<p>I'm rather confused about the merit aid situation at USC... I've read some other threads on here but none seem to really answer my question (if I'm missing something I apologize).</p>
<p>After looking at USC's website it looks like the only substantial merit aid scholarships are the Presidential and Trustee scholarships. Is that true? It also looks like there is a USC Associate Scholarship but does this have an emphasis on community service?</p>
<p>What exactly are the criteria for determining the recipients of the Presidential and Trustee scholarships? What exactly do they look at? I've heard a whole range of answers on this one...</p>
<p>My SAT score is a 1390 / 2070, and my ACT score is a 31 (hopefully I can raise one of those a bit in the Fall). My GPA is a 3.79 UW and a 3.94 W. Obviously the test scores are standardized, but what about the GPA? Will the fact that I went to a rigorous, private, college prep school and took one of the more difficult course loads available to me "weight" my GPA in their eyes? In other words would my 3.79 UW GPA at a rigorous college prep school with a demanding course load "rank higher" than a GPA of someone of say 3.90 at a public high school taking not as demanding classes?</p>
<p>Being from a middle class family, I can't really pay the full USC price tag but then again I'm not seen as "poor" enough to receive a lot of non-merit financial aid... So it's tough! Thanks for any info you guys have!</p>
<p>One good way to judge how USC views a GPA from your high school is to look at the statistics on previously admitted students. Does your school use Naviance? My D also attended a private school that did not weight grades or rank students. Using Naviance we were able to see that the average GPA of admitted students was lower than USC’s overall averages. So yes, USC does take into account which school you attend.<br>
None of us really know whether your scores and grades will qualify you for merit aid. My own gut feeling is that your test scores may be lower than most scholarship recipients but you should definitely apply by the earlier scholarship deadline.</p>
<p>You certainly are an excellent candidate for admission, so be sure to get your application in by December 1st to also be considered for scholarships. Polish your essay, get great recommendations, and - as Puzzled88 recommends - give the tests another shot. Good luck!</p>
<p>While I am sure a rigorous, AP-filled schedule will look more demanding, it is my personal belief that colleges do not HEAVILY weigh competitive schools/schedules, but I think that USC would look at your GPA more favorably than, say, Berkeley or UCLA, who both have enormously inflated accepted GPA’s. Your GPA is fine, on par with the admission and probably scholarship candidates, but your SAT is a bit lacking.</p>
<p>My sessions for presidential scholarship candidates had an average SAT (wasn’t clear if it was superscored or not, but I’ll venture to say that it was superscore) 2260 or 2240, forgot. My SAT was on par, GPA was slightly lower but from competitive school etc, but the thing that stood out most to the interviewers was my essay, which they talked about a lot. They also talked about my community service, tying it all together with how I plan to contribute to USC if I were to attend.</p>
<p>Basically, they’re looking all over your application to try to find some passion somewhere, whether it’s in academics, extracurriculars, community involvement, a job, or personal goals/stories (which I did with my essay). </p>
<p>Just try to get that SAT up and make sure something about you stands out! Remember, go for depth not quantity.</p>
<p>I disagree, it is pretty easy to discern who will be invited to interview for scholarships based on stats alone. 2200+ and top 2-3% of class ought to do it. Based what you have posted I would guess that the outlook is not good. Your GPA is and SAT are good enough for admission, but probably do not make you stand out enough to be considered for one of the large scholarships. It is likely going to be iffy for the smaller ones too (~4-5k). Of course, if you become an NMF finalist then things are automatic for the 1/2 tuition thing.</p>
<p>As someone else pointed out, stats are just the starting point that gets your pinky in the door. Actually getting the thing is probably dependent on the specifics of the resume and the interview.</p>
<p>Last but not least, being middle class will likely qualify you for some finaid, at least if you are middle of the middle (<$60-80k/year family income). However, it seems that many people on CC are from $200k+ families who claim that they cannot afford college tuition.</p>
<p>My daughter, who is in her first year at Georgetown’s SFS, was offered the Trustee Scholarship last year. My understanding, from what we were told when she was being wined and dined (and the website includes a similar, albeit brief description), is that for this full-tuition scholarship (and the Presidential as well), they’re looking for the top1-1.5% students nationally. I assume that is partially based on test scores. My daughter had a 2340 on the SAT I and her three SAT II scores came in at 2350–each above 770. She was a straight-A student and ranked 3rd in a class of 560, she was a full IB candidate and additionally had taken numerous AP classes. Finally, as referenced on the website, they’re looking for leadership. My daughter had a very strong EC resume including 4 yrs journalism–2 years as editor-in-chief of school newspaper, 3 years mock trial including team wins and personal awards, she had won a nat’l journalism writing award, Nat’l Merit commended, lots of voluntarism in journalism and with youth, she was a paid academic tutor, and much more. It appeared that all the other kids that were candidates were of the same caliber. In fact, we saw some of them at other school events (e.g., this daughter’s twin obviously pretty competitive. </p>
