Notification Schedule for Notification of Admissions and Scholarships

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>There is a lot of curiosity (naturally) about what information is sent, and how it's sent, and WHEN it is sent. I thought I'd start this thread to talk about notifications. Below are some of my best recollections of the process--but it has changed in the past 2 years so may change again. There are many who follow this forum who will have better memories than I do, but here is a start. This is a good place to ask specific questions, or even better, to make corrections and additions if you have any.</p>

<p>USC's methods/timeline for notification of scholarship interviews (finalists for Trustee/ non-NMF Presidential) and also for RD admissions have been evolving over the past few years, so for those who are getting curious about what to expect and when to expect it, here is a review of the most recent notification methods used in the recent past as clearly as I can recall them:</p>

<p>Merit Scholarship Finalists:</p>

<p>USC offers several levels of merit scholarships. </p>

<p>Of the approx 27,000 (last year's number) applicants who applied before the Dec 1 scholarship deadline, over 26,000 will receive a letter from USC letting them know they are not among the ~3% who have been selected as finalists for those largest merit awards. The group who get this letter includes thousands of very worthy candidates since such a tiny number can be invited. Last year this so-sorry letter was mailed around beginning of February.</p>

<p>For the lucky/ very worthy 3% invited to come to USC to interview for either the Full-tuition Trustee (and Stamps and Mork) or Half-Tuition Presidential (non-NMF):</p>

<p>In the past, finalists were notified of their status by letter/regular mail. The full admissions packet started arriving at homes during the last week in January. All those thick envelopes are mailed on the same day, so they begin arriving in Southern California the following day and, as deliveries move across the country, the packet may not arrive on the East coast for a few days after that. Watch this forum on cc as many happy finalists post their news (and their location) and you'll find some delay as the mail travels. So hang in there, Midwest and East Coast. The toughest part is that the letters in small envelopes that inform the students exactly which top scholarship they are up for doesn't arrive until a few days later. Hair-pulling time! In the past, there have been back-door online portals students have discovered to check their admission status, allowing them a peek at which scholarship they were going to be invited to interview for. Students tend to share this sort of info on this forum.</p>

<p>Half-Tuition Presidential for National Merit Scholars:</p>

<p>There is no interview involved for NMF automatic Presidential scholarship, so no early notification. In fact, there is no official notification at all, since this scholarship is granted to every NMF who is admitted to USC (reminder: there is NO guarantee that any applicant, even a NMF applicant will be admitted), and who lists USC as their first choice with National Merit. Every year, we see a few NMFs invited to interview for the above competitive scholarships and, if so, they receive the same admissions and invitation along with those above. However, the majority of NMF applicants are not among the finalists (criteria is quite different--see other thread) and so will have to wait for regular admission decisions (these go out to every applicant at the end of March).</p>

<p>Awarding of USC Merit Scholarships:</p>

<p>In recent years, a letter has gone out by mail to notify finalists of the outcome of the competition. This letter, IIRC, comes in the middle of March about one week before the mass mailing of admissions decisions to all other applicants. As this is a competition, there are big winners and some who are not so happy at the outcome. Some students are bumped up to a higher level of scholarship, and many receive the scholarship they were competing for, but others may be awarded a lower award. For many students this is just the beginning of receiving lots of admissions news. All the ivies, for instance, notify on or near April 1, and many of USC's merit finalists are in the running for these schools, too. Things change once you see all your options, so do not despair.</p>

<p>Admissions Decisions:</p>

<p>USC does not have ED or EA and RD. They really only have RD, but the merit competition is a weird sort of anomaly which requires interviews in February, which requires notification/invitations to go out at the end of January, which means those students clearly need to know they've been admitted. But, aside from that tiny fraction of students (finalists), virtually all others (last year that would be about 46,000 applicants) receive official admissions news at the end of March. USC has a long tradition of using snail mail for this ritual, and sending international candidates their decision by DHL. However, frustrations can certainly ensue. Again, different parts of the country receive their mail later due to distance. And despite a lot of diligence, any huge mailing may be susceptible to a few missing packages. Is your package delayed by the post office? Lost in a ton of packages? Never sent??? Families complained and as of last year, I believe, USC began posting admissions decisions online 3 days after the big mailing. Order was restored across the land.</p>

<p>Dean's Scholarships:</p>

<p>USC offers a merit award of 1/4 tuition (Dean's) without an interview. The notification of Dean's occurs with the admissions decisions.</p>

<p>Other Merit Awards:</p>

<p>USC also offers other merit awards, including those sponsored by School/Major and University Scholarships. Notification of these are made by snail mail after admissions packets have been received, often in the first week of April.</p>

<p>Financial Aid Awards:</p>

<p>For students who have filed ALL documents required for FA consideration, USC tries to send FA awards about a week after admissions decisions. Those who have submitted incomplete packages or are asked for further information may have delays. </p>

