<p>For a acceptance rate from 18-20 percent, I doubt that USC is a safety for anyone. Match yes, but safety I would have to disagree. USC is just way above that standard and it shows it by the amount of donations, their athletics program, and the climbing academic status. </p>
<p>It is no IVY, but it is the best in the West.</p>
<p>I’m a huge USC fan. My oldest will be graduating from Viterbi this year and we love the school. Our younger son would have considered attending but Yale with 46k in support vs. no merit but about 20k expected in need based aid from USC definitely swings his choice to Yale.</p>
<p>I agree that USC is not a “safety” for anyone but it is a “low safety” for some. This is similar to the position certain other schools find themselves in. Amongst this group are UW St. Louis, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern and a few others. It is the reason why, I think, there are surpising anomalies in who receives USC scholarships and who doesn’t. UW St. Louis has similar unexpected admission surprises from my recent observations.</p>
<p>I disagree that USC is the “best in the west”. I think Stanford and Berkeley rank higher in most peoples minds.</p>
<p>Just spoke to Norman topping, and they say that the scholarship interviews are done after the acceptance into USC.</p>
<p>This is a “just my opinion” response meant to help those who apply to USC in the future - and “just my opinion” with a possible explantion as to why some were admitted early vs. later with better stats. etc. My D received an early acceptance packet without any mention of a scholarship, which means that more likely she will not be able to attend (we’re higher middle income, won’t qualify for much FA, she has already been offered significant scholarships to less prestigious colleges and we’re still waiting to see what other acceptances/scholarship offers come in). But, this is why I think she got the acceptance packet early - again, remember that this is just my opinion! </p>
<p>She applied very early - everything was in to USC about 10/10, she had set a goal for herself to be completely finished with all of her 15 applications before 10/15 and met that goal with a few last minute things completed a week later. Perhaps early bird gets the worm? The USC admissions counselor for our area came to her high school (huge public high school in Texas) in September and only two students attended the information session (it was during the day and they had to miss class, perhaps one of the reasons for the low attendance). My D wore her USC shirt, told the admissions counselor that USC was her top choice, told her that her application was almost complete and that she would submit it by mid October,asked tons of questions - i.e. showed alot of interest. About a month later there was a USC reception at a hotel in Dallas, my D attended, made a point to talk to the admissions counselor again and reiterated her interest in USC. My D signed up for an admissions interview as soon as it became available (it was at the same hotel in Dallas) - this was in November. She saw her admissions counselor, although her interview was with another admissions person, who greeted her by name (good sign!). After the interview my D sent the interviewer a thank you note again reiterating her interest in USC. </p>
<p>So, my D was given the opportunity to have face-to-face interaction with her adm. counselor three times during the fall - something most students don’t have. She went to every available function in our area for USC. She did everything within reason to get her name in front of the admissions counselor and demonstrate her interst in USC. Maybe that’s why they went ahead and admitted her - but then again, maybe she was just lucky 
Even though she knows she will most likely not attend, she was very happy with the early admittance and is not bitter about not getting the opportunity for a big scholarship. The college that she does end up attending is just going to be a very fortunate school is more of how I have chosen to look at this process.</p>
<p>texaspg, yes he is and very happy to be there!</p>
<p>I thought if we applied before december 1, we would be finding out about our admission by the end of January? I got denied a scholarship, but is that all they meant when they said “All first-year applicants who applied by Dec 1 will be notified of their admission status by late January.” on their Twitter account?</p>
<p>^^^Ya, you and a zillion others misunderstood and some hurried to get in their apps thinking they were applying to an early action and early scholarship situation. That kind of twitter and other similar messages certainly added to the confusion. The admission status they were referring to was waiting 2 more months to know your admission status. Good luck though!</p>
<p>Ah, I do remember this being confusing last year. Please hang in there, everyone. Being passed over for the early invites/top scholarships does <em>not</em> mean that you won’t be accepted, subsequently. </p>
<p>I will share our “it all worked out fine” story. DS was not offered scholarships in the early round, but was admitted to SCA, to his delight. We are a middle-to-upper class family, extremely debt-averse, and, well…sensible. Without significant scholarships, our EFC was just insanely high. It wasn’t easy (for me, LOL!), but DS turned down USC last year and this fall went to the less prestigious school that he also loved–an up and coming program at a private that offered very generous merit and, therefore, ultimately cost considerably less than our public UCs. </p>