<p>We do know one other girl from my daughter’s high school who was offered the Presidential Scholarship and although her grades and test scores were not at the same level as my daughter’s, her resume/leadership was even more impressive.</p>
<p>Good luck! It was painful to watch our daughter turn down such a generous offer from such a great school.</p>
<p>Ooops! Cut off my post. I meant to write that “we saw some of the Trustee candidates at this daughter’s twin sister’s welcome-to-Yale events–in So. Cal and in New Haven.” And that it was obviously pretty competitive. </p>
<p>By the way, the girls did not apply to any of the same schools except for the UC’s.</p>
<p>If you look at this year’s stats so far, you will see that a good number of those invited to interview have SATs above 2300 and unweighted GPAs above 3.9. There were a few exceptions, such as under-represented minorities or students who must have had very compelling circumstances or unusual ECs, but otherwise that’s approximately where you want to be. That said, I don’t believe that stats alone will guarantee scholarship consideration. S has a 2300+ SAT, 3.9+ GPA from very competitive high school, 700+ Subject SATs, Academic All-American in sports, etc., etc. Yet he hasn’t been invited to interview for any of the two top scholarships. At first, we worried that his recommendations must be the problem, but then he got accepted into a couple of competitive programs and was offered full tuition for one of them. So for reasons that are not obvious to us USC must have thought that he wouldn’t be a good fit for them. But this is their prerogative and, while it’s hard not to feel like you failed, you have to trust them to have made the right decision. So definitely aim to raise your GPA/scores, but view them as just one, albeit important, component of your application.</p>
<p>TomisMom, congratulations on your son’s successes so far! And I am sure there is lots of good news still to come for such an amazing young man.</p>
<p>I wanted to note that in the last two years, scholarship acceptances continued through the last week of January and into the first week of February. This year the first acceptances were a few days later than the last two years. No students have reported receiving any ACTUAL scholarship interview invitations. In other words, there may be many scholarship acceptances to come. February 1st is not the day to give up hope!</p>
<p>Toms’ mom,
Did you son complete his application to USC by the Dec 1 scholarship deadline? if not then he was not eligible for scholarship consideration. Was he applying to a popular, highly competitive program, like engineering? The scholarships are divied up and awarded by college[ engineering, business, CSA etc] so the lack of an invitation may only reflect a very competitive pool of applicants to the college your son was applying to. But yes, stats alone will not qualify an applicant for scholarship consideration. The scholarship committees are looking for more.</p>
<p>@ soadquake981 - I have not seen those posts. Can you direct me to the thread(s) or give poster names of those who have received invites? Thanks!</p>
<p>alamemom, thanks for your kind words. menloparkmom, S did submit his paperwork by the Dec 1 priority deadline and applied to CAS and the Bacc/MD program. He has received neither an acceptance letter, nor an invitation to interview. Given the timing of the scholarship interviews, we’re assuming that he would have received at least an acceptance letter by now if he were still in the running. By the same logic, he probably isn’t considered for the Bacc/MD program either.</p>
<p>Either way, I just wanted to dispel the notion that great stats, even when coupled with solid ECs are going to guarantee consideration. They are certainly needed these days when a 2300+ SAT is not a rarity anymore (kudos to all these amazing kids!!), but know that there are other factors that matter, some of them outside your control (for example, state and high school – ours sends tons of applicants to USC every year – or the specific program you apply to). As for us, we’re not going to second-guess USC. They made an informed decision and we respect that. I’m also genuinely happy for those who did get selected, especially since I know how high the bar was set.</p>
<p>“applied to CAS and the Bacc/MD program”
he applied to the 2 most competitive programs at USC, and also in the US, with acceptance rates for either well below Harvard’s acceptance rate [4% for CAS] so yes, great stats are only the beginning requirements for those 2 incredibly competitive programs, just as they are for HYPS. They both require a record of incredible talent/ passion/ commitment as well. And both draw tip-top applicants from around the country.
