<p>Does everyone get the initial acceptance letter to the University and then separate letters regarding honors and minimum scholarship indications or do some hear about these in initial acceptance letters. I have read in past years people will get a letter saying 'you will qualify for at least in state tuition' before official awards are made, I think, in March. I also understand that Honors can come between now and February, but wondering if they can come with initial acceptance to USC. Thanks. </p>
<p>I think the confusing answer is that it depends, but your official, final merit/financial letter will come in March. Some people seemed to get an “at least” letter. Lots of those may be honors students since all honors get some kind of scholarship and the profile of students makes them highly likely to get OOS waivers, etc.</p>
<p>It’s my understanding that last year, the kids got the general acceptance letter around this week, and some of those that applied to the honors college got a 2nd letter (or maybe 2 more letters) over the next 2 weeks informing them of admittance into the honors college and that ‘you will qualify for at least in state tuition with a scholarship’. But, if you don’t get the honors college acceptance letter in Dec, there will be more notifications of admittance into the honors college between now and Feb. I believe there was some conjecture that those that received the early honors college + scholarship letter may have made the 1st cut for possible invitation to the McNair/Horseshoe scholars weekend.</p>
<p>Hopefully some of the “old timers” can chime in here as we received our general acceptance letter this week but we’d love to get one (or two) more letters before X-mas! : )</p>
<p>@ NCrent … your understanding is correct re: last year- at least that’s how it went for my D. She got 2 separate letters towards the end of Dec. - re: Honors college acceptance and that scholarship letter (the vague one indicating she will receive ‘in-state tuition’ but not which one yet). I also heard the same conjecture re: the ones who got this in Dec. were the 1st cut for McNair/Horseshoe consideration. </p>
<p>Either way, none of this was included in the general acceptance letters (the ones going out this week or earlier). All those were the same across the board. Same the year before with my S. </p>
<p>Thanks for these clarifications. I had gathered similar from previous threads but appreciate the confirmation. Good luck all.</p>
So my D received her general acceptance the day before we left for vacation, and came home to the “at least” scholarship letter, but no Honors college letter. Do some people get the initial scholarship letter in Dec. but not honors? She was pretty surprised and disappointed.
Yes but that doesn’t mean she won’t get in Honors … only a small group gets the December notice. Most don’t get their notice until February. Good luck.
So, I know very little about USC, but have been reading the threads on the acceptance, Honors College and scholarship letters. My D (OOS) was accepted in mid December, got her Honors acceptance shortly thereafter, and received the “minimal scholarship offer is in state tuition” letter before the Christmas holiday. I have heard several references, but not specific information about the sequence of these three letters, and that if you received all three letters that “you could be on the short list for the Horseshoe/McNair scholarship weekend.”
Can anyone comment on the accuracy of this? And are all that get this three letter sequence invited to the Horseshoe/McNair weekend? Any history or insight anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Also, does anyone have experience with the events that weekend, and is there a campus tour? Or should I be attempting to get my D to USC before that weekend to see the school?
Thanks in advance for any help you could provide. I have read the threads that say that USC rolls out the red carpet that weekend and does a good selling job to the students.
My daughter is a sophomore at USC honors and a Cooper scholar (one below McNair/Horseshoe). She got all three letters before Christmas and was not invited to McNair weekend. She has several friends that are McNairs - stats vary greatly. My daughter had higher stats than a couple that were invited. So you never know what they are looking for. They will have an honors admitted student weekend that my daughter really liked. You get to go in the Honors Dorm if you go to this weekend. Goodluck.
@swim4school Are you asking about scholarship weekends? Here is my insight. D is senior Hamilton scholar (basically Carolina scholar finalist). I would not get too hung up on the order you received letters since I don’t think anyone knows if it indicates any more than alphabetical order in the group that has been identified as top candidates. I do think they now go back and read the applications more closely before sending out invites to McNair or Carolina/Stamps weekends. D has helped with these weekends as peer leader before and they were told that essays are heavily considered in this process. I think that is one reason why you can judge on just stats as to who is invited. I think 40 are invited to McNair weekend (50 to Carolina?) so obviously not everyone accepted to honors in December is invited. Invites to McNair and Carolina weekend are sent FedEx and all arrive on same day, so that makes it little less worrying about US mail delivery.
If you are invited, you have to attend to be considered. McNair weekend this year is over the weekend of Feb 28. A parent and student are invited. There is an opportunity to tour campus and see honors dorm and sit in on a class (think the weekend extends through part of Monday). There are a couple of meals, including a dinner where you get to sit with current students and professors. There are chances for students to hear other students without parents around and a student social event. Parents also have a social dessert hour with current student parents (I’ve done this). Obviously there are also interviews.
