<p>Congrats and welcome to the Trojan Family to all who have been accepted from a Class of 2013 Trustee Scholar!!!!
If you have been accepted, it is likely that you are going to be invited to visit USC at the end of February/begining of March to interview for the Trustee or Presidential scholarship. The Explore USC program that you will take part in is a great way to be introduced to USC and all that it has to offer. I took part in the program last year and will likely be hosting students this year and I'm here to answer any question I can about the two day program, the interview, what to expect, what to bring, what you'll do, what parents do, etc. Please feel free to ask away and I'll try to respond ASAP but remember that I'm busy being a USC student so if I don't respond right away don't fret.
Congrats again!!!</p>
<p>Thanks for the good wishes. </p>
<p>What can you tell us about the interview? Is it similar to other college interviews or is it more intense? How should I prepare for the interview? Should I bring some supplemental materials (i.e. resume, articles written, etc). Thanks in adavnce for any advice or guidance you can provide.</p>
<p>Thanks for the wishes :)</p>
<p>I’m up for the Presidential Scholarship, but I’m also a NMSF and wrote USC for my top choice–does that mean I’m getting half-tuition off anyway, so Explore can’t make any difference for me?</p>
<p>^^takeme, just thought I’d mention that some of those interviewed for Presidential get bumped up to Trustee–full tuition. It is worthwhile going to Explore for that, IMO. </p>
<p>To vballfan, swoopes will come back and give you advice, but from previous years’ posters, we’ve heard that various majors and schools have different styles of interviews, often dependent upon who is on the panel. In many cases, the panel includes a professor from your intended major/school, and sometimes an administrator from the school as well, and often a student from the department who is a current Trustee or Presidential scholar.</p>
<p>My interview was with Marshall (the business school) since I’m a business major. It was actually the most relaxed of all the interviews I did. It included a marketing professor, a person from the business school admissions office, and a senior busienss student. They asked typical interview questions about why I wanted to major in business, what I hope to do, etc. Be sure to read over your application before your interview because they’ll reference that in your interviewe so know what you wrote for everything. No need to bring suplemental materials.</p>
<p>And yes, if it isn’t too much of a burden to come interview for Presidential do it because theres a chance they could bump you to Trustee if you really impress them.</p>
<p>takemeseriously, how do you know you’re “up for the Presidential Scholarship” (as opposed to the Trustee)?</p>
<p>The Caravan (USC event RSVP system) website trick that worked for all of about three hours yesterday afternoon before USC took it down. I found out I’m a Trustee candidate through it.</p>
<p>^^yep. I cheated 
And thanks for the help–I’ll definitely be coming; I don’t want to miss any chance of getting the Trustee Scholarship. How often do people get bumped up–does it happen a few times every year?</p>
<p>bump…does anyone know approximately how many people get bumped up to trustee?</p>
<p>
I have no idea how many get bumped - college confidential is a very small sampling. What we know for sure is that SOME get bumped. Check this thread for a few examples: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/666395-scholarship-decisions-13.html#post1062212385[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/666395-scholarship-decisions-13.html#post1062212385</a></p>
<p>Check post #189 (BRENTON8907’s friend), #196 (Montecristo09), #203 (aberdeen15), and #206 (qzar). Don’t forget that it can happen in the other direction (see post #123) also.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I was a trustee scholar and interviewed candidates for scholarships for 3 years. You don’t need to bring any supplemental information- the interviewers will have your applications in front of you. Here are my main suggestions:
- Review your application before going to the interview. Know what you put down for the quick takes, and remember what your essays were about. Often, interviewers like to ask questions about what they see on the application. I would get the applications for who I was interviewing a day or two in advanced and go through and highlight the interesting parts.<br>
- Read a newspaper for a few days before the interview. Sometimes there will be questions about current events, and it is good if you know something that you can talk about.
