<p>I am very interested in USC. I was wondering...would the university consider awarding a Trustee Scholarship (the full-tuition award) to an applicant with a 33 ACT? My scores might not be very high, but I have several state and national awards and very heavy commitment and achievement in two ECs, with leadership and additional awards to show for it. I don't mean for this to be a chance thread, and I don't want to list specifics--this is more a question of whether very high test scores (35+ ACT or 2300+ SAT) are a prerequisite for Trustee consideration, or whether one can fall a bit below those thresholds and still have a fair chance if if the application stands out in other ways, namely the ones I've listed here.</p>
<p>ribalto,
You have nothing to lose by applying to SC before December 1st. This will put you into the pool of applicants for CONSIDERATION for the Trustee and other scholarships. We can only speculate about who will be selected. The Trustee Scholars have outstanding resumes or some unique accomplishment or talent which makes them stand out in a pool of 22,000. That is how many applied early last year. Many applied with 2400 scores who were not selected. Others were selected who had to overcome huge hurdles to prepare themselves for college. We find it impossible to predict who will be awarded the scholarships. It is not all about scores, but a combination of factors including grades, scores, talents, accomplishments, rigor of courses, leadership, awards, honors, service, creativity and in some cases audition or portfolio.</p>
<p>I do suggest if you have unique accomplishments to apply for local scholarships before you enroll in your chosen college. There are many from civic, educational, ethnic or religious groups.</p>
<p>For USC admissions, as well as invitation to interview for top merit awards, the school & major seems to make a difference, as the pool applying for engineering may tend to have, as a whole, very high test scores in Math and the trustee candidates for Viterbi will tend to be in the very top score range.</p>
<p>Watching this board on cc for the past several years, it seems that lower-than-2200 scores are very rare and tend to occur in the talent-based schools (arch, theatre, studio art) which may indicate that portfolios or high honors/awards could play a part. We just don’t know. You might want to search on past threads of admissions to USC where students posted their stats. The earliest admittees (Jan/Feb) are the trustee/presidential candidates, so you can see what their majors/schools were as well as scores/ranking etc.</p>
<p>Posting grades and scores of students on this forum do not tell the whole story. There were some students last year who were upset as they had 2400 scores and great ECs and did not receive a Trustee scholarship. What is posted here is only a small part of what was submitted to the admissions committee. After considering 22,000 applications they have the opportunity to read essays, evaluate hurdles overcome and discover students who “stand out” in such a huge pool. </p>
<p>A student last year was one of the honored graduates. He was not a Trustee Scholar, but had overcome challenges to earn his diploma. He achieved this with a double major despite having no hands or feet. Seeing scores and grades posted on this forum only tell a little about the applicant.</p>
<p>Wow! Many thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice–GeorgiaGirl, that’s a very heartwarming, encouraging story, and that student sounds very driven. I am just worried, since my family will not qualify for much need-based FA but cannot afford more than $25K in comprehensive costs (though the grants we receive would not be enough according to EFC). Since USC is at/near the top of my list in terms of preference, I was hoping I would be lucky enough to win such a fantastic award. I guess I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed and see how things end up. Thanks again for all the responses.</p>
<p>EDIT: Just to clarify, I submitted my application to USC last week. :)</p>
<p>^^congratulations to your S, motherMD! Since Mork is so new, can you tell the applicants for this year what you think may have helped your son get the recognition? For example, special ECs or honors? Something to do with his intended major? Or other hooks? </p>
<p>This year will be the first time we see some examples of Mork scholars on CC and that will help future students get a sense of the range of these special students, just like they can look at trustee and presidential winners of the past for some hints.</p>
<p>Of course, the process is complex, holistic, and depends on a lot of info we all won’t ever know. But it’s fun to hear about the new scholarship!</p>