<p>I am enjoying the discussion except for MeadowbrookCourt’s personal insult to BandMom123.</p>
<p>I appreciate the honesty of those who provided information about students who had decided to attend other universities, but changed their minds after interviewing for the McNair at USC. This is a strong statement about the lure of USC and the #1 ranked Honors College. However, I also agree that the comments were a bit insensitive and did not take into account the other students who were strong candidates, had their hearts set on USC, but lost out on the McNair to other students who weren’t initially planning to attend.</p>
<p>I have to agree that the statements made above by CockNotTrojan were definitely insensitive. All I can say is that it has made our decision a little bit easier. If this is the attitude of admitted students that they can hold judgement without thought of consequences is a total turn off. For everyone’s sake I hope that this is just a single episode and not the sum of the whole. Otherwise there will be alot of students turning to different programs. I hope the students who do choose to attend find a better representation of the student body.</p>
<p>CockNotTrojan - wow - I feel that you have been more than fair and generous with your information. I am one of the many parents that are disappointed that are students were not chosen but unfortunately others seem to think that it changes how great their kid is! I know my dd did everything she could do - couldn’t have better grades - etc etc etc - and for one reason or another wasn’t chosen. Life sometimes doesn’t go exactly as planned!</p>
<p>I really dont think CockNotTrojan’s comments were insensitive. Unfortunately many times the most hardworking, enthusiastic person does not get a job, a raise, make a sports team or get a scholarship. That is life. The reality is that there is a small percentage of students who are really smart and have achieved outstanding grades and test scores and have the opportunity to attend various elite universities. Some of these students were heavily recruited by the University of South Carolina and that is why the school might not have been initially on their radar. How do I know this? My brother is one of those students. He was recruited by almost every top tier school in the United States. He did not have to pay for most of his applications and he was invited to interview at many different schools for various scholarships. Even schools that he did not show much interest in called our house and sent him many emails and letters.</p>
<p>yankees - I appreciate your feedback. I am curious - what do you think set your brother apart from say the 35/36 ACT and straight A’s in all honors and AP classes student with excellent EC’s. This is a serious question.</p>
<p>Besides being extremely smart he is also extremely well rounded. He played varsity baseball in high school, was very involved in a specific charity, had part-time job in addition to great grades/test scores. He is friendly and out-going and someone you just want to be around. I know he had great letters of recommendations from his teachers/counselors. That all said he told me that when he went to certain scholarship interviews (Cola-Cola scholars and Robertson scholars) he felt over matched by other students. There are a lot of REALLY smart high school students out there.</p>
<p>See that is interesting because I would say my dd and several of her friends have the same profile and didn’t seem to get the response that your brother did - I am not envious just curious. My dd is state and national level athlete, 5 year commitment to a charity, tutor in several subjects, other miscellaneous ec’s, part time job, etc. with great grades/test scores. I know there are lots of talented, smart kids like her - just trying to figure out what sets some apart! I will say that I thought her recommendation letters were very impressive(but I have no comparison).</p>
<p>I think part of it is connections and the other part is luck. I also think that some schools try to recruit out of state students to help with diversity. I think in the case of USC having so much national attention drawn to the honors program increased the number and caliber of applicants.</p>
<p>I think at this level, and I do compare the competition for McNair/Carolina to be on par criteria-wise with other top scholarships, what separates students is often subjective. Older D was invited to very prestigious, small LAC competition but not to Carolina scholars. The LAC admissions office there wrote a very nice blog about how when it comes down to it, they don’t just look at stats - some valedictorians, perfect scorers, etc didn’t make the cut. I think that’s probably the way it is here (and at many schools). What makes a student stand out is so hard to define and makes it is frustrating when kids see friends with “lower” stats get “better” offers. I guess something in essays just clicks for some students. And of course they don’t publish averages for class until after they get here. I promise it works this way at many schools, saw it with both my girls and their friends.</p>
<p>I will say that increasing numbers of highly qualified students have made the process more difficult. Last year some kids with really good stats didn’t even get honors invites. Believe me, you will drive yourself crazy if you focus too much on figuring out what colleges want!</p>
<p>@busymom159: “All I can say is that it has made our decision a little bit easier. If this is the attitude of admitted students that they can hold judgement without thought of consequences is a total turn off.”
