Just joining the chorus of “no” responses. My son was disappointed as he will graduate with honors from Florida’s oldest prep school and a 31 ACT along with many AP and honors courses, captain of football and baseball teams, but still not enough. Will still consider USC depending on money offered though.
My son also received “no” envelope - strong stats (1480 SAT and lots of honors but nothing compared to @janyon !) For what it is worth, my daughter is a sophomore at USC and she mentioned that a few girls in her sorority are in the honors program and it creates a lot of stress - yes, prestigious, but a lot of pressure. She mentioned the special projects, very small class sizes. While these sound great to parents, they put a lot of pressure on the students. My daughter loves USC and is excelling academically Even without being in Honors! We love being a part of the Gamecock family! Not sure if it is right fit for my son, however.
Rejected. 34 ACT, probably like a 4.1? GPA on their scale, excellent LOR, okay EC’s, very demanding course load… I’m assuming the nail in the coffin was me writing about how I thought the Unabomber’s Manifesto was interesting and relevant in one of the supplements. Note to self: don’t write what you actually think in supplements. Create an idealized version of yourself without any controversial opinions to portray to AOs.
Another “no” envelope here too. Similar strong stats (33 act, 4.4 GPA, very good leadership, ECs, etc). Essays were decent, but not knocked out of the park.
Kind of bummed because honors admission would have meant a for sure yes for daughter to go to USC. Now it’s a debate again. She really loved it when she visited and almost seemed ready to sign on the dotted line. They have offered substantial merit (exact number still TBD) and this would work much better financially than Tulane (30K more/yr), her other choice. The two schools couldn’t be more different and she likes for different reasons. Anyone else grappling with turning down a higher ranked school for USC? She likes Tulane slightly more, but not sure I’m convinced it’s worth the investment. We can technically pay for either, just one would be a whole heck of a lot more comfortable!
@LuckyCharms913 - would you be able to chime in? I seem to recall you were in similar position debating between USC and Tulane. What do you think, despite no HC?
My daughter turned down Penn State and NC State over USC (I think Penn State is higher ranked. Not sure about NC State). The merit scholarship can’t be beat. She will graduate in 4 years for under $100k (she is now participating via Academic Common Market and gets in-state tuition). Save your money for grad school! These days, these kids will need it!
Like most large schools, USC probably takes the top 1 or 2% for honors. My daughter got the small envelope too, along with one from Clemson on the same day. 1490/5.03. It’s down to Furman and USC, Both schools are neck and neck. Much more affordable than Clemson and our flagship state U in N.J.
@doglover2001 We are in the same boat. My D loved USC at the accepted students visit and after sitting in the Arnold School of Public Health sessions, had decided that she would be very happy to attend USC instead of Tulane, which is her first choice and where she got a bit of merit and even some need based aid.
Isn’t the in state tuition at USC still about $30K? The other wrench thrown in for us is that Florida State is ranked higher than USC and she might get into that Honors College (although average ACT is a 33, so we wait…) and it will only cost about $10K/year and she can graduate in 3 years. We are in a tough spot!
@doglover2001 You have a good memory! My D did choose USC over Tulane four years ago. The cost differential was less than you’re looking at (more like $12,000-15,000/year; I understand that Tulane’s merit is less generous now than it was). We could have stretched to afford Tulane, but happily, she decided on USC after revisiting.
She has had a wonderful four years there. I think the Honors College was a big deal initially, but became less so as time went on. First, classes (usually?) get smaller as you advance in your major, so the Honors College designation matters less. My D had several tiny classes, but she still had 250 student sections for Intro classes like Finance and Management.
Early registration was nice, but students who are competitive for the HC probably have some AP credits that will provide advanced standing anyway. This is also helpful in bypassing some crowded classes; e.g., she tested out of Micro and Macro, which would have been big classes; but that had nothing to do with Honors, just with AP credit.
The Honors dorm was very nice and she made great friends there. But it’s only for a year, so it’s not like it’s a permanent community (none of the dorms are, as most students move off campus by Year 2). My D spent some time at the Capstone dorm and thought that was a lot of fun, even though the location wasn’t quite as convenient. I mention that because it’s likely that all these high performers who didn’t get accepted into Honors are strong candidates for Capstone.
The financial implications mattered most in two cases: getting home at breaks, and when studying abroad. We flew her back and forth several times for Thanksgiving and for winter and spring breaks without worrying (much) about the cost. We also covered a lot of her travel expenses when she studied abroad. She generally covered her “fun” while at school with money earned in the summers and during the school year. But she didn’t work when she was in Spain and her schedule allowed for quite a bit of travel; so we were willing (and able) to supplement her savings so she could travel widely. This was probably one of the most valuable aspects of her undergrad career and had nothing to do with Honors— USC has a robust study abroad program.
Finally, there is so much fun that has nothing to do with academics: football games, parties, bars, scavenger hunts, Five Points and the Vista, etc.
Depending on your D’s major, the Honors College may not make a big difference in her academic experience. I think my D (and I) would have had the same hesitation you have if she hadn’t been admitted to Honors; but looking back, I think USC would have been the right choice for her anyway.
