<p>My son received a letter today that he is waitlisted for Fall 2012. Does anyone have experience with this? </p>
<p>I already contacted admissions but not surprisingly wasn't given any definitive information. We would like to know if in the past anyone reading this board has been waitlisted for Fall and got in anyway. Or - if anyone knows what percent of wait listed applicants end up with Fall admission.</p>
<p>Hi, Nellivs–I’m curious; when did your son apply and is this the first letter he has received from them on his status? Did the school indicate when he would be hearing for sure?</p>
<p>The reason I ask is that my daughter applied during the early application period and received a letter a few months back advising that, due to high numbers of applicants this year, her decision is being delayed and that she would hear something mid-March. I’m wondering if your son got the same sort of letter earlier and now he is getting waitlisted on top of that–in effect a second deferral. That would kill my daughter if she has to wait again after thinking that she would hear for sure–one way or the other–this week or next. </p>
<p>Are you in-state or OOS?</p>
<p>Thanks and good luck!</p>
<p>We are out of state. My son applied in October; in December he received a letter telling him that a decision on him was being delayed until Decision Notification Week in March. Today a letter arrived that told him he was being waitlisted for Fall 2012 admission. Now he’s going to have to accept somewhere else, pay that darned non-refundable deposit, and hope that in mid-May he finally gets accepted to SC.</p>
<p>Nellivs, just based on my knowlege of other peoples experiances last year, he will likely not be accepted for Fall, but will likely be guaranteed a spot for the next (spring) term. Some of my son’s friends used being waitlisted to second semester as an opportunity to complete some of their general education classes at a branch campus or at a local community college (saving a few $$$) during the fall semester. Another one who wanted to play in the Carolina marching band attended Midlands Tech which is apparently right near USC and is treated almost like a branch of USC (with rights to some USC activities).</p>
<p>Also, if your son has any marching band experiance and would consider doing marching band at USC I would contact the music department immediately and explain that he has been waitlisted but wants to do marching band - I would bet that they could “fix” is addmitance problem (plus they offer a very nice price break to out of state students).</p>
<p>I hate that they waitlist so many students but the test scores and grades of admitted students have been going up every year so I suspect they have a ton of students with gpa’s and sat scores right around the previous years cut off who would be a good fit, but they attempt limit the first semester freshman class to 4500 students. My best guess is that they will accept almost no students with a SAT below 1,000/1,000 and almost no students with less than a 3.0 unweighted gpa, but there are probably several thousand candidates with numbers just barely above those number, like a 1050 SAT and a 3.1 GPA, and from that group they are trying the best they can to select the ones who are most likely to be successful at USC.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, he’s not a musician; unfortunately, he wants to join ROTC, which is even more competitive than college admissions these days. His unweighted GPA is well over 3.0 and his SAT scores are higher than what you mentioned and fall within the mid-50% range listed in the U.S. News college book (I know, those statistics are from a previous class, but really, how much could they have changed?). So while we were certainly not presuming it would be an automatic “yes,” we felt fairly confident of his chances. </p>
<p>So, now he will accept his #2 choice admission offer, hope that SC comes through, but won’t be holding our breath. Even though he might not get the ROTC scholarship beginning in his freshman year, he can still participate and wants to do it from the fall of his freshman year. Otherwise, he’d choose the community college option. The good news is that while he’s disappointed, he’s reslient and knows that there is a school and a grand experience waiting out there for him.</p>
<p>Oh, and by the way, when I contacted admissions today, I was told that if he doesn’t get fall admission, he would need to update his application, but that there was no guarantee that he’d get spring admission…</p>
<p>I don’t think that last one is unusual - they can’t really gaurantee anything. His scores don’t sound all that bad, so I’m a little surprised he didn’t get in…but as you said, there are other ways.</p>
<p>Something that I think is not really discussed during the admissions process is that there is a huge gap between in-state and out-of-state admissions standards:</p>
<p><a href=“Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics - Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics | University of South Carolina”>Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics - Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics | University of South Carolina;
<p>If you look at the last freshman class, the difference in SAT cores was 1167 IS v. 1238 OOS- a 71 point difference. Most OOS students applying to USC have not idea that the divide is that large. It’s a good sign that we’re attracting students with increasingly higher admissions stats, but it’s tough when a student that may seem to fall within the middle 50% is wait listed. I hope your son finds his way to USC- it’s an incredible school.</p>
<p>fleagle10</p>
<p>I had no idea there was that much of a difference either - my son was just rejected from USC (found out yesterday) and his SAT (M &V) was 1180 and we are OOS. It’s too bad - he loved the school and it was his first choice</p>
<p>In regard to the average SAT number for 2011 OOS students, those are for students who enrolled, not the stats of accepted students overall. I expect SAT number reveals that most honors college students are OOS and that certainly can pull an average up. Things changed a lot during this admissions cycle it seems. In past years USC has offered in state tuition to many OOS students primarily based on their SAT scores. For example, I know one out of state student admitted in 2008 and graduating this year who received the McKissick in state tuition scholarship based on an SAT score of 1270 and a GPA under 3.5. I know of another student with a lower GPA and similar SAT scores who was offered decent money last year too. I am guessing that students with those kind of stats in many cases chose USC. The average SAT score for OOS students in 2008 was 14 points lower than in 2012. Not a big difference. This year such a student would not be offered any money at all (according to their admissions staff when they tried to explain to me why my daughter with a 1290/1960, 7 APs, sports leadership awards and a 3.5 would not be getting any money from them and I quote “she would have had to have a 4.0 to get any money with scores in her range”!) and would not have qualified to even apply for honors. I think many factors have influenced admissions at USC this year including less money for scholarships overall and students looking for good deals at OOS flagship universities. Out of state students chose USC in the past because they gave out a lot of money. Let’s see what happens this year. It should be very interesting. My daughter’s friend who applied regular decision with many APs, over a 4.0, and decent enough SATs to be deferred EA from Georgetown was denied too.</p>
