Mork Scholarships for 2011?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>Does anyone think there's a possibility of awarding the Mork Scholarships for this year's incoming freshmen? It just seems interesting the timing of the announcement at the end of April while many students are still deciding where to go. If USC wasn't planning to lure top students away from the ivies now, then why not announce later for the next round of high school seniors. Also, the fiasco of the Admissions Office notifying recipents of a Latino Alumni Scholarship, and then rescinding it shows people are scrambling and doing careless things in the front office. </p>

<p>Well USC, you still have 5 days to make your impact!</p>

2

<p>My guess is that the scholarships will begin with the 2012 entering class.</p>

<p>I noted an error in the USC News article [Mork</a> Family Gives Historic Gift of $110 Million to Undergraduate Scholarships - USC News](<a href=“http://uscnews.usc.edu/university/mork_family_gives_historic_gift_of_110_million_to_undergraduate_scholarships_1.html]Mork”>http://uscnews.usc.edu/university/mork_family_gives_historic_gift_of_110_million_to_undergraduate_scholarships_1.html) It states:

My daughter’s Presidential Scholarship (2008) letter specified a 3.0 GPA requirement, and that is the GPA figure I always quote to new awardees. Can a current Trustee and/or Presidential awardee let me know what their award letter says? At a rigorous school like USC to be frank, a requirement of a 3.5 to keep a scholarship is an unreasonable level IMHO, and I would advise future Mork awardees to consider carefully if they will be able to maintain that GPA. Hopefully it is just a typo and the requirement remains a 3.0.</p>

<p>The brochure for 2011-2012 states only that students must remain “academically eligible” <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/arp//Documents/2011_2012_ScholarshipPolicy.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/arp//Documents/2011_2012_ScholarshipPolicy.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The renewal policy lists a 2.0 <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/arp//renewal.htm[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/arp//renewal.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And the FAQ lists a 3.0 requirement [USC</a> Trustee & Presidential Scholars](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/arp//faqscholars.htm#pass]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/arp//faqscholars.htm#pass)</p>

<p>Can a 2011 awardee let me know what their letter says? THANKS!</p>

3

<p>I attended the announcement ceremony yesterday, and, as alamemom suggests, it sounds like they will start distributing these scholarships for the 2012 entering class. </p>

<p>Also, before everyone gets too excited, I think people should be aware that the announcement made some very specific comments as to the demographic these scholarships will be aimed towards. During the speeches, both Mr. Mork and President Nikias emphasized that a significant portion of these scholarships will be reserved for students in and around USC’s neighborhoods. In addition, both speakers kept emphasizing international students during their speeches. In general, the theme of the presentation was that these scholarships will help “change people’s lives,” a type of language that’s not really used for the Trustee / Presidential Scholarships. I’d argue that these scholarships will mainly target underprivileged students, who, without a scholarship, might not have the chance to attend college at all.</p>

<p>This is a wonderful gift to the USC community, and it will help a good number of potential applicants; but I want to caution everyone that, based on the theme of the announcement ceremony yesterday, I don’t think these scholarships will necessarily work like the Trustee / Presidential Scholarships. We’ll just have to wait and see!</p>

4

<p>So glad you asked, alamemom, becasue I dig the letter out and realized we didn’t send in the Scholarhsip Acceptance form that is due on Monday! Yikes! I guess we had better get on that!</p>

<p>The letter gives no required GPA. It refers us to the Scholarship Guide brochure, which also does not mention a GPA. It sinmply says “You must maintain your USC Academic Standing” which it defines as a high level of academic success. It says if you are academically disqualified you will automatically lose your scholarship.</p>

<p>It also says you must “make normal academic progress towards your undergraduate degree during the academic year” meaning atleast 32 credits a year, but even then, it says your record will be reviewed and you could be put on scholarship probation for a max of two semester.</p>

5

<p>Yikes! Get that IN!!!</p>

<p>Interesting that no GPA figure is mentioned. I would hold onto that scholarship brochure for future reference if any issues arise. I don’t think they will, but better safe than sorry, and that brochure says that a 2.0 keeps the scholarship.</p>

<p>Students who have not yet started at USC might not be aware that they use a grading sytem that includes pluses and minuses (many schools do, but not all students are familiar with the system). For GPA calculation purposes, the following points are given for the following grades:
A = 4.0
A- = 3.7
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.7
C+ = 2.3
C= 2.0
C- = 1.7</p>

<p>It is a bit more challenging to maintain a GPA of 3.5+ with this system. Often an “A” is a 94% or above and a 90% to 93% is an A-.</p>

6

<p>This page says 3.0: [USC</a> Trustee & Presidential Scholars](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/arp//faqscholars.htm]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/arp//faqscholars.htm)</p>

7

<p>Yes, I linked that in post #2 :)</p>

<p>Hopefully the articles saying the Mork and Trustee and Presidential GPA requirement *will be *3.5 are typos.</p>

8

<p>3.5 is moderately difficult to keep. 3.75 (like that academic achievement scholarship to let you take 20 credits) is hard. I’m running a 3.70 or so right now, and that’s considered quite good.</p>

<p>Of course, this only applies to us people who have real majors ;)</p>