<p>Of those that have been accepted to Honors - has anyone heard anything about McNair?</p>
<p>My son got into honors and also got a you will receive a scholarship letter. In that letter it said that if you had applied for the McNair scholarship you would be notifiied of your status in January.</p>
<p>oh - thanks MichiganGeorgia - I guess I need to reread the honors letter because my dd got the same one I think. Thanks. I had just read on another thread that someone said their student had received something about a McNair reception in Chicago so I wasn’t sure if others had received anything.</p>
<p>Just to clarify - the reception in Chicago was back in October when the school was encouraging students to apply. A representative outlined the McNair process.</p>
<p>Thanks ChicagoBear - It was interesting to see who was invited to that reception locally here - my dd was not invited but she had two friends that were with lower stats. Neither one of her friends had shown any interest to USC - my dd had visited twice. I spoke to a couple people and not one person that had shown interest was invited. Not sure where they get the list of kids to invite? Had your student shown interest in the school? Oh well, hopefully now that the incredibly long application is completed - dd will get invited - we will see 
The McNair will probably make or break whether dd goes to USC or not (I am sure others are in the same boat).</p>
<p>The October dinner invites were sent out based on local PSAT scores. Shown interest in the school doesn’t have an effect on those invites. They are just to try and reel in talent and get them to apply. It doesn’t give you an advantage either for the scholarship unless you make a contact there.</p>
<p>Out of the group of McNairs in my class, there are some who were highly interested in the program and went to the dinner, there are some who found out about it through the dinner and applied, and others who were never invited to a dinner and threw in an application and were dragged down to the weekend. Don’t fret if you didn’t go to it!!</p>
<p>The notification for the scholarship will come the last weekend of January. I got my package on Friday, January 27th. Forty notifications are sent out via FedEx priority mail. You then call in and accept or deny it. They have a reserve list to fill up spots if people decline.</p>
<p>hmmmm My daughters friend was invited and his PSAT was 14 points lower than my dd’s. Oh well - like you said it really doesn’t matter but she was upset that she wasn’t invited because she was and is still very interested in USC.</p>
<p>Thanks for the timing information!</p>
<p>ahsmuoh - we did visit Columbia over spring break in March. We took the standard tour and we asked to speak with a pre-med advisor and honors college representative, which they arranged. At that time she had not provided her 33 ACT score which was forwarded in May. When the invitation arrived, I assumed they put the 33 with the spring break visit and figured we might be interested. </p>
<p>I know the ACT registration asks all kinds of questions about the size of schools and region of the country that the student is interested in. Did your D complete that information or say she was interested in a different size or location of school? This is our second child going through the process - I’ve learned that sometimes you just can’t explain how or why schools do things. Good luck!</p>
<p>I have a question about USC scholarships. I am wondering if I have figured the scholarship money accurately for OOS recipients. S has already received a scholarship letter saying he was granted instate tuition and a you will receive a scholarship letter. </p>
<p>Am I correct that even if you become a McNair Scholar an out of state student will still need to pay all of room and board?</p>
<p>It is my understanding that a McNair finalist receives 11K on top of in state tuition (which would end up being full tuition plus a little bit) and a McNair scholar receives 15K + instate - so they end up with full tuition + about 4-5K. I could be wrong but this is the way I read it.</p>
<p>Thanks ChicagoBear - I am not sure what my dd filled out on her ACT but she has always been interested in going to school at a big state school/honors in the southeast so if she did fill it out the demographics would be right We also met with honors in the summer before her senior year. Oh well - again, I really think those receptions were to drum up interest - which she already had! Goodluck to everyone’s kids.</p>
<p>vryproud and ahsmuoh…it’s hard to calculate exact money until you know if you’re being considered for McNair…then final packages come out in March. USC does a good job of stacking awards. For instance Leiber is automatic scholarship for NMF. My D2 stacked a Carolina (instate) finalist, plus Leiber plus SC lottery scholarship plus one or two small ones and overshot the max…</p>
<p>Good luck on McNair (going to dinner doesn’t really mean anything, my D didn’t go to local one). Carolina and McNair are extremely competitive. D1 invited to honors college but not scholarship and ones who did get it from her HS had lower stat/rank but I assume had something more special in EC and essays…so it’s not all about numbers.