<p>OK, that's about it. Please make corrections!</p>

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<p>As always madbean, you have done it again. The newbs may not realize how helpful your post truly is and how grateful they should be, because now they won’t experience the anxiety that comes from not having that information! Could have used that last year for sure. And in one concise summary, wow. Bravo!</p>

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<p>Great summary madbean! I don’t know how you remember all those details. Here is a few from our experience in January 2011. </p>

<p>Because of this forum, I was able to determine DS was up for the Presidential through his online account. He had a link to register for the interview session which told him which scholarship he was being considered for. USC did not intend for this to happen so in subsequent years they did not make that link available until about a week after packages were mailed. The large package came about a week after we discovered the happy news online. We live in NC so we experienced the mail delays! In the large package was a scholarship letter. </p>

<p>DS was a NMF so even though he was entitled to the Presidential scholarship, we went for the interview anyway hoping to be bumped up. He wasn’t, but he did receive an additional scholarship from Viterbi.</p>

4

<p>On January 25, 2011 in NC, we received a huge packet that said “welcome to the Trojan Family” and had my son’s acceptance with another letter saying he would be interviewing for a presidential scholarship. We booked his flight that night with the school travel agency.(the flight was reimbursed about 90%). He had only applied to USC at the last minute because one of his friends was applying and told him that the school was awesome. He went on to interview, first get upgraded to Trustee scholarship and then get upgraded again to a Mork scholarship. He has never regretted his decision (the weather in Boston doesn’t compare) and loves his school so much he is already sad he has to graduate in 3 semesters. As a family, we are grateful for his opportunity. Also, like madbean says, many qualified candidates do not receive scholarships and often, they are truly amazing students ;my son’s board scores, while good, were certainly not perfect. I guess he had a very good interview and the school looks at their applicants holisitically. There is hope for everyone. Exciting times. GOOD LUCK! FIGHT ON!</p>

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<p>:) ^As I recall, your son was among the very FIRST group of Mork scholars and certainly the first to post here that they had won that wonderful award - I remember lots of excitement as we followed motherMD and her son. Continued congrats!</p>

<p>I thought I would add this year’s scheduled notification dates:</p>

<p>Decision letters to be mailed March 26, 2014.
Decisions available online on March 29, 2014.
[Dates</a> & Deadlines - USC Undergraduate Admission](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/apply/dates_deadlines.html]Dates”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/apply/dates_deadlines.html)</p>

<p>Good luck - I hope the wait isn’t too terribly long!</p>

6

<p>Just to add to the super informative post from madbean, last year when my daughter received the early acceptance packet in January, it did contain a letter which invited her to interview for the Presidential scholarship- so that may have changed from previous years when the envelope came later.</p>

7

<p>Remember like madbean said, only 1,000 will receive good news is January. 26,000 will not, and that is a huge amount of disappointed kids that applied by the scholarship deadline with high hopes. Because many people on here like to remind everyone of the scholarships their student got even if it was years ago, and the ones that receive stuff this year are the ones that post, it will seem like everyone but you gets scholarships and big ones, when in fact the percent that get merit money is very small. Financial aid (not merit) increases the figures given and yes, USC is generous with money, but it is not spread around as much as people think. There are plenty of 4.0+, high test scoring students that don’t get a penny or even get in. Holistic is good for some and not for others. So while it is great to be excited for the few that get the awards, there are a lot that don’t get the package and instead get a letter. Better to have realistic expectations. I worry about kids taking this stuff too hard and the consequences when it is oversold. Madbean seems to get that, making that stat early in her post.</p>

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<p>Thanks Alamemom. Our situation wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies.My son’s goal was to obtain a full scholarship. He worked his tail off all through high school. However, with the same credentials, he didn’t get interviews for scholarships to 2 major schools(Vandy, Wake Forest…one of my alma maters), only got to semi-finals for Morehead and regional finals for Jefferson–got a couple of other full scholarships but turned down at Stanford…got into Harvard. So bottom line…it was a roller coaster of excitement and then, on many days, bitter disappointment. It seems that admissions committees/scholarship panels can be somewhat random. Overall, the awards may not seem fair but Ive come to believe that things happen for a reason. If the USC scholarship doesn’t happen for you, perhaps there is a better school or situation for you personally. Hang in there! My son keeps his rejection emails as motivation…</p>

9

<p>As mentioned by a number of the notes above, this whole thing really is a set-up for the kids to be disappointed. The desirability of submitting one’s application by the Dec 1 merit scholarship deadline was repeatedly mentioned during our day visiting USC. As only a very very small fraction of applicants will even be considered for these scholarships, to me it appears that more than anything this push is a mechanism for USC to get an early and good start reviewing applications, well before their January deadline. I do think that this is a bit disingenuous, and there’s no question that (for the uninformed who don’t have the benefit of madbean’s and alemom’s helpful notes) it fosters unrealistic hopes. Oh well. It’s the nature of the business.</p>

<p>My son is a mixed-stats kid. Near perfect standardized test scores, but a GPA that is, shall we say, definitely not perfect. So we won’t be holding our breath. At least we live in CA, so we should get our snail mail notification in late March sooner rather than later.</p>