<p>You’re right, it will be very interesting if there isn’t the money going out to as many kids this year. (If that’s the case, the Net Cost estimator on the SC website needs some serious re-programming.) My daughter won’t be attending unless there is a significant discount off of the OOS uplift, and I’m fairly certain hers would not be a unique case. There may be a better shot than in past years for waitlisted kids as this sorts out in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the deal is, because the grades and scores you’re referencing are pretty solid for SC. Budget cuts are part of it and I believe applications are way, way up this year for some reason at most public universities because of the economy. SC was kind of an undiscovered college for several years, but like it or not successful sports teams have a way of increasing visibility. I’m glad my son applied for early decision and is in music right now…however, I also need SC to step up with the OOS discounts and a significant music scholarship, as he already has a solid offer from UF and we live in FL. Keeping my fingers crossed as SC remains his first choice.</p>
<p>I’m really sorry to hear about the wait-list. That’s a tough spot to be in.</p>
<p>Honestly, I wouldn’t count on getting in. They’re doing their best to restrict the class. They’ve promised the freshman class won’t get any bigger. Even so, they planned on capping our class at 4500 and 4550 deposited.</p>
<p>USC has had a lot of growing pains and I’d really recommend reading some of the articles in the Daily Gamecock which express this.</p>
<p>The housing waiting list for non-freshmen is 900 students this year.</p>
<p>Anyways, my point is, the university is really tight on space and are doing everything they can to limit the amount of students coming in.</p>
<p>I really hope that your son ends up at a school that fits him. My advice would be to go in with an open mind and just try to like wherever he ends up. If he doesn’t like it, he can apply to transfer. (Some of my friends are doing that.) That’s what I did with USC. I had hardly any interest in coming here and it really was never my first choice, but I came here and ended up loving it.</p>
<p>Who knows? Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise. I really wish him the best of luck. 
And I hope he does get off of that waiting list!</p>
<p>Just some insight… I found this thread strange because I (I’m OOS from NJ) received a scholarship that cuts my tuition cost to nearly instate (it’s only $2000 off), and my stats are 1290/1950 SAT, 4.0/4.42 unweighted/weighted gpa, honors classes, only 2 APs, and I honestly do not have any spectacular ECs… I’ve been invited to the Capstone Scholar program as well. Also it’s completely merit-based, not need-based. So I don’t know why your sons/daughters haven’t received a decent scholarship :(</p>
<p>Staypositive, I’m sorry you received such a snide response! People in SC are generally very nice, but I have found that Financial Aid staff tend to have an attitude. </p>
<p>It seems that the scholarship standards have increased substantially in the past few years. I hope this means that USC is becoming a first choice for more students out-of-state, but I fear that it could be a product of the state funding reductions as has been posited. Another factor to consider is that the out-of-state population has been increasing not only in percentage, but also in volume. I hope that the $1 billion capital campaign will build enough of a reserve to allow USC to fund the scholarship programs more fully so we can continue to attract great OOSers.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how much state budget cuts affect USC.</p>
<p>I think I read somewhere about USC losing federal stimulus money, which in my opinion, would be the bigger reason.</p>
<p>As it is, USC only receives about 10% of its funding from the state. It’s almost like a private school.</p>
<p>I think I read that about 20 years ago, USC received as much as 80% of its funding from the state, but that just isn’t the case anymore and hasn’t been for several years.</p>
<p>A lot of people seem to think that USC is making up for its lost state money by taking in more OOS students, and that might be the case this year with not giving out as many scholarships.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason is, I really do wish you all the best and hope things work out. I know this time of year is extremely stressful for seniors and it can be made only worse when you do get into the school you love, but can’t afford it, or you end up on a waiting list. I personally wasn’t in that exact situation, but I had so many friends who were. Unfortunately, it’s all part of the process. :-/</p>
<p>Wow - great discussion, and thanks to all who posted with good information, especially the disparity between IS and OOS scores. My son’s interest in SC started with his intended major, Marine Biology, which is not offered at any state schools here in our state. Then we discovered that he would qualify for the Academic Common Market benefits, which would mean we would pay in-state tuition. We visited the campus last spring and he immediately fell in love with it, felt at home.</p>
<p>The good news is that today we found out he was accepted at his #2 school, one with which we are sure he will be just as happy. If by chance he does find out in mid-May that he is accepted afterall, it’ll be interesting to see what he decides because by then he will have had to accept at #2 and his head might see himself all settled there.</p>
<p>I am happy to report that today my son received an email telling him he had been moved off the wait list and has been accepted for the fall term. He is thrilled and immediately accepted, so we are now working our way through all the things that need to be taken care of. Who knows why he was waitlisted - we’ve speculated, but wonder if the fact that we’ll be taking advantage of the Academic Common Market and therefore paying in-state tuition instead of out-of-state tuition had anything to do with it. Anyway, he is “proof” that waitlisted students can be admitted!</p>
<p>Congrats!</p>
<p>Interestingly, SC’s Common Data Set indicates that for the last three years (I only checked 3) they have not had a wait list.</p>
<p>[USC</a> Common Data Set](<a href=“Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics - Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics | University of South Carolina”>Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics - Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics | University of South Carolina)</p>
<p>Is this something new for this year?</p>
<p>I’m also surprised they are dipping into the wait list before the May1 deadline. Odd.</p>
<p>@Nellivs That’s really great news! That just shows how every year is different and really anything can happen.</p>
<p>Glad to hear your son got accepted and is going to be a Gamecock! :)</p>