<p>i received something in the mail that named me a research scholar and offering me $3K a year to do research for 8-10 hrs a week; this is only for the school of engineering i believe; my question was that in the brochure, students who get this awards receive up to $2.5k biweekly!!! that is a lot of money; so i was wondering if anyone else who got that know how to get more money out of this grant because that is very appealing to research for that much money;</p>
<p>It says you could receive up to $2.5k biweekly, and you want to know how to get more? Does that not sound greedy?</p>
<p>in the letter they state 3 k a year, but in the unoffical document they said students CAN receive 2k bi weekly....how do i get that 2 k biweekly instead of just the 3k a year; thats what i meant by more</p>
<p>This is a 1-year old thread that I'm recovering because they'll probably start sending letters to this year's students about this and, as the details of the program may be of interest to me in choosing whether to go to USC or not, I thought I'd bring it up. I've been accepted as a freshman for BME and can get the Presidential through National Merit. Could anyone answer the last question posed before my post, and/or give as much information about the Merit Research Program as possible? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>And FWIW, Viterbi's link, <a href="http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/research%5B/url%5D">http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/research</a>, gives little information about the financial specifics.</p>
<p>I'm a current Merit Research Scholar... basically, the program allows students to work in labs with a salary (freshman start off with $10/hr)... I have no idea where the $2.5k bi-weekly came from - Freshman are limited to 10 hrs/wk... </p>
<p>This program is a major reason why I choose USC...</p>
<p>Oh wow... this is the thing that I <em>really</em> wanted. I mean... getting presidential scholar too would be nice, but this looks totally awesome. </p>
<p>-Oren</p>
<p>Yeah... This is my job - which is awesome. I get to work in a real lab, work within my major (Helps for resume, grad school, etc), and get paid... If anyone wants to know anything more specifically just let me know...</p>
<p>How are the awards determined? That is, are they related to financial need of the applicants, or are they offered based on whether the university thinks you might be interested in research? If the latter, how do they know?</p>
<p>It is a Merit award only. They invite the top candidates, who then have the option to accept or reject the program.</p>
<p>I would die for this, it sounds like something that would sway even my parents to let me go to USC. I really hope I emphasized research enough on my app. Could this be awarded to any of us who got the scholarship rejection mail?</p>
<p>Um... I dont think that a non-scholarship applicant has a shot at this program. On the invitation to the program it mentions that "this award is granted to students in the top 1% of our entering freshman class"... meaning not even all of the scholarship students... As for emphasizing research, I certainly had a HUGE emphasis on the desire to do research in my app - so it might help. </p>
<p>Also, just to clarify, I BELIEVE that this award is only for Viterbi students - I dont think that this was previously mentioned in the thread.</p>
<p>One more thing, as I am now looking at the award letter, there is NOTHING about $2.5 biweekly - I dont know what that is about. The award says "up to $3000" per year - but as I said, it is an hourly wage-based job ($10/hr for freshman)...</p>
<p>What's your job / which lab do you work in? What's your major?</p>
<p>When I was interviewing with the engineering dept for the Presidential Scholarship, they said that, though the interviews were mainly for the Pres. Scholasrship, they were also scanning for the Research Scholars at that time. They said that, if they found you "displayed a desire for research" and "would benefit" from such a program, then they would give it to you.</p>
<p>I'm really hopeful on this - paid research=the best!</p>
<p>Actually, during my Presidential Interview, I talked a lot about wanting to do research - and I got invited to the program... So who knows, it may have helped!</p>