Can I submit early action to USC for merit scholarship consideration if I am already doing restrictive early action for Stanford?

Applying to College Early Decision / Early Action
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I was a PSAT/NMSQT semi-finalist and I was planning on applying to Stanford, but I discovered that USC only considers applications for merit scholarship consideration if an applicant applies for early action.

Then, am I allowed to apply for USC early action for the purpose of trying to receive a merit scholarship, or is this just not allowed?

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Restrictive Early Action Policy

  • It is Stanford policy that, if you apply to Stanford with a decision plan of Restrictive Early Action, you may not apply to any other private college/university under their Early Action, Restrictive Early Action, Early Decision, or Early Notification plan.
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I would suggest that you contact Stanford and ask specifically about that. The REA policy has the following exceptions posted:

It is Stanford policy that you may simultaneously apply to Stanford with a decision plan of Restrictive Early Action and to the following:

  • any public college/university with a non-binding early application plan or early application deadline.
  • any college/university with a non-binding rolling admission process.
  • any foreign college/university with a non-binding application plan on any schedule.
  • any military academy.
  • any college/university with an early deadline for a scholarship or special academic program, as long as:
  1. the decision is non-binding; and
  2. in order to be considered for the scholarship or program, the student must apply in the early round or by an early deadline.

If after reviewing the exceptions above you are still uncertain about whether you can simultaneously apply to Stanford Restrictive Early Action and another college/university, please email admission@stanford.edu for clarification. In your email, include the page link to the early application plan you are considering and copy and paste the website description of the program’s application deadlines and requirements.

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But they seem to make an exception for scholarship applications at other schools:

Listed under “Exceptions”:

  • any college/university with an early deadline for a scholarship or special academic program, as long as:
  1. the decision is non-binding; and
  2. in order to be considered for the scholarship or program, the student must apply in the early round or by an early deadline.
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I second this. Call Stanford admissions and speak to a staffer (who may not be the person who answers the phone): Contact Us : Stanford University

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Thank you @DadOfJerseyGirl @tamagotchi for pointing out the exceptions that I missed. I believe this question has come up several times but I have as of yet seen any of the CC posters which have come back with a definitive answer from the schools.

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I believe there was discussion (maybe in the NM threads) that Stanford’s exception for scholarships is new this year. Does anyone know?

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I think it is (but not sure) and wouldn’t be surprised if USC’s new EA round was the impetus for the change.

ETA: I’ll try to call Stanford later today. I did confirm with Harvard admissions that REA applicants can apply to USC EA (and H’s policy is worded similarly to Stanford’s).

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Yes, that is what I was wondering. I don’t believe the exception was there when USC announced their new EA application. I imagine that many top NMSFs applying to Stanford are also applying to USC.

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No. I’m certain I’ve seen that exception over the past few years on Stanford’s website.

(If I recall, it was Harvard which previously did not have this type of exception, but does now.)

Adding: plenty of older discussions on this. Stanford has had the exception for a long time. Here’s an old CC thread from 2016.

The old Stanford website link from that thread, as captured in Aug 2015 includes the exception.

Nothing wrong with calling to confirm, but REA Stanford + USC early scholarship deadline has come up enough on this site, and the exception going back for years, that I see no issue applying to both.

Another edit: whoops, I completely missed your other post about USC now having EA. But, the exception would still apply (must apply EA for scholarship consideration).

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The restrictions in Stanford REA appear to be aimed at preventing REA applicants from applying early to other domestic colleges that may be a higher choice over Stanford by many applicants. This list of colleges is likely very small and probably does not include USC.

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Spoke with Stanford admissions who confirmed a student can apply to Stanford REA and USC EA.

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Thank you so much for this! You saved me tons of stress :innocent:

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