I would be surprised if he were not accepted to USC, but getting into either of those programs as well is as hard as getting into the Ivies. I wouldn’t assume that he has been passed by completely just yet.</p>
<p>*I thought by “CAS” you were referring to “College of Arts and Sciences?” Wouldn’t that have about a 22% acceptance? Or is there a program I am unaware of?</p>
<p>TomisMom, if your son is as gracious and well spoken as you are, then I suspect the stats overlooked something that is rare and to be valued. Admissions is a best efforts process and often times what really makes a difference doesn’t show up on paper or even in an interview. Also, some are better at promoting their strengths when many struggle transitioning to that having been taught to be modest. I have high confidence your son will do well whatever he chooses to do. USC has some amazing opportunities. My son has very strong stats also and got some scholarship money but it is a stretch for us. Frankly, I thought he would get more scholarship money and it was a little mental thing to overcome. However, he was admitted to a very selective program and is doing very well and being exposed to exceptional people and opportunities. We are glad we didn’t let the money or a belief they should have given more scholarship keep him from going. </p>
<p>Finances always matter, but if your son is accepted to an amazing program for him, don’t let the “big scholarship” decisions turn you away if it is the right fit and you can financially make it happen.</p>
<p>ooops, my bad [ hadn’t had enough coffee ]. I read CAS as SCA. So TomisMom, I’m with alamemom here- your son WILL be accepted at USC in the CAS. Just have a little more patience.</p>
<p>@menloparkmom, just to make sure that we don’t confuse other readers. I used CAS as an acronym for the College of Arts and Sciences. I wasn’t aware that the acceptance rate for CAS, in general, is that low. Maybe you meant that only 4% of CAS applicants get considered for a scholarship… I expected CAS’s acceptance rate (scholarship or no scholarship) to be more in line with USC overall rate of about 20% – which is still pretty tough, don’t get me wrong.</p>
<p>@alamemom, raddad, thanks again for the encouragement. I’ll be sure to post the good news should our assumptions be proven wrong in the days to come :-)</p>
<p>Teachcounsel and Tomismom, you make very solid points. I just want to add that getting admitted to an ivy is very similar to being considered for a merit award at USC in that you cannot predict which very deserving highest achieving students will be selected for which program. As we see all the time on cc, it is not uncommon for a student to be accepted to Harvard, but not to Yale. Or accepted to Yale and not to Harvard. And, as you noted, it’s from this same pool of exceptional students that USC finds candidates for Trustee and Presidential scholarships. Since each university will have an over-abundance of excellently qualified applicants from which to choose, their own priorities will come into play.</p>
<p>When my S was invited to interview for Trustee (2008), we were really shocked. I think it was his out-of-school achievements that pushed him over the top. He had the required high stats (also offered merit awards at CMU and WashU, for example) but so do many many others. Perhaps what pushed him over the tip was that he had finagled an internship not open to HS students which led to a serious, no bs rec letter from the co’s director of design (which he also sent my S–not being a school rec). In his SCA major, perhaps that sort of initiative and a professional recommendation may have made his application stand out. Who can know?</p>
<p>The other point that may have come through is that my S really wanted to go to USC–his first choice. If a student looks down on USC and only applied as a distant back-up and to see how much $$ they would be offered, that attitude (if it comes across) could sink their interview.</p>