@elcs76 Man you’ve got some great choices there, that’s awesome! But doesn’t make it easy to choose that’s for sure. We calculated her to be at either 21K or 23K for USC since will get in state tuition plus either 2K or 4K additional off. My gut says it’ll come out at 23K. Tulane would be around 51K based on their merit offer. For you, FSU sounds like a tough one to turn down. Admittedly I don’t know much about the school but it sounds pretty great!
@LuckyCharms913 Thanks so much for your feedback - it’s immensely helpful! Your cost differential was less, but definitely 12-15k over 4 years is still pretty substantial. We did tell our D that we could afford Tulane, but it sounds like she is cognizant of how much more comfortable USC would be. As a result, we’d be a lot more lenient with doing some “extra” experiences like travel aboad, May-mester trips, rush a sorority, etc. And great point about the AP credits - think she’ll have around 30 and didn’t realize that helped with priority registration.
@skib - you have no idea how much your comment hit home. Our D definitely has been blessed with a pretty good brain which has resulted in good grades and test scores. However she’s definitely susceptible to anxiety and kind of shuts down when excess pressure to succeed is put on her, so maybe this is a blessing in disguise because of her situation?
Thanks all for your help! This community reminds me of the people we met on admitted students day - so warm and welcoming! 
Has anyone still not heard? I have got nothing in the mail
Capstone letters usually go out in early March. That’s when my son received his last year. Good luck!
They just emailed about scholarships and capstone! I didnt get into the HC but i still got a big scholarship as well as an admittance to capstone!
Quick question - my daughter was accepted to the Honors college and her letter said to “keep an eye out for your scholarship offer coming in March. All Honors College students qualify for merit awards from the university”
Today she got the email notifying her to check her portal for her scholarship offer, which was $2k plus in-state tuition. It didn’t mention anything about Honors but I’m assuming this is the same scholarship that the Honors letter mentioned. Is that correct or is there an Honors specific scholarship beyond this one? I thought at some point in this journey I had heard of Honors College “departmental” scholarships.
Thanks!
My daughter was also notified today that she received the $2k offer. She is very excited to attend USCHC!
I have the same question as @MominPA2017 our original letter indicated that in state tuition would be forthcoming…then when he got the honors college acceptance it also indicated honors merit money…so can we expect another offer for honors or is this is? Its still very generous so I am not complaining…just curious…all this waiting!!! and wondering!! We visit in March and can’t wait. I am hoping he loves it.
Things can change, but the timeline for my D four years ago was: Accepted into Honors College in December via mailed letter saying she would get merit award that at a minimum would bring cost to In State tuition. In February, received letter saying in-state plus $2,000/year. My understanding is that the amount she received was not related to Honors, meaning her stats would have garnered the same award whether or not she was accepted (or had even applied) for the Honors College.
She did not receive any additional 1st year awards, but there were some available through the Honors College. I think they generally depended on major, what county you were from, etc. Now that I think of it, near the end of first year, she got an award from the Honors College for a Maymester study abroad, but I’m pretty certain that was it. Still turned out to be a great value (we’re from PA and cost was about $10,000/year less than Pitt, plus D much preferred USC anyway).
Congrats to all that got accepted! My son got accepted into the Honors College back in December (1490 SAT, 4.5 UW, 3.8 W). He just got the letter saying that he is eligible for in-state tuition as well as $2000/year scholarship. As it stands right now, he is leaning towards University of Florida. From an economics standpoint, it is the one that makes sense for us. I calculated the out of pocket cost a year based on the published COA for both schools and it looks like we will have to shell out about $20k a year if he goes to USCHC versus $7k a year (with Florida Prepaid and Florida Bright Futures) if he goes to UF.
We received email last night re: son’s acceptance as a Capstone scholar. Although he did not get into Honors, this offfer sweetens the pot as it provides in-state tuition plus $500 per year. He was accepted to Clemson with absolutely no merit award. USC is so good about courting these high achieving students with merit aid - makes it hard to pass down despite its supposed lower ranking than Clemson. My daughter is currently a sophomore at USC (also received in-state tuition) and she LOVES it! We are looking forward to going to admitted students day on March 23. NCAA basketball tournament will be at Colonial Life Arena that weekend so Columbia will be rocking! Such a fun town!
Last night Son received capstone admission which was pleasant surprise since scholars was a no go as expected. He got instate tuition and $500 a yr. Very excited. He has high stats but not the highest so got good scholarship offers.We are from WV so he could be honors and get great scholarship at WVU. We visited Ohio state yesterday and it was really awesome. Waiting on the buckeye scholarship from Ohio fingers crossed. Going to visit USC soon and cant wait. So probably write off Penn state cause similar enough to Ohio but no $ for us. The big question for me is what about U of Florida cause was so excited to get in such a highly rated school with great campus but is a 11 hr drive- also no $ for us. So as others have said we may narrow down to OSU and USC and will have leftover money for abroad experiences. It is all very exciting. Good luck everyone. We need name tags for the admitted student events so we can say hi.
Congrats to everyone who was accepted. DS received his email last night, in state tuition plus $4k yr in additional merit aid (HC admission was in December). Even with the assistance, the cost is $2-3k higher per year than either UNC or NCSU, his other two schools which are both in-state. Good luck to everyone.