(btw, D1 went to her first choice school , but if had gone to USC would have also been able to stack Palmetto fellows, Leiber, plus others to have a full ride even w/o carolina scholar)</p>
<p>Thanks scmom12 and ahsmuoh</p>
<p>S is also waiting to find out if he makes NMF. It seems it may be beneficial to keep USC in the running if scholarship money for OOS students can cover part of room and board. He has already received full tuition at another OOS university that he really likes everything about except for the cold climate.</p>
<p>Anyone else receive stacked scholarships that was a NMF from OOS?</p>
<p>The “scholarship letter” that keeps getting referenced is just a guarantee that you’ll get at least $2,000 (the McKissick). This means that your kid has a chance at the McKissick ($2,000), Cooper ($4,000) or McNair/Carolina ($7000-$15000). They just want you to know that you’re definitely in the running for something!</p>
<p>HOWEVER. If you receive the McNair or Carolina, you CANNOT stack a Cooper or McKissick. You physically won’t be offered one of those. Look at it as a tiered system of merit awards: Sims/Woodrow > McKissick > Cooper > McNair. Getting the McNair doesn’t automatically give you everything below it.</p>
<p>You can, however, stack with the Lieber scholarship. This is given to students who are NMFs. @vryproudmom – my suitemate who is a McNair stacked the Lieber and McNair from OOS so it is definitely doable and will most likely yield and overage check.</p>
<p>Any outside merit scholarships can be stacked as well. I stacked three outside smaller scholarships with my McNair. They were very great about it! No questions asked! So I would DEFINITELY recommend having your kid still apply for as many outside scholarships as possible to stack onto the McNair. It is not a “full-ride” scholarship. It isn’t even a “full-tuition” specific award. It drops you down to in-state then chunks off an extra $15,000 from your total sum of tuition, room & board, classes, etc. So there is definitely a little left that can be reduced from outside scholarships.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>As CockNotTrojan explained, the $4,000 Cooper scholarship is not included with the McNair Scholarship anymore. Last year was the first year the McNair Scholars/Finalists did not receive the Cooper as well. In the past, they did, but because of the economy, they decided to discontinue since the McNair Scholarships were such a large amount in comparison. USC wanted to use that extra money to award more students. During the McNair Weekend Interviews, the parents were told that the Lieber was the only additional automatic USC Scholarship stacked on to the McNair. Again, as mentioned by CockNotTrojan, you can also receive outside scholarships to stack, and don’t forget to look into Departmental Scholarships. We read about those on the CC thread last year, and probably would not have known to apply. Good Luck to everyone…it was truly an amazing experience last year, and proves to be the best decision he has every made!</p>
<p>Son stacked a McNair Finalist, Lieber and departmental scholarship during his years at USC. He was also granted another departmental which he had to turn down since it exceeded the cost of attandance, which is the max you can stack to (COA is tuition,room and board,books,etc…the figure will be somewhere in the financial aid or bursars office web site).He had everything paid for and then a check returned to him every semester.It was wonderful…and the $ went even further when he moved off campus housing costs went down and no more mandatory food plan.</p>
<p>Cathymee that is beyond wonderful…is that kind of outcome even possible now since it seems most schools have had to cut back?</p>
<p>Yep…all Ds scholarships are not at full value since stacked they exceed the limit and she just deposited a nice overage check the other day. Now it may be easier in-state with lottery scholarships.</p>
<p>lottery scholarships? </p>
<p>I never heard that term before.</p>
<p>Kind of jumped in an out of state discussion, but follow since D is honors.</p>
<p>For in-state students SC has “education” lottery (meaning proceeds of state run lottery go toward education, a large chunk to college scholarships). Highest level is palmetto fellow which is around $6700 for freshmen, rising to 7500 as sophmore (10,000 if STEM major). Base level lottery scholarship gives around $5000/yr (basically B students) which will totally fund tech school tuition or go toward 4 year college. Similar to what GA does, just not full pay.</p>
<p>Point was that it is probably easier to max out when stacking merit in-state with state lottery scholarships and Leiber at higher amount.</p>