@Ahsmuoh can tell your more about accepted students day. We are in town and didn’t see the need since we did scholar weekend and it use to be combined with a day for all scholarship students, honors or not, so it sounds like that has changed a little in past few years.
If you do decide to visit at another time, contact the honors office. They can usually meet with you if you have more questions and set up a classroom visit. Not sure how much tour guides tell about selves, but a good chunk of student ambassadors are in honors.
Good luck to everyone!
Thanks so much for the replies, the information is very helpful.
Hi everyone. If you look at last year’s winners of the USC OOS McNair and Horseshoe awards, a simple quick sampling of the winners in Google reveal all were national merit semi-finalists from there respective high schools. Considering university heavily recruits national merit semi-finalists through invitation only, regional dinners outlining honors college and McNair scholarship, I think its pretty much a guarantee that you need to have attended one of these dinners to be in serious consideration for OOS McNair or Horseshoe award.
While exceptional students without this distinction or prior invite will receive early admission into the honors college and will receive other merit scholarships, perhaps like the Cooper award noted above, if you are not a national merit semi-finalist based upon PSAT results, you probably are a long shot to qualify for McNair no matter the timing or receipt of the acceptance letter into honors college.
This probably explains why many students in honors college might have far higher stats than McNair or Horseshoe winners. Many students just miss merit semi-finalist status on PSAT taken in sophomore or junior year but then turn around and ace the SAT or ACT the following year. Even though these students might have better stats in terms of SAT or ACT, not having the national merit semi-finalist recognition from PSAT prevented their ability to realistically complete for OOS McNair of Horseshoe.
My two cents on how to look at timing of letters and impact on scholarships. Hope this helps clarify and good luck to everyone. If anyone else knows of exceptions to relationship between McNair and merit semi-finalist status please feel free to correct this post!
I agree … what @SECfan1234 makes sense. My D received an invite (and attended) the regional dinner- Ruth’s Chris, and received all the early acceptances in Dec. and has high stats and seemingly great essays- BUT is not a NMSF and did not get an invite to the Top Scholar’s Weekend. She also has the Cooper.
Regarding the “Honors weekend” … they changed that last year. They did not have a separate weekend for Honors students. I know they did the year before so I called last year when we never received any info on it and was told by the organizers that they were having a welcome reception for honors students and a separate honors session within the same weekend since all the other events / sessions were the same. Either way, I would call and find out the plan for this year before arranging travel in case they change it up again. I have a sophomore and freshman and both years were different.
Cloeman4 - my D is really interested in USCHC and seems to be in similar position as your D last year. Without NMSF status (just missed PSAT cut off) she is not expecting McNair invite despite early acceptance into USCHC and great stats, GPA and rank. According to guidelines posted on line, like your D most likely she is looking at the alternate Coopers award which is still a really great opportunity. At this point she is unsure of decision.
I hate to jump off topic but your insight into USC would be really interesting and relevant to discussion of honors college. As a parent, what is your take on overall safety of USC? I specifically ask because I know the past few years have been particularly troublesome for the university and last year the President of USC publically criticized the City of Columbia in the press because of its apparent inability to gain control over recurring area shootings (one leading to tragedy of USC Freshman at five points) and multiple gun point robberies of students on campus (including armed robbery of a student in front of a USC dorm last fall). I also recall reading a recommended curfew went into effect for all students whereupon USC President publicly declared five points area “Unsafe” at night because of these recurring shootings in the area. Of course, every campus has its share of problems, especially colleges located in major cities (although Columbia is hardly a major city), but there seems to be much more of a pronounced problem in and around Columbia, SC campus.
From tour and meeting my daughter took last year, the USCHC and scholarship $$ available seemed to be a nice fit, but at same time as a parent its really tough to ignore what appears to be going on around campus area at night. Hopefully its not as bad as projected by media reports? Would really like to hear your insight on this issue as a knowledgeable parent with D currently attending USCHC. You could probably shed more light on this than most. Thanks in advance for any insight on USCHC and safety concerns.
@SECfan1234 I can’t comment with regard to last year, but my S is a current McNair Scholar and I can say that there were several candidates at his McNair Weekend that were not NMSF. I think that there are probably minimum grade and SAT/ACT score requirements, but once those requirements are met, I believe that the essays play a significant role with regard to who is invited.
^^My two cents as someone who lives here. There were several instances at the beginning of year. As it turns out, some of them could not be verified as actually happening. There was never a student curfew that I heard of, though there may have been one temporarily in 5Points itself, it was not really on the USC campus for students. USC is as safe as any campus that shares borders with a city. Having said that, I would not go to 5 points late at night. It is fine through what I would consider dinner hour, but gets sketchy after midnight. Many of the instances have happened as bars closed and forced everyone onto streets. The bar that seems to have attracted worst elements has been closed down.
