<p>I have been watching the numbers of finalists chosen to receive the award they interview for closely, also. For Trustee (one example), they tend to invite around 300 candidates to the interview. About 240ish come for the interview. Of those, around 180 ish (here I differ from alamemom a bit as I estimate about 2/3 are offered the scholarship they interview for) are awarded Trustee from this group, with the remaining 1/3 offered Presidential, Dean’s or Director’s. In the end, we see about 130 ish Trustee/Stamps/Mork scholarship offers accepted (again, my estimate is more than half). </p>
<p>In any case, I do agree with alamemom’s philosophy. As a merit scholarship finalist at USC, you are being offered admission notification quite early and also a $4000/year scholarship (minimum). At this level, the majority end up getting much more than that, but it’s still quite competitive. The students who tend to do well at the interviews may have a few things in common and… yes, I can’t help myself. I will start a new thread in a few weeks so we old-timers can share some pointers, observations, speculation and support to this year’s crop of finalists (and their frazzled parents).</p>
<p>In the past, those invited to interview for scholarships were offered reimbursement for 1/2 of their airfare up to $60 for California, Arizona and Nevada and up to $200 for other US states. The reimbursement was for the candidate only, not for family members. In addition, discounted rates at the Radisson (USC’s hotel) were offered (useful if you plan to arrive a day early and/or if family members accompany the candidate). The candidate receives one night of lodging on the floor of a dorm room with a current student and meals.
Here are this year’s Scholarship Explore dates. It is an overnight program.</p>
<p>Scholarship Finalists (overnight programs)
Monday - February 24
Thursday- February 27
Monday - March 3
Thursday - March 6
Monday - March 10</p>
<p>Just curious…do you think decisions have been made at this point for all of the merit scholarships? Or is there time to squeeze in first semester grades? My D had an amazing first semester and would love to have it included in her portfolio.</p>
<p>I think that since the letters are going out next week that the decisions are made. USC requests mid year reports. I actually think you can manually submit them on USC Connect. My sons high school just sends them out automatically.</p>
<p>My son got straight A’s for the second semester in a row including four APs. Our goal is to just get an admit, we weren’t even think a scholarship was in reach.</p>
<p>Working on the premise that straight-As never hurt , I would go ahead and upload and/or FAX in a copy of the report card. It couldn’t hurt to have a bit of duplication when the information is as positive as that!</p>
<p>I just uploaded them on USC connect. My son was so excited to do it that we did it together. Ironically he asked me if this could help him with the scholarships which are forthcoming. I told him I didn’t think so. He was cool with that.</p>
<p>@Georgia Girl, I know that they usually send them out in the last week of January, but this year they posted on Twitter that notifications would be out early February? I’m not sure if this means they’re sending them out later, or if they just said early February to allow time for everyone to receive their notification?</p>
<p>The admissions committee can change dates when recipients are informed. From past experience on this board the late January date made it a brief time for families to make travel and lodging arrangements for February interviews. </p>
<p>A February notification appears to make it even more difficult. Let us hope the committee sends out those packets soon!</p>
<p>alakazam356,
The Twitter post actually mentions an update rather than scholarship notifications:
Traditionally the Trustee, Mork and Stamps invites go out in the last week of January with the Presidential invites a few days later. Next, in early February, come the letters (or possibly emails this year - I think that would simplify things, so I am hoping…) saying that the remainder of the applicants are still being considered for admission and for smaller scholarships that are awarded in April. Georgia Girl’s timetable is likely very accurate.</p>
<p>That would be great if USC sent email updates to everyone all at once this year! It would definitely simplify things and hopefully no one would be left out (those letters somehow never quite got to everyone). </p>
<p>Also, at least for the last 3 admit cycles, the Presidential letters went out the same time as the T/M/S ones—or at least a few of them did :)</p>
<p>If you get a letter telling you that you are not being considered for merit scholarships, is that the end of possible money from USC? Can you basically expect to not get any aid if you do get in regular decision?</p>
<p>I don’t qualify at all for need-based financial aid, but full tuition is overwhelming. So if you aren’t considered for the scholarships, is it not possible at all to get money whatsoever that is NOT need-based?</p>
<p>These notifications are for the half and full tuition merit scholarship interviews. If you are not selected for those, there is still the possibility of smaller merit scholarships. You should also be looking for outside merit scholarships (although it is probably quite late to be doing so at this point).</p>
, I would go ahead and upload and/or FAX in a copy of the report card. It couldn’t hurt to have a bit of duplication when the information is as positive as that!</p>