<p>First-Year Application Deadline for Scholarship Consideration is Dec 1. Is this still considered to be RD?
I am applying SCEA in Princeton and they are very restrictive, so I can only apply privates for RD, since their decision is only available after Dec 15 or so.
Anybody had similar experience?
Thanks a lot</p>
<p>
Yes.
[FAQs</a> - USC Undergraduate Admission](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/faq/admission_process.html]FAQs”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/faq/admission_process.html)</p>
<p>From USC’s viewpoint, the December 1st scholarship deadline is compatible with the SCEA programs offered at schools such as Stanford and Princeton. To be extra-cautious, you might check with Princeton*, referencing USC’s above-linked statement that the December 1st deadline is NOT an early action/decision program, to get their viewpoint on the matter.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>*By “check with Princeton” I mean with an admissions representative at Princeton, not the College Confidential Princeton forum…</p>
1 Like
<p>AT2018,</p>
<p>USC is not an early action University. They are a regular decision University. Regardless of when you apply (Dec 1 for scholarship consideration, or Jan 15 regular deadline) it won’t affect your status in Princeton’s pool or violate their policy. In contrast, for example, a student could not simultaneously apply to my university (top tier) at the same time because we although we nonbinding, we are a private university not a public university (Public “is” allowed as long as it is nonbinding) </p>
<p>Most schools pull only a tiny percentage of applicants from the early pool. So having a back-up plan is a good idea. Last year Princeton took just under 700 students from a pool of 3800 SCEA applications</p>
<p>Princeton will get its SCEA decisions out by mid December. If you are accepted, withdraw your application from USC. Likely your application will still be in processing or staff “reading” phase. No harm, no foul. They’ll appreciate having one less application to vett out of the tens of thousands. It’s as simple as that. But on the off chance that you are not accepted, you can let your application stay in the USC scholarship pool.</p>
<p>^^Now I am little confused. Student couldn’t apply simultaneously to your university EARLY, or couldn’t apply at all, because it is private?
Because USC is also private as far as I know. I face the similar dilemma with Emory Scholars program (November 15 application deadline to be considered falls in between their EDI and EDII deadlines and it’s unclear if it is considered RD or not)</p>
<p>The biggest problem is that Princeton doesn’t reply to the emails and nobody would pick up the phone in the admissions office all last week. Their response would be the ultimate clarification, of course…</p>
<p>AT2018 - I understand your pain. I took a look at Princeton’s site for clarification. You CAN NOT apply to ANY private university early action or early decision (even if it is nonbinding) so mine would be out. BUT you CAN apply to a state (i.e. public) university as long as it is not binding.</p>
<p>The SCEA procedure is targeted at those students for whom Princeton is the first/favorite choice. I now understand why some colleges are doing that - the number of students mass applying to top flight universities simultaneously is insane and they need to limit their time to those most serious about attending.</p>
<p>Still, a lot of colleges do understand that top candidates are in a bind with universities that are binding because such a small percentage are accepted from that pool (at Princeton less than 20%). So I don’t penalize students who are late asking for interviews or filing applications because they had to wait for the decision from the other schools first. Hence, Princeton says it will inform students of a decision mid-December and that decision will include financial aid information. Similarly competitive colleges have regular deadlines of January (between the 1st and the 15th for some) to allow those students not selected EA at binding colleges to have time to apply to alternative schools. </p>
<p>To answer your question about Emory Scholars, the situation is the same as USC - applying to be a Scholar is NOT considered Early Action and like USC, it’s still Regular Decision. So you’ll be notified of your status in January. If accepted at Princeton, simply withdraw your Regular decision applications (USC, Emory and others)…</p>
<p>From the Emory site: <a href=“http://www.emory.edu/admission/counselors/financial_aid_scholarships/scholars_faqs.html[/url]”>http://www.emory.edu/admission/counselors/financial_aid_scholarships/scholars_faqs.html</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So apply, don’t worry, hope for the best fit! Good luck.</p>
<p>I’ll just pop in to say, once the OP hears back from Princeton (and good luck), he/she does not have to instantly withdraw from any/all the RD schools applied to. This is EA, so nonbinding. There is no reason not to wait and see what sort of merit aid may be in the offing, and even to compare FA offers (although Princeton is known to be tops in that regard, if one qualifies). </p>
<p>So, to reiterate–USC only has RD, is not in conflict with Princeton’s SCEA application policy, and the Dec deadline for scholarship consideration is not an EA or ED option.</p>
<p>Ahh - yes. @Madbean is correct. I just pulled up the Princeton rules. Odd, though, that they are so restrictive and yet “non-binding.” Possibly to reduce the application load for that pool? :(</p>
<p>Stanford used to say (applicant year 2010 - 2011) that if you applied early to USC to get in under the Dec 1 wire for the scholarship consideration that you violated the SCEA policy at Stanford – even though the Dec 1 deadline had nothing to do with admissions. Stanford took the position that applying early on the basis of a deadline to achieve some advantage was the functional equivalent of applying early to a school, even it it wasn’t applying early for actual admission. An early scholarship deadline was treated by Stanford as an early application deadline. This policy had the intended effect of keeping great scholarship applicants to USC, who still wanted to apply to Stanford, from applying to USC – with the result that great minority candidates would end up getting rejected by Stanford and not end up taking their shot at USC, where they may have been highly competitive. Eventually, two things happened: (1) USC internally waived the deadline for outstanding applicants (meaning that if you got your application in after Dec 1, you still were considered), so USC refused to let Stanford game its deadlines and gamed Stanford right back, and (b) Stanford recognized that they were being way too restrictive as compared with any other college on the planet, none of whom had an equivalent policy and none of whom wanted to be blamed for keeping minorities out of contention for scholarships (wherever they might find them). So, yes, now you are perfectly fine applying to USC before the deadline of December 1 for the scholarships.</p>
<p>@makennacompton I wish there was a “like” button for that post. Outstanding. I’m liking USC more and more each day. :)</p>
<p>@makennacompton Stanford’s position in 2010 (judging by the calendar deadline) is exactly what I am fearing reading somewhat vague rules at Princeton’s website, hence all the worries.
Even though it seems logical that RD with earlier deadline for scholarship consideration by no means equals EA or ED. Otherwise will just deprive thousands of kids of all merit scholarships in exchange for the slim chance to get into Princeton
Thank you all so much for help, guess the applications will just go out and we will have to defend our position if Princeton will have any objections.</p>
<p>AT2018, I’m in the same position as you, looking to apply SCEA to Princeton while considering USC for their scholarship opportunities. So, if you hear back from the office, let me (or the thread) know! Thanks.</p>
<p>Oh, and by the way, when I had a question regarding Princeton’s acceptance of test scores, I emailed on a Saturday and was promptly responded to the next Monday morning. So keep trying!</p>