<p>My daughter has been accepted to USC and received a Presidential Scholarship (Great!). If she lists USC as her first choice with National Merit Scholarship Corporate will there be any extra money coming to her either from USC or NMSC?</p>
<p>Yes, an extra $1k per year NMS (renewable) from USC. Some students (not all!) also find that if they wait to accept admission until close to May 1, that they are further offered a University scholarship ($1K-$3k) to get them to deposit.</p>
<p>Thanks. She has a tough choice to make and every $$ will help.</p>
<p>Please consider next year applying for local scholarships. As a National Merit Scholar and with good ECs and fine grades she might have an excellent chance of receiving one of those scholarships.</p>
<p>Check out the thread about Continuing Student Scholarships at SC.</p>
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<p>Someone on this board (a Mork scholar) said they’ve already gotten a University scholarship though, so it can’t be just limited to people who wait to deposit. I am also a Mork scholar (just deposited last week), but didn’t get one, so it seems kind of random to me.</p>
<p>These university scholarships are usually given by an individual school. Some schools have more funds donated for scholarships than others. Keep in mind scholarships at SC are not given by the government. Alumni, friends and SC support groups donate these in order that students may have the opportunity to study at the university. Some are given as memorials to faculty or students. Others are given by alumni who donate smaller amounts by the month. </p>
<p>After years on this board I have not found students who wait to the last minute are given more scholarships. Only a small percentage of SC students post here, so I have no real statistics on scholarships until the freshmen profile is released in late September.</p>
<p>DS also got one of these University Scholarships two years ago and had already deposited. I think GG is right in that some schools have the money to give, others don’t. DS was a NMF but also invited to interview for the Presidential Scholarship. Perhaps the University Scholarship was given in recognition of this.</p>
<p>I have a student at SC but I did not know how to answer this question a friend asked. Her D accepted, 4.5+/4.0, 2300 SAT, went to good high school, 8 AP classes with 5s on 4 of the tests she has taken so far, National Merit Commended, good ECs. Did not get any aid or scholarship. I told her about CC awhile back and what she said she learned here is that so many people do get aid, either merit or financial and wonders if going in with nothing means you are at the bottom of the food chain and at a disadvantage. So she is questioning value of spending 60K when she has honor offers at other great schools and some scholarship $. Money isn’t the issue with them ($ not a problem), but feeling like her D isn’t thought of as special given her credentials feels like a slam to them with so many others getting something. Was I wrong in telling her about CC? Is it misleading with all the “I got this” talk? Will she be at disadvantage? (My student there has perks, so I don’t know the difference of not having them).</p>
<p>My D1 is in the same boat. Got into USC Marshall GLP, but zero merit aid. I frankly cannot justify the 60k+ price tag for USC. HYP, & Stanford, yes - USC, no. Yes we can “afford” it, but … No.</p>
<p>She will likely go to UT Austin with a combination of Plan II Honors and McCombs School Business Honors. That is an outstanding value, especially since we’re in-state in Texas.</p>
<p>It is difficult for some to understand the applicant pool for USC is now filled with students as described above. Do remember around 28,000 seniors applied for the limited top scholarships. These students were among the fortunate to be admitted. Last year, as I recall, there was a list of NMScholars who were not admitted.</p>
<p>As an alumna I wish all students who are extremely qualified could receive merit funds. Unless it is donated merit money is not unlimited. Alumni, foundations and friends of the university do give gifts, but these in nearly all cases are for specific purposes. Funds are given for buildings, laboratories, endowed chairs, research projects, performance halls and even to found new schools at SC. I wish John Mork’s vision could be shared by many more individual donors. </p>
<p>Those of us on the board have discovered in the past many students who received merit scholarships may not have included all their personal information on this public board. Seniors have overcome health or other compelling challenges which are known to the admissions committee, but not posted here. </p>
<p>Financial aid and merit scholarships are two different subjects. Have these families applied for financial aid, filled out all forms needed by the deadlines? Was any aid offered or has the financial aid packet not been received at all? Alamemom is the volunteer expert here on financial aid, in my opinion. Read her suggestions and do call the financial aid office for more detailed information.</p>
<p>We are volunteers and do try to help. We do not know each family’s individual financial situation.</p>
<p>Just my opinion…people should use extreme caution regarding how much personal information they post online even if it is an anonymous board.