- Be passionate. My favorite students were the ones who obviously really loved and cared about what they did. Even if they weren’t the most socially developed people, they would come alive when talking about their passions. Then I knew that I liked them.<br>
- One of the questions used to evaluate students is “Would you like this student in one of your classes (as a fellow student or as a professor).” You want to prove that you would have something interesting to say, and would participate well in a discussion.
- Know things about USC. If you are on these boards, that’s probably not much of an issue. However, it is really a good thing to know about what programs and extra curricular activities interest you before the interview. The interviewers are trying to figure out if you would really go to USC if you got the scholarship. We don’t want to give scholarships to people who are never going to enroll.</p>
<p>If you have any questions, I’ll try to keep up with this thread and respond.</p>
<p>I’m also a 2013 Trustee Scholar, feel free to PM me with any questions. I’ll keep an eye on this thread as well.</p>
<p>To confirm what madbean stated, will the student interviewer be from the same department where the scholarship candidate is hoping to study? In other words, if the student is going into engineering for example, will he/she be interviewed by an engineering student? Of course I know that the faculty interviewer is from the same department as the applicant.</p>
<p>Thank you, and best wishes to all candidates!</p>
<p>“will the student interviewer be from the same department where the scholarship candidate is hoping to study”
in general, not necessarily. They will probably be from the same COLLEGE , but there are some smaller depts with only a few Trustee scholars [ like my son’s dept] and the schedules of those TS may not allow them time to do interviews. There are lots of engineering trustees however, so it is likely that he will meet one of them during his interview.</p>
<p>Thanks menloparkmom!
Actually, my son’s interview will be in music composition. Since it is a smaller department, I suppose the TS interviewer might at least be a student in Thornton School of Music.</p>
<p>best wishes for his interview. my son is friends with many talented engineering / music students at USC. A word of advise regarding attempting to combine a science major[ engineering for example] and music minor or visa versa. Because many labs required for science classes are in the afternoons, when many music classes are also taught, son found it impossible to make a music minor work into his schedule.YMMV.</p>
<p>congratulations, yorkiemom! In my S’s case, there was no student on the interview panel at all. His major is rather new at SCA and there may not have been a Trustee scholar in his specialized major available (or even in existence?) at the time. The following year he was asked to sit on the panel and due to his class schedule and project commitments, he wasn’t available at the time they needed him.</p>
<p>In creative majors such as music compostition, they will most likely be interested to hear what his vision is for the future of music. Encourage him to express his enthusiasm (if he is, indeed, enthusiastic) for whatever his true passion is. </p>
<p>Best of luck to you and him.</p>
<p>YES, i’m so glad this thread was made. i was accepted last friday, and received my Trustee scholarship candidate letter saturday! i’m extremely excited, but i’m also really nervous about the explore USC program. i actually have a lot of questions, haha. i guess i’ll just make a list?</p>
<ul>
<li><p>i know that interview questions are mainly based on what major you applied for, but what if you applied undecided? my major was undeclared for CLAS, so i’m just wondering what to expect. i read that the questions are pretty general for undecided applicants, but i’m not sure. i don’t have a problem with expanding on what i put on my application if i’m asked, but i’m worried about those questions that come from left-field. </p></li>
<li><p>how likely is it that a Trustee interviewee will be offered no scholarship at all? i’m already scared about being bumped down to Dean’s (which actually wouldn’t be that bad), or not getting anything at all. i’m coming all the way from NC, so it’d be really disappointing if this whole process was all for nothing! aside from getting to experience life on campus, of course.</p></li>
<li><p>what’s the “evening activity” that ends the first day? (: just curious, aha. and what are your parents supposed to be doing during this time?</p></li>
<li><p>whoever comes with you, they stay overnight at a nearby hotel, right? my mom’s coming along so i’m just making sure. i never saw it directly stated in any of the explore USC info pages.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Nikara, thanks so much for all the info! that answered a lot of questions i initially had about the interview.</p>
<p>I just got my acceptance letter! I’m really excited! I didn’t have an interview though. </p>
<p>And I was not notified whether or not I was awarded a scholarship. Will that come later or does that mean I did not get one? I applied in time for the scholarship consideration.</p>