<p>It was tough to come to the conclusion that USC just cost too much and we were definitely disappointed that scholarships weren’t offered. The early round business at USC was the only truly confusing process we encountered last year. Several people on this forum helped clarify the process and for that I remain grateful! We will always love USC, but life goes on–even for those who don’t get the big awards. For DS, it’s all worked out for the best. </p>
<p>The competition is very stiff for those scholarships! Not receiving one does not mean you are unworthy, or that you won’t be accepted at USC or at other schools to which you’ve applied. Hang on, everybody, and best of luck.</p>
<p>Question:
Is it possible that the school I applied to had a significant impact on my chances of getting a scholarship interview offer? I applied to Annenberg and although my academics are top notch, my essays went through many edits, and my extracurriculars are competitive enough, I’ve done much less journalism than the Annenberg kids I read about on the accepted thread. Was it maybe a mistake to apply as a journalism major? I know there’s nothing I can do about it now, but I’m looking for something concrete to blame my rejection on so I don’t spend the next two months wondering whether a fatal flaw in my common app has doomed all my college prospects.</p>
<p>Regarding my previous post that I can’t edit anymore:
Ok, never mind actually, I just reread my statement of intent and it’s definitely mediocre! Ha, thank god, I’m now convinced that I screwed up my USC app and not all my other ones! To all the other applicants out there who love USC: you can take comfort in the fact that one of your competitors totally messed up. :)</p>
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<p>That 3 percent rate is not bogus at all. It actually was stated on a letter given by USC to all those not being considered for scholarships.</p>
<p>They got over 28,000 early applicants, they only accepted 1000…so you can pretty much do the math.<<<<</p>
<p>No need to do the math!</p>
<p>The rate might not be bogus, but it shines by its complete lack of relevance. It is not an early admission rate as USC does not have an early admission process. Comparing the result of a scholarship program to an early admission process IS bogus. </p>
<p>Call it whatever you want but early admission it is NOT in the context of what is usually discussed on CC. Just as we do not look at the Early Read or LI.</p>
<p>That figure also only includes the people invited to interview, and not people like me with the mysterious no scholarship mentioned (but probably Dean’s scholarship later) letter.</p>
<p>@ gladiatorbird thanks for your post. I think a lot face a similar situation, no $ from here but great merit from other privates that aren’t as prestigious but certainly enticing. Nice to hear it worked out well going that direction.</p>
<p>Xiggi, </p>
<p>I do not think anyone has treated this as an “early admissions” process because it definitely is not.
I did not think I was going to get a scholarship because mainly I’m not a stand out stud like others. I have done some interesting things in my life, but not as much as other people have.</p>
<p>Anyway, in my opinion, the 3 percent has a lot of merit because it says that the scholarships are competitive. I mean I have researched this from a long time, and they usually admit/interview only 3-5 percent every year(Daily Trojan). </p>
<p>But really I have no idea what you are hostile about. Do you not like USC or that way the process is?</p>
<p>xiggi may not have taken into consideration the title of this thread and the context for this percentage. USC is not posting this figure publicly or extending it to mean anything other than it is–a way to represent how difficult it is to be selected for the next level of top scholarship consideration. For those who are excellent students and were not invited to the next round, this percentage show how comparatively small the selection pool was from those that applied in time to be considered. Nothing more.</p>
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<p>I thought I had correctly quoted the source that triggered my question about the numbers. For clarity, this is what I replied to.</p>
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<p>No real debate possible about that poster confusing a scholarship program and an early admission process! </p>
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<p>Rest assured that I could not be more neutral when it comes to USC. Well, with the notable and permanent exception of a football program that adulates stalwarts such as Cheatin’ Pete and that Bush kid. Fwiw, I am happy to know plenty of Trojans who have now graduated. </p>
<p>On the other hand, two of my pet peeves are reporting false or misleading numbers and excessive cheerleading and pompon waving. And especially when done in a repetitive manner – hence my reference to the academies.</p>
<p>In this case, I had to look to verify if USC had started a bona fide early admission program, and the answer was … nope. Nothing hostile about that part!</p>
<p>USC merit scholarship seems to be quite random. I knew two classmates who have been accepted by MIT, UChicago, CalTech but have not received any admission letter. Both of them withdrew from USC so others can get in.</p>
<p>I didn’t get a scholarship. I was really hoping for the Presidential National Merit one, which I thought all NMSFs (or at least NMFs) got. :/</p>
<p>emberjed - if you are admitted, you automatically get the Presidential. It is a process where you do need to make NMF and have to nominate USC in order to get that. </p>
<p>So they will not give it you right now until all those steps are fulfilled.</p>
<p>This is based on last year. I assume those rules have not changed.</p>
<p>All National Merit Finalists receive a Presidential scholarship, but since they have not been announced yet, USC will not mention it if you get a letter.</p>