<p>I know there have been threads on this in the past, but I want to hear about people's experiences at Explore USC. I am going down fir my Trustee interview in less than two weeks. Any tips or advice? What programs and activities are there? What is it like staying with a student? Also, any pointers about the interview? Anything I should be sure to check out while on campus? Thank you so much!!!</p>
<p>I can’t comment on the interview but I have had friends who have hosted Explore USC kids. Unless it has drastically changed, you just stay in their room for the night, eat at the dining hall, and basically babysit you for the night. Its kind of open ended from there, some people have an experience and go out drinking while some just want to “explore” haha or just stay in the dorm/suite and have a quiet night because their interview may be in the morning. It really is up to you for the brief period that you stay with the student. </p>
<p>There really isn’t anything “must see” imo, if you end up going to USC, you will end up checking out everything more than enough times to see it all and the landscape does get a bit boring after so long. I would check out Birnkrant and maybe some other dorms if you would like to get a better idea of them. Maybe grab some food at Seeds and Lemonade?</p>
<p>I’m also going up to interview in less than two weeks! I’m interviewing for Presidential and so badly want to get bumped up to Trustee. I’ve been reading past threads and compiled a list of advice:</p>
<p>-Show that you have a passion that you can speak of expressively
-Show that you would contribute to USC (ie would the professor want you in his/her class?)
-They want to see that you will likely attend USC if you’re offered the scholarship
-Reread you application - apparently they ask a lot of questions from it
-Find specific things about USC that you like - USC loves to be loved!
-Relax and treat it like a conversation, but dress very nicely
-Questions are tailored to your major, so it might be beneficial to brush up on it.</p>
<p>My son interviewed two years ago for Presidential. We too hoped for the bump up. It didn’t happen. He is a happy sophomore now though! I remember one applicant who was very lively on this board, interviewed for trustee, felt great about the interview but got bumped down to Deans I believe. She ended up somewhere else. I think sometimes the bump has to do with how many from your school/major chose to come to the interview. I wish you all luck!</p>
<p>The kids who host the explore USC interviewees don’t report to the admissions officers about the student do they? I just want to make sure I have to be “on” the whole time I am there</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID4 using CC</p>
<p>You just have to take them to dinner, go to the evening activity, let them sleep in your room and take them to breakfast the next morning. its like less than 6 hours of actual face time that is required. I’m sure there is some way for them to make comments but you can put in as much or as little effort as you would like haha.</p>
<p>Everyone who has been invited to interview for a scholarship is clearly quite capable and accomplished. That’s a given. The interview, therefore, is no longer about accomplishments so much as it is an opportunity for the interviewers to envision you as a USC student. </p>
<p>I don’t mean college student; I mean USC student. I strongly believe that the interviews function primarily, if not solely, as a means for the interviewers to find those people most passionate about attending USC. </p>
<p>You will meet plenty of other applicants at Explore who are largely ambivalent about USC. They will often have their eyes set on Harvard, Yale, Stanford, et. al., which is fine, but those aren’t the people to whom USC wants to dole out substantial amounts of money. </p>
<p>USC loves to be loved (I forget who originally posted that bit of advice, but it’s quite astute). Show them (if truthful, of course) how excited you are at the prospect of attending USC. Show them enthusiasm for some of the specific (underline specific) opportunities USC has to offer. </p>
<p>In short, this interview is not really about you. The interview is about USC. Place the focus not on yourself but on everything the University, and the school to which you’re applying, has to offer. </p>
<p>Best of luck, kitkat2013!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! I leave tomorrow - SO EXCITED</p>
<p>What types of evening activities are there?</p>
<p>College182, great post. I’m going to add here that while this “show the love” is likely a winning idea for most of the Schools, others are not looking for that really. As you know, schools such as Cinematic Arts get thousands of extremely motivated applicants and their yield is exceptional–most who make it choose to attend (if affordable). In most of the Schools, they simply look for students who will be leaders in the department, take advantage of all the incredible major-specific opportunities, professional clubs, and extra competitions, and then graduate and make your school proud as you go on and accomplish big things. Of course, they cannot always assess these attributes in one short meeting, so you can help them by speaking confidently (but not arrogantly), and showing how deeply you jump into all your activities. And do realize, that some Schools will have too many outstanding finalists. They simply cannot give everyone the top award no matter how brilliant the interview. So stressing is not a good idea.</p>
