<p>We are in SoCal and my DS applied by Dec. 1. Today he received the following letter from Admissions and Financial Aid which I thought would be informative for "those in waiting."</p>
<p>"Dear DS:</p>
<p>Thank you for your application to USC. I am writing to give you an update on our process. </p>
<p>A record number of students have applied for merit scholarship consideration. For the Trustee and Presidential Scholarships, we have narrowed a pool of over 20,000 Dec. 1 applicants to the group of 1,000 who will proceed to the next phase of consideration for these awards.</p>
<p>DS, I am sorry to say that you were not selected for further consideration of either of these two scholarships. Although you might be disappointed, please remember you are still being considered for other scholarships. In addition, if you are admitted, named a NMF and select USC as your first-choice institution, you will receive a USC Presidential Scholarship. (My DS would fall into this category because of NHRP.)</p>
<p>The year, we expect to offer admission to about 8,400 freshman. So far, we have notified roughly 15 percent of those students, which leaves plenty of room for great candidates. I appreciate your patience as you wait for us to finish this hard work during the coming weeks. ...</p>
<p>We will not have much more news for you about your application until late-March/early-April, when the remaining admissions decisions will be finalized. You may track the status of your application review by returning to your online application......[Don't forget to submit senior grades from 1st sememster].....</p>
<p>Thank you from applying to USC. You will be hearing from us soon.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Associate Dean and Director.
Undergraduate Admission"</p>
<p>By the way my DS's status did say review by admission committee. So I hope this info helps others who have not heard yet. I think it is positive and I know my DS qualifies for the Presidential Scholarship the other way , so he is not worried.</p>