In The State newspaper today was an article about study being done currently about students and 5 Points. Merchants seems happy with the increased police presence on street and better lighting. We have a new police chief from another college town who is making this a priority. USC doesn’t control 5 Points but Pastides has gotten heavily involved in pushing for more safety. As a result, shuttles are running there now. Before there were free cabs (what freshman girl was waiting on when shot). As a parent, it is concerning how many freshmen go to these bars and seem to find a way to drink - drunk kids walking around late at night are vulnerable. Yet it seems that most people feel like that it is waste of police time to bust fake ids. Anyway, the article states that they hope to use this study to see how they can improve things from student behavior side.
With only one or two exceptions I feel that if your student is doing what they are suppose to be doing, when and where they are suppose to be doing it they will be safe. My D and her friend regularly walk the Vista area without problem. Again, most of issues were in areas on edge of campus where campus meets city. That doesn’t make it alright, but the event this fall was the only one I remember in 4 years of my D attending that was really in center of campus (and that person was caught).
There is a slight danger if you aren’t familiar with Columbia in how things are reported in media. It caught my eye this fall when media reported something on Pickens street near campus which made it sound practically on campus (Pickens intersects part of campus) When I actually looked up report, it was a good bit away from campus across a main road. If you look for crime stats within a mile of campus, you would be looking at everything from main street to state capitol to semi-industrial areas to high price residential to an area of extreme poverty.
@SECfan1234 - You analysis may partially be true if OOS students are judged differently than in-state. The year my oldest D applied, she was NMSF and was not invited to compete for Carolina scholar. Three other students were invited from her school and none of them were NMSF. None had higher class rank than D1, so I think the process is a lot more holistic than just stats. You are probably correct that NMSF status plays into invite to dinners, but could also be students who sent very high SAT scores from junior year in.
@coleman4 When D2 applied the only accepted day for honors was scholarship accepted day with a special honors portion (all honors students get some scholarship so they fit in this event). Sounds like the separate accepted day for honors was a one (or two) time thing. Things change every year!
Thanks everyone for great feedback - that’s reason I posted - to learn from those who have been there and done that already when it comes to USCHC. Also TY for inside scoop on campus safety. My D is considering USCHC along with potential scholarship opportunities at other applied schools. She hasn’t ruled out any of the schools she has applied and ultimately it has to be her decision alone this Spring. Just stumbled across this thread on USCHC and thought I could pick up some helpful parent information which I most certainly did! Thanks to all for your feedback.
@SECfan1234 - I always listen to @scmom12 input as she lives in the area and has 2 D’s at USC, both in the Honors College (I believe?). We’re OoS like you.
In terms of safety, all campuses have their risks. My D was also accepted to UNC-Chapel Hill and they had a series of thefts and rapes reported at the beginning of this year (we live about 20 minutes from Chapel Hill). Same with Univ. of Florida (another one of her options), whose crime rate made national news even. Ironically, if you look at the universities with the highest crime rates, they are the elite schools in the Boston area- Harvard, MIT, Cambridge. Back to USC- regarding 5-Points, I remember my S telling me of an email cautioning students to avoid 5-Points past midnight. That drive-by shooting that happened 2 years ago occurred around 2 AM. USC does a great job at providing plenty to do right on campus too. Also, the Vista is a VERY nice area, also in walking distance. Neither of my kids have said they ever feel unsafe at USC campus and both like it there.
As far as good fit or not, it really depends on your other options. If I use my D’s situation /options as an example, she was drawn to USC for the Honors College where she could get more individualized attention and more opportunities. The nice state of the art housing doesn’t hurt either! Whereas at UNC-Chapel Hill, she would’ve been a little fish in a big sea and not nearly as much attention or opportunity. You could ask any of the parents/students who chose USHC over other schools, in fact, there’s a thread on it somewhere, and probably nearly all of them were accepted at other elite schools but chose USHC for similar reasons.
I strongly feel you /your D need to visit each school she is seriously considering, while school is still in session, spend the night, eat at a local restaurant (check out the surrounding areas), etc. consider her options for each school (housing, unique programs, such as the Honors College), and layout of the campus. USC is a big school but the campus appears small and nicely laid out. It’s so easy to find everything which is another reason my D likes it. UNC-Chapel Hill (just to compare) is VERY spread out. This sounds crazy but we actually made a spreadsheet of the schools to compare and USC Honors College won out in nearly every category we were comparing, including dining options!
Actually only D2 is undergrad at USC honors. D1 was accepted but chose W&L (with a scholarship). She is finally at USC as grad student. @SEC1234 please post if you have any questions specific to major, etc. At least for my D’s majors, she had tons of upper level honors classes to choose from. I agree that personal attention is great. She is double major and has a great advisor in each area that she got to know through honors classes, one who is department chair - easy to get advice and get things done. D2 followed the money and never regretted passing on some top schools she was admitted to.