<p>I am currently a freshman at Georgetown University and I will make this short and concise. I am from North Carolina. I applied to USC last fall and it was my #1 choice and I got accepted with a $10,000 a year merit scholarship. I was also accepted to other school including Georgetown who matched my $10,000 USC scholarship. I wanted to go to USC but my parents had cold feet about sending me across the country at 18 so they would not let me matriculate. I am now having major regrets about not going to USC and my parents are allowing me to apply as a transfer for Sophomore year. However, I am worried about my chances of being readmitted and re-earning my initial scholarship. </p>
<p>My stats are as follows</p>
<p>High School: Graduated #4 in my class of 280 with 4.8 GPA, 33 super score ACT and 2180 SAT. </p>
<p>Georgetown first semester stats: Looking like at worst I will be pulling a 3.61 GPA with my classes being Biology, Acting, Bio lab, French, and Calculus.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how USC treats transfers? Do I have a chance of being readmitted? Any chance of ever seeing my scholarship back from USC?</p>
<p>It is my dream school and I wish I would have pushed harder to attend the first time, however, I guess I do get my parents reasoning as to why they would not initially let me attend.</p>
<p>USC admits lots of transfers, and I think you would have a very good chance. However, all scholarship offers are off the table when you turn them down (they make that clear in their admissions materials). I think that the only way you get aid is to file a FAFSA with them and then see if they give you merit again.</p>
<p>I think your best option would be to contact the admissions office directly and explain your situation. I expect that you’ll be admitted for transfer, your financial aid package is more difficult to predict.</p>
<p>I think Vince has it right. If you were admitted before it’s likely that you’ll be admitted again unless you absolutely bomb out of G’town, which I doubt will happen. That said, the money issue is a different ball of wax. Yes, USC does offer merit aid to transfers although I think a lot of that is reserved for CC transfers as that’s generally a different pool of applicants than transfers from other universities. It’s harder to transfer from one four year to another in the sense that you’ve already started down the path of fulfilling G’town’s GE requirements and they’re likely not going to be the same as USC’s; I actually found USC’s GE requirements to be tiny and lacking.</p>
<p>I would contact the admissions office directly and simply explain to them your situation. I understand it’s an emotional thing for you but your situation is perfectly understandable and completely and totally normal. My folks were very worried about me going off on my own too and when I dropped off the brother of mine that drove west with me at LAX, my heart actually skipped a beat because I realized that I was really, truly on my own. You certainly won’t be the only person who’s come to USC from far away (friends of mine came from Singapore and Germany) but it’s a challenge standing on your own for the very first time and internalizing that you and you alone are responsible for yourself.</p>
<p>There’s no harm in applying obviously apart from the soul-crushing experience of applying to college itself but figure that at worst you’re going to be “stuck” at oh so horrible Georgetown University… there are worse things in life than to be “stuck” at a school like that. And G’town is probably going to have strong programs in many of the same fields that USC does, save for specialties like USC’s film school or G’town’s school of foreign service.</p>
<p>Hey buddy, don’t go crying to the administration or admissions office with the mea culpa. Apply and explain your change of heart in a mature and matter of fact way. I’m on record that I’m not a fan of transfers but you obviously are an exception and attend a USC caliber school, IMO, and a 3.6 from Georgetown is equivalent to a “5.0” at any CC. I had a buddy from Stanford transfer to USC after one year (to study architecture) and a roomie from UCLA who did the same. You are not alone. USC will welcome you like a prodigal son, trust me.</p>
<p>Most merit scholarships are reserved for those entering freshman year. They are useful to encourage a very high caliber of student to attend and work quite well to continually increase the admit stats. However, transferring students, no matter how accomplished, do not add their scores/gpas to the averages each school reports. In other words, there is less incentive to bring in transfer students–enough want to attend on their own. OTOH, once a student is at USC, there are a number of merit scholarships available to continuing students by department, as well as smaller awards that can be applied for such as those offered by alumni associations of various regions. These tend to go to very high achieving students and would be available to you (should be admitted and decide to transfer) starting in your junior year.</p>
<p>If you qualify for financial aid, that will remain the same as if you attended as a freshman so long as your family financial info (and the number of siblings in college) has remained the same.</p>
<p>Good luck. Apply and see what happens. And sorry you are not happy at Georgetown. Things often look better second semester.</p>