for your responses as well as the disciplinary diversity we're seeing early on in recruitment.

Spark members evaluate anonymized applications using the following four criteria:

Growth mindset

Does this person demonstrate a desire to learn? A desire to fail upward? A desire to grow from experiencing challenges?

Passion & drive

Do they have extensive knowledge about one or more topics? Have they shown a drive to pursue their passions through experience or expressed commitment?

Creative thinking

Creativity is hard to define, but we like thinking of creativity as divergent thinking for the use of solving problems. Does this person demonstrate a desire to take unprecedented or experimental approaches when solving problems or completing a task?

Mission fit

Does this person demonstrate desires, passions, and values aligned with our mission? Does this person express a belief in expanding the definition of entrepreneurship for others? Does this person show interest in working on things that benefit or support others?

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Written application decisions From a sheer score analysis, all applicants will hear about their application status about one day after applications close. If you've been selected to move forward, congratulations! You'll be moving on to 1:2 interviews.

If we don't ask you to participate in the next round of interviews, we hope you apply again! We're happy to chat with you more about entrepreneurship at USC and our events. Just send us an email at hello@sparksc.org and ask to grab coffee with a Board member.