The title says it all.
If the answer is yes, any idea how many? (I saw on the USC website that there are approx 100 for US+Intl).
Yes - “Candidates are selected by USC faculty and staff from an extremely competitive international pool.” (Source: http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/docs/uscScholarships1516.pdf )
Regarding the specific numbers - I’m not sure USC releases that type of information. I personally would assume that the majority of the interviewees for the larger scholarships are domestic applicants. (I MAY BE COMPLETELY INCORRECT - JUST A GUESS BASED ON THE PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS THAT APPLY FROM WITHIN THE US).
My logic assumes that the ratio of international to domestic applicants is similar to the ratio of international to domestic scholarship finalists.
Hope I could help!
As you are probably aware, notifications go out to finalists for these top merit awards at the end of this month, who then must attend an Explore USC session on campus in Feb for their finalist interview. Even International students must come to USC–which can be difficult–so keep that in mind, just in case.
@madbean
Are you sure about the on-campus interview?
I was really excited for my USC scholarship results, but was under the impression that the interview would be online for international students.
As a student living in the Gulf it is quite expensive as well as time consuming for me to travel to US just to do a 15-20 minutes interview. Further, I will be having my final exams next month, making it practically impossible for the travel.
On campus, special small panels are made up of professors, past merit winners, department heads, etc, for each major/School and take time to interview candidates in person during ExploreUSC (on 2nd day)
. http://dornsife.usc.edu/trustee-presidential-deans-scholarships It is very competitive to get to this finalist round, and it is expensive and time consuming for those who must travel far, although USC pays a limited amount in flight expense and provides on-campus housing overnight. In the past, there have been no exceptions made, including for illness. And, again, there is no guarantee of receiving these merit scholarships as it is a competition. In the past, all finalists who come to USC for the interview do receive merit grants, just not always the ones they interview for. A few are bumped up to higher awards, but there are also many who are offered dean’s or other awards.
Any idea how much flight expense they provide?
I know I should wait to get an offer first, but was just wondering 