<p>Anyway, thanks so much for all of you who share such helpful and valuable information!</p>

10

<p>

This is such GREAT advice!!! As everyone knows, I love love love USC, but many of you will have multiple amazing opportunities and one (or more) of those other opportunities may turn out to be better for you than USC.</p>

<p>My strongest piece of advice for both applicants and parents throughout the application process is to set aside any thought of a “dream school.” Remember the real goal for most college applicants: to come out the other side with a great education, a college degree and wonderful prospects for the future without overwhelming debt. With approximately 3,000 institutions of higher learning in the US, I can assure you, promise you, GUARANTEE you that there are many schools that could provide that for you.</p>

<p>So… celebrate the acceptances/scholarships and let the sting of the bad news fade before making any decisions. Let some time pass before sitting down with your family to look at all the acceptances and the relative benefits/costs and then choose the best opportunity for you. No need to respond before May 1st, so enjoy the opportunity to make those schools wait for your decision just as you had to wait for theirs :)</p>

<p>Good luck to all the applicants!</p>

11

<p>Thanks to everyone for your helpful input. I am glad several of you updated the information that finalists are notified of their scholarship level in the admissions package–a great improvement from previous years.</p>

<p>USC’s top merit scholarships are indeed highly competitive. The Freshman profile lists how few are awarded each year. Yet I do not look at any tough competition (Getting a Trustee scholarship? Getting into Yale? Getting an internship at Google?) as a set-up to be disappointed. It is, however, a huge longshot for anyone. And many very highly qualified students are not selected. Such reality–not getting a prize one wants, needs, and even deserves-- is part of life and affords one the experience of learning to get past disappointment. A life skill for any ambitious and talented teenager. For those who learn to take competition in stride, win or lose, I believe there will be many rewards in life. For parents watching our 17 year old face such difficult news–ayyyy!</p>

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<p>I can’t stress enough how great alamemom’s sage advice is. uSC may be your dream school, but if it isn’t affordable for you and your family, then walk away! Every year we see parents and kids here upset that they did not get more financial aid or scholarships. It is important to weigh all factors when choosing your school. Thanks alamemom and madbean for all your helpful advice!</p>

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<p>I’m expecting to be a NMF and qualify for the automatic half tuition scholarship. If I won one of the full tuition scholarships, I wouldn’t be able to collect both, right?</p>

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<p>HBS,</p>

<p>Let me get this straight. You’re smart enough to be an NMF, and you’re asking if you can get a 150% scholarship? Do you expect to get paid to go to USC, or do you expect the extra $23K to go towards room and board, travel, and entertainment expenses?</p>

15

<p>I figured they wouldn’t pay me to go there but I didn’t know whether they’d give more than just full tuition to cover stuff like housing and books. I don’t think that’s that ridiculous of a question, either, but you’re acting like that’s a completely outrageous thing to consider.</p>

16

<p>Tuition is tuition. It’s not room and board and books. So they aren’t going to be stacked. Sorry.</p>

17

<p>Madbean! Excellent summary of the trends and realities as always! Applause, Applause. Your posts should be stickied at the top of the USC board.</p>

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<p>HBS,</p>

<p>Sorry, my evil twin got a hold of the keyboard. Best of luck.</p>

19

<p>So am I understanding this correctly - approx 1000 students are invited to interview and compete and about 1/3 will actually get one?</p>

20

<p>^ That is not what we have observed. What long-timers have observed over the last several years is that we have seen no posts from candidates who came away from the scholarship interview process empty-handed. All those reporting on this forum (and it is entirely possible that some DO come away empty-handed, but they simply have not posted here) have received at least a $4,000/year Director’s scholarship. Unfortunately, such a scholarship may be quite disappointing to a student who interviewed for and hoped for a full-tuition Trustee scholarship. The best attitude for those invited to interview is probably to feel confident that they will likely receive a scholarship of $4,000/year and consider anything more to be a bonus.</p>

<p>When we have asked USC admissions reps (and many of us have asked!), the vague response is that “about half” of the candidates receive a scholarship. What is left out of that statement is a very important admissions detail: Yield. It would be more accurate to say that of the 1,000 scholarship candidates, about half of them accept the scholarship offered (which may be from $4,000/year to full tuition plus $5,000/year) and choose to attend USC.</p>

<p>Threads with a lot of info from years gone by:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1097370-trustee-presidential-scholarship-interview-results-2011-a-6.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1097370-trustee-presidential-scholarship-interview-results-2011-a-6.html&lt;/a&gt; (see post #77 for totals)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1077625-trustee-pres-survey-results-what-actually-get-scholarship.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1077625-trustee-pres-survey-results-what-actually-get-scholarship.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/888905-trustee-presidential-interview-results.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/888905-trustee-presidential-interview-results.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1281139-so-now-i-am-scholarship-interviewee-odds.html#post13793084[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1281139-so-now-i-am-scholarship-interviewee-odds.html#post13793084&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;