On USC website, they mentioned the following:
Presidential Scholarship
Half-tuition scholarship awarded based on academic excellence, leadership, service and talent. (~200 awards). Students may also be selected for the Presidential Scholarship through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation on the basis of their PSAT performance. Entering first-year students are considered if they have been designated National Merit Finalists and name USC as their first-choice college.
Does it mean if a student is NMF and is accepted to USC, he/she is treated as presidential scholar? I know that NMF accepted student will get the half-tuition, but what about other benefits, like McCarthy Honors College?
USC notifies applicants of their Merit Scholarship status by February 1. If NMSF student applies for merit scholarship and doesn’t get this notification, does it mean that his/her application might be rejected?
NMF that are accepted to USC and identify USC as their #1 choice school by May 1st (or April 30, be sure to check that) with National Merit Scholarship Federation get half tuition.
Those accepted as NMFs are able to live in McCarthy. As a side note, there are other great places to live in addition to the Village, particularly for freshman, other options may be better for a lot of students. (If only the parents would let them choose…the stories from housing are crazy.)
Not all NMFs are accepted. There are way more NMFs that apply than there are spots for, but more importantly, it is only a tiny part of the overall application that is evaluated for admission. So if they did not get in during the merit round in late January, they are waiting like the other 65,000+ applicants to hear around March 20-22nd.
@Marcie123 I believe the NMF students are still considered Presidential Scholars. They just did not get the scholarship through the early Explore interview process. They have the same benefits as the Presidential Scholars who came to Explore and interviewed including McCarthy eligibility, Trojan Scholars Society membership and Exceptional Funding eligibility.
@CADREAMIN do you happen to know if the 1/2 tuition applies to Spring admits as well? Is there anywhere this is documented on the USC site? My son had USC indicated on the NMF site since April. Is it 1/2 tuition for a full 4 years?
@map888 similarly, do you have a reference/url that would confirm that NMF are considered Presidential Scholars and would you know if it applies to Spring admits also?
@DonCornelious Yes, yes and yes. You are good all four years. I don’t have access to check the website easily (out and on phone) but for you to feel assured about it, call admissions tomorrow and have them confirm it. I am confident about this, which should tie you over till tomorrow but you need to hear it from them.
What I don’t know is how housing works for spring admits that are NMF/Presidential scholars - I would assume they try to get student into McCarthy but not sure it is as easy as fall. So that would be good question to ask as well. Might have to call USC housing to get that answered. They are super nice in the housing office.
@CADREAMIN Thanks for the quick response. I’m sure he could find a dorm he is happy with… as long as he isn’t living off-campus with his Senior brother he should be fine
Ha ya, I get that! I believe they try to put spring admits together but as you probably know having a Trojan there already, most all the dorms are great places to live. Main thing is the scholarship - that’s huge. Congrats on that!
We recently visited/toured USC and were told by multiple people that there is talk about phasing out the honors college. When asked if there were any benefits (other than financial) of attending USC as a NMF, no one mentioned Trojan Scholars Society. Can anyone here add insight?
@lkg4answers There isn’t an honors college at USC. There are students that get scholarships and have choice of living in honors housing, but there is not a separate honors college like some schools have. There are also honors type programs that any student can apply to. Nowadays, as USC has become way more selective than decades past, most of the students admitted have the same high stats as those getting scholarships - it’s a school full of honors students - so the idea of separate honors housing is seen by some as outdated. That may be what you were hearing about? The subjective nature of giving those big scholarship dollars may also come under more scrutiny at time goes on, but that is another discussion. Re, the TSS - at USC, there’s so many ways to network and groups/clubs that volunteer, in addition to professional development organizations, so the TSS is just one of many that provide those opportunities, so I don’t know that it stands out more than others that are like it.
@CADREAMIN thank you for your reply. I am a newbie to all that is USC. Yes, I meant honors housing, not an honors college. Do you know if they are doing away with honors housing next year? There are no other benefits that come with a trustee or presidential scholarship other than money. Is that correct?
