<p>Alright so long story short I'd very much like to get an estimate on how much merit based aid I could get from USC. They say on their website it's based on academics, athletics, and leadership and the average award is $15k... so let me know what you think I could possibly get, if anything.</p>
<p>Here are a few of my achievements.. or the most important ones anyway.</p>
<p>32 ACT, might get that to a 33 when the next scores come out
Weighted GPA: 4.86
Took 7 AP classes already, passed all tests, got 5's in 4 of them
Taking 4 AP classes this year
Editor in Chief of the school paper
President of the Debate team, and national qualifier in debate
Captain of Mock Trial
Captain of Tennis Team
National Hispanic Scholar
AP Scholar with Distinction</p>
<p>Any shot at getting merit based aid?</p>
<p>Are you are junior and thinking about applying to SC next year? Are you a senior and have already applied to USC before the merit scholarship deadline of Dec. 1, 2010?</p>
<p>Qualifications for scholarships are many. From other publications SC considers: unweighted GPA, test scores, rigor of course schedule, academic reputation of high school/prep school, class rank, special talents, unique experiences, physical or economic challenges, EC achievements, essay, counselor recommendations and desire to attend USC. </p>
<p>If a student is applying to one of SC’s premier art schools an audition or portfolio is also considered.</p>
<p>There are so many scholarships I was unaware there is an “average” amount. </p>
<p>The above is my own personal opinion. </p>
<hr>
<p>Nope I’m a senior who made the Dec. 1 deadline.</p>
<p>And yeah… I know that they consider all these things, I’m just curious as to how much $ my achievements can potentially get me. Just a ballpark figure.</p>
<p>And on their website it’s the average amount of merit-based scholarship aid they give.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input</p>
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<p>Can you please link us to the USC webpage that gives that statistic? I am unable to find it - thanks.</p>
<p>The thing about averages is that they give no information about how much an individual might receive. For example, USC has the Trustee scholarship of $40,000 per year and the University scholarship of $2,500 per year. If you take an average of those, you get $21,250 per year, which is not an accurate reflection of either student’s award.</p>
<p>Approximately 24% of freshmen enter with merit scholarships, which means approximately 76% do not. So the only ballpark figure we can give you is something between $0 and $40,000.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Alright fair enough… no more exacting number though?</p>
<p>And I got the figure from college board, but I understand about what your saying with respect to it being tough to determine average merit aid.</p>
<p>[College</a> Search - University of Southern California - USC - Cost & Financial Aid](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>under “cost and financial aid”</p>
<p>Here is USC’s scholarship brochure <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/private/docs/1112/uscScholarships1112v3.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/private/docs/1112/uscScholarships1112v3.pdf</a> with information about the various scholarships available.</p>
<p>Please understand that the averages published by CollegeBoard (NOT an official USC source, btw) are based on an average *among those receiving merit aid *- not an average of all entering freshmen. So again, I want to stress that 76% of entering freshmen will not be awarded merit scholarships - please do not think everyone gets a $15,000 scholarship (if you look at the brochure, you will see that there are no $15,000 scholarships offered…)</p>