<p>Not to be discouraging, but just doing a rah-rah USC rant will be unlikely to make a huge difference. USC admissions is well aware that for a certain economic-status family, awarding $90K-180K in tuition is going to motivate a large number of excellent candidates to attend. Of course, as 182 points out: acting like you are not really interested in USC will kill your chances! But I doubt coming in doing 'SC cheers will make the right sort of impression, either. Do not go over board!!</p>
<p>I agree that College182 has some sound advice - a nice post! But I have a somewhat different perspective on a part of it:
Remember, the primary function of these scholarships are as RECRUITMENT tools. The students who have their eyes set on Harvard, Yale, Stanford, et.al. are PRECISELY the students USC would like to lure with a Trustee or Presidential scholarship.</p>
<p>So yes, show what you can contribute to USC. Yes, be able to speak knowledgeably about the programs and opportunities that draw you to USC. But I advise against displaying an I-love-USC-so-much-I-will-attend-USC-no-matter-what attitude - why would they give the scholarship to you if you have already committed??? They will spend that money on one of the Stanford/Harvard/Yale devotees and see if they can lure them in!</p>
<p>Just one poster’s perspective -feel free to ignore it - and BEST of luck to all the scholarship candidates!!!</p>
<p>Madbean, yes–I think that coming into the interview room doing USC cheers might be a bit too much! haha (Can you imagine, though? That would be a hilarious scene in a movie.) There’s certainly a difference between showing and enthusiasm and being too enthusiastically showy (if that makes any sense).</p>
<p>And alamemom, I agree that USC would love to “woo” would-be HYPS students with these scholarships. But I think that the University is looking for those who, after visiting campus and (potentially) receiving a large scholarship, are excited at the prospect of attending USC (i.e. not bemoaning the fact that they didn’t get to attend HYPS). I just don’t believe that the interviewers are inclined to give scholarships to those individuals who openly consider USC inferior to the Ivy League schools…</p>
<p>Well, I have great confidence in the students selected to interview for the scholarships. So much so that I assume they are clever enough that they would not announce to an interview panel that they consider USC inferior to other schools (even if they privately held that opinion). If a candidate “bemoaned” the fact that they didn’t get to attend HYPS in a scholarship interview, there would be no need to lure that student with a scholarship as it would appear they had been rejected from HYPS… Behaving in that way in an interview (do you really think anyone would, College182???) would likely result in our first post of someone coming away from the scholarship interview process empty-handed.</p>
<p>Again, the main purpose of the scholarships is to recruit students. Again, if you have submitted your deposit and/or indicate that you do not need to be recruited, that may not be the best course of action. </p>
<p>My suggestion to candidates is, if you are asked if you have decided where you will attend, you respond with a carefully considered statement along the lines of, “The more I learn about USC, the more excited I am about all the opportunities here - this has been an amazing visit! But I have to wait until all the financial information comes in for all my schools and then discuss with my parents which schools are affordable for our family.” If you are not asked if you have decided where you will attend, there is no need to volunteer that information.</p>
<p>Avoid “bemoaning” in all cases and on all subjects ;)</p>
<p>Haha My post was meant to be taken more figuratively than literally… </p>
<p>I do not believe that any (sane) student would “bemoan” USC in the actual scholarship interview. I do, however, believe that there are those individuals who will bemoan (i.e. be very disappointed) attending anywhere other than an Ivy League school. I think that’s an entirely valid prerogative, but I contend that USC does not want to recruit those students so much as those who, even if originally set on HYSP, are open to seriously considering USC and (potentially) choosing the Trojan Family on their own accords. (The University obviously hopes these merit scholarships will do just that.) </p>
<p>The whole argument is probably moot, though, insofar as most of the people reading this thread seem highly enthusiastic about attending USC. But I’ll nonetheless meet plenty of candidates on campus who are clearly ambivalent about enrolling here–doing the interview for the money but not necessarily excited about what that money would get them.</p>
<p>My DH had long conversations with the admissions biggies at USC during Explore, plus we have friends there, and it was made clear that the scholarships are mainly to woo those who are likely to be admitted to the top Ivies or Stanford, etc, or have already been admitted early (like our kid and friends who were also there) to USC. He was told it is as much of a sales job from USC as it is an interview for the applicant. DH was very impressed with the event, and how forthcoming they were.</p>
<p>During the interview there weren’t really any questions about USC, or a lot of opportunity to express interest in USC. (I would imagine there is a great variance in interviews.) The questions were all about my kid’s interests and work that was submitted, which they discussed in very much detail, they’d obviously had taken serious notes. So we’ll see how it goes. (One year at Ivy full pay plus our visits = 4 years at USC w/ full tuition scholarship, plus close to home and nice weather, and TO close enough to Ivy academics.)</p>