<p>I received my invitation on a Saturday last year. Others had received them Friday - do not lose hope if you don’t receive it today! I am from the mid-Atlantic.</p>
<p>atlkaw6- Thanks for the information and congrats to your son!</p>
<p>baronguy6 - comes fedex, not US mail.</p>
<p>cathymee - I’ve never heard of picking interviews dates either, but we were in-state and were told for Carolina that we had to be there for carolina scholar weekend to be considered. There is a McNair weekend scheduled but maybe with out of state travel issues they’re more lenient if you can’t attend.</p>
<p>Well I am in GA too, so I guess I can give up hope now…:-(</p>
<p>I’ve seen about 3 people on the accepted students page/twitter that have received it so far all in the Georgia/Texas area.</p>
<p>catdaddy - Thanks, but do not give up hope. Candidates have until the 8th to accept or decline their invitations to the McNair Scholars weekend which is March 2-4. Additional candidates will be notified if candidates decline to attend the weekend.</p>
<p>Good luck to all of you. I hope you receive a package today or in the near future. I know how much effort you all put into your applications.</p>
<p>atlkaw6 thanks for the encouraging words and the information on the acceptance deadline. Still anxiously awaiting news in Michigan!</p>
<p>Nothing yet in NJ…Not necessarily expecting notification but S did make it to finalist at 1 university where he will be interviewed in Feb and still pending at another.</p>
<p>Good Luck to all! Please keep posting what state you are in if you receive an invite.</p>
<p>Nothing in Ohio either. Not sure if she will qualify or not…has average stats of last years recepients (actually a bit above) but obviously more competitve this year. We want to schedule another trip to USC and we would really like to know if she will be invited one way or the other so we can make plans!</p>
<p>Should just post it online and say package is coming…would decrease a lot of stress and waiting</p>
<p>We emailed yesterday to try to find out if all of the letters had been mailed. They said it could take until the end of February but everyone will get a letter stating if they had been chosen for McNair or not.</p>
<p>I thought choice of interview dates seemed odd. But the part about possiblity of candidates being notified over time appears to be correct. We also would like to schedule another visit to USC so it would be fabulous to know one way or another.</p>
<p>I think the confusion is stemming from the inconsistent information given from the admissions office. The McNair selection process is a very intense one and is kept relatively secret. A handful of people in admissions actually know all of the steps and the timeline. Students work in the office too, so when calls are made and information is relayed to the parents and eventually here to CC, it isn’t always accurate. Not that this is a bad thing – the students are doing their best to answer questions that they don’t know all the information about.</p>
<p>1) I can assure you that there is no option to pick dates for the weekend. McNair weekend is March 2nd-4th this year and is not going to fluctuate. The other weekend is for in-state Carolina Scholars.</p>
<p>2) McNair invites will not be released in waves til the end of February. Sounds like the letters that come at the end of February inform the recipient that they did not get selected. They give adequate time to plan for the weekend - I wouldn’t expect them to be sending out letters inviting you a week prior to when they want you down here.</p>
<p>3) We had a period of time to accept/reject the offer. We had to call in and tell them if we were coming, what our potential major was, etc. If a few people call in and decline, they will THEN send out invites to the ‘wait-listed’ finalists. This would only be to a select few, though. It isn’t like 20 more invites are being sent out next week.</p>
<p>Just wanted to clear the air! I don’t mean to be harsh about it - I just know it was a very stressful/confusing process for me and my mother at the time. Once again I agree not to give up hope if you didn’t receive the package today or yesterday. However, the selection process is most likely over at this point. All Honors College students ultimately receive in-state tuition and some form of scholarship. I highly recommend that y’all continue to stay excited about the University even if the McNair wasn’t offered to your child.</p>
<p>@CockNotTrojan : I have searched twitter for “McNair Finalist” “USC McNair” “McNair Scholar” and only 2 people have posted about receiving packages, and they were from the southeast/midwest. Also, the people who posted here and on the accepted students app on facebook were also from the same region. That equals 4 people out of 40. Is it possible that it is delayed because it takes longer to get to New York?</p>
<p>Another girl from VA said she received notification. I’m giving it til Tuesday</p>
<p>^^Not everyone involved will post on website or here. Agree with Cocknottrojan that honors college and scholarships/OOS tuition waivers can still make USC a great deal. If you are lucky enough to add Leiber for NMF then you can have a great education for a great price. The honors college offers a lot of great opportunities.</p>
<p>Here is how it has worked in the past:</p>
<p>USC has a quota of 40 candidates to compete for the McNair. However, 41 invitations are sent out –- at the same time, by FedEx –- in case one candidate declines the invitation. If more than one declines, then USC starts contacting the alternate list until it reaches the quota of 40. Few if any candidates decline because an $11,000 a year McNair Finalist Scholarship is offered to all attendees who are not awarded a McNair Scholarship. However, it does happen, as it did at the last minute to Cathy Mee’s son. He scrambled to get down to USC for McNair Weekend, and was thereupon nicknamed “Lucky” (if I remember correctly from a Cathy Mee post that I read a couple of years ago).</p>
<p>Two years ago, the invitations were sent using FedEx’s Priority Overnight service. This guarantees next business morning delivery – barring, of course, unforeseen events such as weather – unless Saturday delivery is specified. I would imagine that this practice has remained unchanged. Also, the “No Signature Required” box was checked, so there was some small possibility that the notification could have been delivered to a candidate’s doorstep, but that the candidate might not have actually received it. </p>
<p>Typically, declines occur because of conflicts with the merit scholarship weekends of other universities. For example, two years ago our son had to choose between two of the following: USC (McNair weekend), Clemson (National Scholars Program), and Oxford/Emory (I do not recall the name of that scholarship). It was physically impossible to attend all three. Please note that:</p>
<p>USC and Clemson often overlap a bit, and usually share several candidates. For example, two years ago, participating in Clemson’s Friday/Saturday event made it impossible to make the Saturday evening activities for McNair weekend. However, USC was fine with missing Saturday evening as long as it was notified ahead of time about the Clemson conflict. P.S.:</p>
<p>Through last year, all out-of-state Honors students have received a minimum Cooper Scholarship, which conveys in-state tuition plus $4,000 a year. Hopefully, that practice will continue.</p>
<p>Hoping I can be lucky as well haha. A girl from the accepted students page emailed on Saturday and was told that everyone(whether accepted or denied into program) would hear back very soon.</p>
<p>I know this thread is about the McNair for oos students, but does anyone know if the timeline is the same for the in-state Carolina Scholars program? Haven’t seen anything posted anywhere. Thanks!</p>
<p>^^I’m a little suprised no one has posted on CC about Carolina scholars. I would think the timeline as far as sending out invitations is the same, except that the weekend is before Mcnair - weekend of Feb. 23. This year there will be 5 additional Carolina scholars. These top students will also receive $8000 for use in summer programs, travel, and undergrad research. I don’t think that will make for more invitations but don’t know for sure. They are also giving a “scholar” name to all who participate instead of “finalists” (which doesn’t really give the idea that you also got a large, prestigious scholarship), but the names have not been finalized. Not sure if this starts with next class or not.</p>