<p>I submitted my Common Application to USC by the Merit Scholarship date, December 1st. Will they notify me of their admission decision earlier than those who applied before the regular date? </p>
<p>I really don't want to wait till April 1st to find out.</p>
<p>Not necessarily, usually the merit scholarship recipients will get their decision first but you can still be admitted all the way until near the end of March, its only guaranteed that you receive a decision by April 1st (usually earlier).</p>
<p>Merits are usually notified in late January or so, as they get invited to interview on campus in February.</p>
<p>Some students who receive substantial merit awards MAY be notified a bit later than January if those scholarships do not require an interview. </p>
<p>National Merit Scholarships, Dean’s Scholarships and some others do not require an interview.</p>
<p>Does USC generally send out letters in waves or all at once? (Ignoring scholarship candidates)</p>
<p>All on the same day. About March 22.</p>
<p>^Incorrect. USC sends it out in waves.</p>
<p>Starting last year, they only had 2 waves of admissions. The Late January notifications are for those who have to interview. After that they only had 1 notification date in late March. That could change again, but I don’t think it’s likely.</p>
<p>Other than merits all the letters will go out on March 22 or so. All on the same day.</p>
<p>Oh wow, didn’t know that. I stand corrected</p>
<p>My daughter was notified early but did not have to interview so i guess that is wrong too.</p>
<p>How competitive are the merit scholarships? I applied for the scholarship consideration as well and would like to know my chances being a Questbridge finalist. :-)</p>
<p>The merit scholarship are highly competitive. Around 27,000 seniors applied by the December 1 deadline last year. It is not all about test scores and grades. The applicants are considered holistically. </p>
<p>For the art schools talent, imagination, vision, creativity and potential as well as academic achievement appear to be factors in the selection. We here on the board can only guess from responses posted. For the Thornton School of Music and the School of Dramatic Arts some of the majors require an audition. A stellar audition would be an important consideraton for those schools.</p>