When did CockNotTrojan ever hold judgement? It seems as if YOU are holding judgement of someone who has been nothing but honest on their posts. It is sometimes hard to hear the truth, but in no way did this student ever come off as judging anyone. They have seemed to put in a lot of time to try and inform, share their experience, and show their excitement of the school. I see a few of the same students doing that on the USC forum, but it is only a few. Sadly, this may be why…an adult/parent attacking a student who is going out of their way to help prospective students and parents!!</p>
<p>Collinfactor and Busymom159:Thank you for your comments. I realize now that CockNTrojan probably had good intentions and just used poor choice of words. He did explain his comments and apologized so now I feel that this is over and would like to move on. No hard feelings. (It was actually the comments from others that were worse and kept it going). To Yankees, Ahsmuch, and Midwest, again, we addressed this the air was cleared and I was hoping we moved on from this. I was also hoping to check in on this thread and hear GOOD news about new McNairs Scholars. I think this talk has overshadowed the fact that students looking to this website about McNairs acceptance most likely have been accepted to the Honors College and deserve CONGRATULATIONS!!! They ALL are winners! I am just glad I didn’t have to select the 40 students from the bunch! :)</p>
<p>Has anyone else heard? Would love to hear about it!</p>
<p>Bandmom123: yes, it looks as if it was addressed, things had been cleared up, and Yankees & Ahsmuch were only responding to the harsh and negative comments that Busymom159 made. That is where things continued, as that post went back to completely negative comments again AFTER you and CockNotTrojan cleared the air. I am not really surprised that more students have chosen not to post that they have gotten the McNair invite…it is a little intimidating on this thread by a few parents! Congrats to those who were invited, as well as all invited to the Honors College!</p>
<p>My son was the “Lucky” referred to in the McNair interview process.In his year,the invites went to 40 not 41.When someone declined, he was called by phone( and told he was “next on the list” and then the package was sent out. It was late in the stage but not quite last minute.USC made all our arrangements. What the interview committee was most interested in about S’s background was how he managed his time holding down a p/t job that was directly associated with his intended major and hislong term commitment to a volunteer organization where he had worked his way up to state level leadership.
Remember that the application everyone works so hard on is for the Honors College…not specifically for the McNair. S said definitely he met people in Honors who were as smart or smarter than the McNairs.The philosophy behind the McNair is lookinng for a particular type…not just the best stats ( although those are pretty impressive as well).
Son was one of those who was won over by the weekend.He loved the idea of USC and an Honors College but by the end of the weekend knew he would attend there and left all other choices behind, including cancelling another scholarship weekend where the recuiter called back numerous times and said in effect…are you really cancelling on us to accept USC…
Advice I’ve given before for weekend attendees…remember you are on display for the ENTIRE time period, not just the morning of the interview,You will have dinner seated with faculty,committee members, current McNair students.Dress and act appropriately.There will be many faculty members present at various times, chat them up.It made us feel good knowing the breadth of the faculty’s geographic backgrounds…both nationally and internationally.For parents, take a seat outside the Russell House at some point…lunch time is a good idea, and just watch the cross section of the campus population come and go.This made us much more comfortable with the idea of USC.We did this on every campus we visited. Take advantage of being on campus and ask for access time to the dept you are interested in.S went for what was supposed to be a half hour talk with his dept head and stayed so long we almost missed the shuttle back to the airport!</p>
<p>Since so many on this thread seem interested in the current state of the McNair process… Today my DD received a call to confirm her interest in USC and attending the McNair weekend. The admissions rep apologized for the lateness and, after DD said she was definitely honored and interested, said the complete packet would be sent FedEx. I don’t know if she was the lucky #1 on the wait list or if other candidates are just now being notified.</p>
<p>Her academics solidly fit the McNair profile. 35ACT (one sitting), 11APs (including senior schedule) + College Calc III, top 1% of 620 students. Substantial involvement in orchestra + marching band. Ordinary volunteer work. Played a sport at JV level for two years. Academic team participation 2 years. Lived with a host family three weeks in Germany on a GAPP student exchange. The admission rep told her that the selection committee heavily weighs essays and rec letters to chose finalists from the pool of academically qualified candidates. We are thrilled that this set of judges liked her essays!</p>