Is Chapman University or USC more selective for undergraduate admissions?

The biggest practical difference is the level of competition in the applicant pool: USC is meaningfully more selective overall for undergraduate admission than Chapman. USC draws a larger national and international pool, is widely viewed as one of the more competitive private universities in California, and tends to have a tougher admissions bar across academics, activities, and overall profile. Chapman is selective too, but not at the same level of admissions difficulty as USC in the general undergraduate pool.

If you are comparing them purely on how hard they are to get into, USC is the harder admit. That is true in the broad, school-wide sense you asked about, even though both schools can vary by program and some Chapman majors are still quite competitive.

In practical terms, a student who looks solid for Chapman may still be a reach for USC, while a student who is competitive for USC would usually also be competitive for Chapman assuming the rest of the application is in range. USC’s applicant pool is not just large, but also packed with high-achieving students applying from across the country and abroad, which raises the overall difficulty.

So for overall undergraduate selectivity, the clearer answer is USC. Chapman is respected and competitive, but USC sits a tier above it in admissions selectivity.