My son applied to the Marshall School of Business. He toured USC last February but was not able to attend the event when the regional admissions officer was in our city last fall. How important is it to have that connection? He has a 3.99 UW GPA, 33 ACT (took it cold), is a 4 year varsity athlete in two sports, student leader, academic tutor, has a job, etc. He would be thrilled to be admitted, whether or not he got any scholarship money.