@StacysMom24 congratulations and good luck to your D! USD is amazing but very costly, it’s been my D’s dream but she is realistic and knows we can’t afford it.
D received a packet 2 days ago from USD and the first thing that popped out was a letter saying she would be receiving merit aid, either the Alcala, trustee, or presidential, but it didn’t say which one nor did it provide any financial aid.
At this point D is pretty set on UCLA (can’t blame her) but if USD can through with enough to make it worthwhile she may possibly consider. I’m just wondering how much longer it will take to get the financial aid up on their website.
Oh and her box thing still says “committee review”. We gave up checking their website when her box remained on “complete ready” until we received an email with the congratulations video. We are definitely not impressed with their process.
still nothing…
Sorry, but for $70k a year, I’d expect SO much more. I suspect there will be a job posting (or two) at USD for an enrollment management director as well as a communications and marketing director in the near future.
Not a good impression for sure. The other privates I applied to were much more organized and responsive. They also seem like they want me to attend and gave me great merit. I get the sense from USD that they feel I’m lucky to get to attend and no merit. Very disappointed with how they have handled the admission process and makes me wonder if this is representative of how they run their school and how they treat the students.
My D still has not heard anything. Portal changed to committee review yesterday. She is our fourth child to go through the college admissions process and we have never seen anything as unprofessional as this experience with USD. Admitted student day is about a week away and they are still reviewing applications with absolutely zero communication regarding the delay? Unacceptable. We will be asking for an application fee refund. I don’t expect to receive it but as another poster said- for a $70,000 price tag, we expect to be treated with more consideration. The admissions team really needs to reassess this process.
Wow - - USD’s college admissions team gets an F. Unforgivable lack of communication from USD about their delays in finalizing decisions. This compared to excellent communication from every other school to which my son applied. We had to call and email yesterday just before 5 pm to finally elicit a response that he had been waitlisted. I wonder if they would have had the courtesy to let him know if we hadn’t reached out. I am frankly relieved that he was not admitted because I realize that this is likely a preview of how they take care of their students. Not worth 70k per year. USD this post is for you - - I hope you learn something from all these posters about your giant fail. Oh, and you can stuff your very late waitlist spot. My son is going to a better school and one that is treating him well and giving him merit aid.
Syracuse was worse - I called three times and given BS answers and unbelievably rude. My D still have not heard anything. Supposedly by D’s application was in committee review on 03/28. USD was slow but at least they were respectful when answering questions.
She’s probably on the waiting list for those scholarships. Students that were offered those scholarships still have to accept or deny them. Based on how USD merit scholarships are given out (top 10% of admitted students receiving the Alcala scholarship and so on…) they still have to hear back from everyone before they can transfer the scholarship to students who were not originally in the top 10%. Personally, I was very happy with the admissions team at USD. I received all of my information (the admissions packet, invitation/admission to the honors program, and a scholarship for 41.7k/year) in the span of 1 month. I am curious why that is not the case for everyone.
Honestly so confused that people are just NOW hearing their decisions. I applied regular and I heard back in early March. I was very pleased with the admissions and financial aid offices. I was accepted, invited to apply to the honors program, and I received the Alcala scholarship and an additional 16.7k. I even submitted my honors application and heard back with my acceptance 1 WEEK LATER! I will be going there next year because it is not only the cheapest school for me and my parents, but they have a great engineering program, and it is honestly a great school! Sorry to everyone that is having a rough time with the admissions office, but honestly, I wouldn’t let that get in the way of considering USD. A school has so much more to offer than miscommunication during the application process.
@kjoneno That is really a good question. Why aren’t they all done at the same time, or why some before others? This is another reason I give them poor marks. My son submitted his application in OCTOBER, and wasn’t sent ONE email until April 4th when some hokie video (…”you’re going to want to click this video, trust me”) came. If it takes a month for them to notify him of merit (and he is well qualified, USD was an academic safety in hope of some merit) that takes us beyond May 1 commit date. Truth is, most kids have already made decisions even weighted for merit. The month of April should be left for last minute visits, not waiting for merit. It’s a good thing this wasn’t his first choice. And my daughter (a year behind) will NOT be applying, she has already told us that
Have you heard anything on merit?
@jewels2 I just checked the portal and it says we would pay $70,999. No list of any financial aid. I am still holding out on hope that something will be offered. This is my daughters #1. She got offered over $41,000 at both Chapman and Gonzaga in Merit and scholarships. Uggh. The waiting is painful. We visit USD and other Universities this weekend
@Msabyss don’t you find it ridiculous that you have no sight into merit as you head into the visit weekend? SO frustrating. I’m not flying to San Diego (or anywhere else) at this point unless and until they can provide the merit package
I just called and spoke with admissions after seeing the $70,999 price tag on my son’s portal. They said if a student is awarded merit it will be in the letter they receive with their acceptance package. If it’s not in that letter, they didn’t receive anything.
@sharkbites we had booked airfare to originally see Chapman as they offered my daughter a great scholarship package and we hoped to visit USD again if My daughter had gotten an equal offer. She has since heard from USD as of this afternoon, that she has received some scholarship, not as much as Chapman. I am crunching the numbers. It will be a long shot. Right now Chapman is looking more favorable but USD has a better Biology program. So will clarify on Friday with both schools.
@Msabyss well I’m glad you finally heard from them. I couldn’t speak to the comparison on biology programs, but I will say that my nephew is currently at Chapman and is very happy, and they’ve given him good money (and work on campus I believe too). My son has decided to pass on USD regardless of what merit they MIGHT offer (yes, we STILL don’t know on 4/10) as he’s been admitted to Tulane with some merit (not a ton, but more than USD I assume). Good luck with your visit and hope it works out well.
D received email that financial aid is posted. She received 22k in scholarship $. Already committed to another school. Had USD gotten her acceptance and this info out 30 days earlier they would have been considered. ??♀️ for future kids reference: gpa 3.93/4.24 SAT 1320. outstanding ECs
I decided to commit to Chapman. USD had been my dream school for years, but I didn’t receive any merit from them. I received $18K from Chapman and when I toured both schools and looked deeper in the Business programs, I felt Chapman had more to offer anyway. Chapman made me feel as if they wanted me to come, whereas USD was more like you get to come. 
Very big difference in merit scholarship. My admission counselor sent me a link to appeal the merit decision, but I didn’t bother. I’m very happy with my choice to attend Chapman!
Y’all make me feel lucky to get in with the Presidential Scholarship. In all honesty, I’m probably not going so waitlisted people can have my spot. I’m sure their yield this year will be abominable.