Also, I find several of the posts above quite insensitive. The parents are complaining because their special snowflake doesn’t feel appreciated by USC because they were ONLY admitted and are not getting a world class education for free. Stop and consider that over 80% of those that applied were denied.</p>
<p>If this is insensitive then so is posting you get money over those that don’t. Isn’t that the same? Neither are insensitive. The question was if you are not one of many many students that get merit of some kind - are you at the bottom of the barrel and put at a disadvantage over those that get scholarships of some kind. I and others have seen posts about more benefits than the $ - like registration, catching the professor and staff eye for internships, housing, grad school recs etc. So I think the question of whether it is better to go to a good school with honors or scholarship is way more advantageous than being “a commoner” at USC is a legit question that is not searching for sympathy, but an answer. Austinpop said for them, the honors status somewhere else is worth it, and bringing top stats to USC for 62K a year isn’t. And others that have kids with great stats that didn’t get $ have to decide that for themselves. Just one of the many different decisions being made.</p>
<p>Some individual colleges within USC also offer additional merit awards. I know S and several of his peers got an additional merit award from the engineering school. If the lack of merit is an issue standing in the way of you seriously considering the USC offer, I’d show the USC admissions counselor geographically assigned to your kid the more attractive merit award(s) your kid was offered and ask USC what they can do to “sweeten” their offer (if anything). You have nothing to lose and MAY be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>News Flash! Those receiving scholarships and merit aid aren’t royalty at USC. The best way to catch a professors eye for research, internships and grad school recs is continued academic excellence and involvement in the USC community. A mere “commoner” (your words) has just as much opportunity to distinguish themselves. Getting a 2300 on your SAT doesn’t mean you are set for life, it only helps you get into college and gives your parents something to brag about…what really matters is what you do once you get to college and if you take advantage of all of the opportunities that are available to you. Sorry to Robert512 for ranting on your post that was a legitimate question</p>
<p>It is difficult to understand why some schools offer merit awards to some students and not others who have similar credentials. The bottom line, there isn’t enough money/enticements to go around and schools have to make choices about which students they most wish to attract initially.</p>
<p>USC is no exception. It may offer more money and/or incentives to those students it REALLY wants to attract while admitting many others that it also finds attractive but doesn’t have enough funds or other incentives to offer. It is up to each student and family to figure out what will work best for them, whether it’s full freight at dream U or full-ride at another good/great U or anything in between.</p>
<p>Getting offered a merit award is NO guarantee of anything–some kids lose their merit and other incentives shortly after only one term or year on campus, while others gain merit once they come to campus and show their amazing skills. There are many, many opportunities and nearly every campus.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone should feel their kid is “bottom of the barrel” or any less welcome just because they didn’t get any merit or other incentives offered to them. Our S received significant merit and our D is full freight. We think both have found their niche at USC and have received excellent educations. Neither felt they were above or below others because of what they were or weren’t awarded entering campus.</p>
<p>I came in to USC as a National Merit Scholar with a half-tuition scholarship and a couple $1000-ish scholarships from NMS, the University, my school (Viterbi), and an outside scholarship. As I continued on these other scholarships dried up, so by my senior year all I had was the half-tuition. Which, you know, is still a lot.</p>
<p>People post their financial aid stats here because they are asked to, in the specific thread, and because who doesn’t like sharing good news? It certainly isn’t to upset people who didn’t get much money. I admit though, it did upset me on multiple occasions where I saw people had gotten loads of money (I remember one specific person got 80% tuition covered in university grants) and I had not, even though I may have been as good or better stats-wise.</p>
<p>Here’s the secret though: stats don’t mean anything. Good stats? Great, that means your application isn’t automatically rejected. Now what else you got? If academics is the only thing, don’t expect much. If you show passion and commitment and service to the community and all these other things outside of class, that is what gets you noticed.</p>
<p>Same kind of deal once you’re at the school. You want to be noticed? Be notable. Do things. Some people have more opportunities handed to them, but they are not the only ones that can take them. You want to get undergraduate research opportunities? Go talk to the professor. You want an internship? Make connections, apply like crazy, and impress everyone you meet. Someone who is working hard and making themselves go out and get things is far more desirable than someone who writes “honors program” on their resume.</p>
<p>Possibly an even more important lessons that your son or daughter might learn in this whole process is how to deal with failure and rejection. I was in the same situation once - I was top of the heap in high school, big fish in a small pond, and once I got to USC I realized that everyone around me was just as smart and talented and driven as I was, or more so. I applied for tons of things at school and got rejected. I applied for dozens of internships and got rejected. Your child needs to learn how to deal with this sort of being lost in the crowd, because no matter how smart or special he or she is, there is always someone smarter and better and more appealing.</p>
<p>I realize that for people going through this whole admissions process it seems to occupy their whole lives and my comments may be taken at mean-spirited or flippant, but it is exasperating to see people freaking out over “entitlements”, especially at USC. Yes, there are entitled people here. Your child will see them and deal with them on campus. But that does not mean that there is an “upper class” of students that get all the benefits. Everyone is roughly on equal footing, and drive, passion, and intelligence are far more important factors in getting those opportunities than money or titles are.</p>
<p>^^^That was an awesome answer. Thanks for taking the time to write it.</p>
<p>One other thing–some students get MORE funding as continuing students than as freshman. That was the case for our S and a friend’s child as well. As was stated, it depends how much the student works to set him or herself apart and be recognized. Good luck to everyone in making choices they and their families can live well with.</p>
<p>Bravo @Hawkwings! So well said.</p>