@CADREAMIN My daughter just received an email from National Merit about the $2500 scholarship. Is she able to accept that and still receive the 1/2 tuition from USC? Also I feel like I read something about not accepting the $2500 and getting a $1000 per year instead- do you know anything about this and who sponsors this? National Merit or USC? This is very confusing and don’t want to do anything to jeopardize the 1/2 tuition- we already lost year 1 since she was an RHP kid.
Thank you so much for all your help last year and this year!
@sonsav Hello and congrats again! Great to hear from you!
Yes, you get it the half tuition, you really can’t mess that up. You will get a letter re the scholarship which you sign and return to USC and you are set.
What is confusing is the other $1k or $2500 - neither of these impact your half-tuition. NMSF offers the $2500. If you take that, you do not get the $1000 per year which is FROM USC.
You cannot jeopardize the half tuition. But financially, most people feel taking 1k a year for total of $4k is better than the $2500 NMSF.
The only catch is, I don’t know where there is info on the $1k, it seems we all just know this is how it has worked for years and years. Perhaps USC can answer this question which is always good to verify with them. The question is -“As a NMF, beside our half tuition, will we be offered an additional $1k each year for four years, and do we need to decline NMSF’s $2500 scholarship to get this?”
Just to make sure it is same as always. When it comes to money matters, it is best to get them to verify!
@CADREAMIN I think the person who posted that you can decline the $2500 and get the $4000 from USC was wrong. I don’t think you can do that. I’m not saying that the $4000 doesn’t exist but just that I don’t think you can decline the $2500 and get the $4000
I asked the financial aid people and they didn’t know anything about a $4000 scholarship.
^^^Exactlty, ask THEM. It’s actually $1,000 per year and 4K total, versus a 4k scholarship - it’s so confusing to explain and different people (at USC) will give you a different answer. This post is put up every year explains it best…but everyone should get their own answer (and let us know here)! There is chance the 1k has changed, and it is best to take the 1/2 and the $2500 (and the surest thing apparently if no one at USC can verify the $1k/yr). Perhaps you NMF folks can let us know what appears in your portal as you move forward, or what USC tells you.
and was told that no, a student could not decline the NMSC NMS scholarship in order to be eligible for another NMS (not NMF) scholarship. The $1K/yr or $4000 is a NM **Scholars **scholarship and I think that is the distinction that is important.
Sorry to bring this up but I got into USC and I designated them as my first choice with NMSC last week (I’m a finalist). I just got my financial aid info today, but it doesn’t include the National Merit Scholarship. Am I guaranteed to get the scholarship, and if I am, when will I hear something??? I am big stressed bc USC is my dream school, but there’s no way I can afford it without this scholarship :(((
@CADREAMIN@lkg4answers Thank you for helping to clarify. Yes I am trying to get some answers from financial aid and haven’t been able to get them. I think we will probably just accept the $2500 since for my daughter it’s only $3000 the other way. She would not receive the $1000 for the year she just completed- also miss out on the half tuition for this past year. ? Her RHP advisor has also said it always works out to be $1000 per year but isn’t sure who could definitely confirm that and my daughter doesn’t see that online in her portal. She does see the 1/2 tuition scholarship though. I wish it was clearly marked somewhere in writing.
If I do find out a definitive answer I will post it here for future students.
" Sorry to bring this up but I got into USC and I designated them as my first choice with NMSC last week (I’m a finalist). I just got my financial aid info today, but it doesn’t include the National Merit Scholarship. Am I guaranteed to get the scholarship, and if I am, when will I hear something??? I am big stressed bc USC is my dream school, but there’s no way I can afford it without this scholarship :((("
@bigjojosiwa
YES, you WILL receive the NM 1/2 tuition scholarship.
USC gets an updated list once a month from NMSF of students who have designated USC as their first choice. They then match accepted students to those on that list.
So relax- you will hear from USC that you will receive the 1/2 tuition scholarship. Congrats and Fight On!
but you need to hear it from them.