Thought I would start a thread regarding the upcoming notices from USC about Trustee (full tuition) vs Presidential (half tuition) awards that are due to be sent out in the next week or so. If you believe past threads from 2017 and 2016, it is possible that the announcements could be mailed this Friday, January 19 or Monday, January 22nd. USC would probably suggest end of January to keep everyone surprised. My guess is that students will start to receive notices as early as Saturday, Januasry 20, possibly 22nd or 23, with students outside CA starting to receive them early next week. This is all speculation on my part.
Has anyone received it, yet?
There are many threads already with this info including Class of 2022 where the speculation and posting continues.
When I started this thread, I was fairly new to CC and did not know that the general USC Class of 2022 thread was going to cover the topic of merit awards. Nevertheless, I will answer here for anyone that comes to this thread, that it appears most likely that the USC scholarship letters/packages were either mailed today, January 22 or will be sent tomorrow, January 23.
Last year they were sent on Monday, January 23. lf they were sent today, which seems plausible, we can expect some students near USC or in Southern CA to report getting some of them by 11am or noon tomorrow, January 23. Some students will probably start to post whether they received or not, on the USC Class of 2022 thread kindly linked above by CADREAMIN.
If the USC merit awards are mailed tomorrow instead, we can probably expect to start hearing by Wednesday from locals in Southern CA and Thursday in other parts of CA and the country. USC will reportedly update the portal by Friday at 10pm (PST) so the wait should be not be too long to know the answer. I believe they also send an email or a letter to those who were not fortunate to be offered a merit award (slow boat) likely to arrive next week. Good luck to everyone!
@renight, several have posted receiving merit awards today in Southern California. The postings will continue tomorrow with Northern CA, other parts of Southern CA, and many others states around the country. Good luck!
These are physically mailed, not emailed correct?
^^^ both mailed and emailed… but not emailed until later… likely Friday. Mailed yesterday, but only if a merit offering.
@“uscihave_questions!”, Yes, the merit scholarships have reportedly been physically mailed. The consensus is that the USC portal may update by approximately 12:30am Pacific Time on January 26th.
where can I find the USC portal? I seem to always find the financial aid one
you.usc.edu
I live in Orange County and I got a physical mail with packets on presidential award and an acceptance letter…did anyone receive it yet?
Congrats @abell73 . Fight On!
@abell73, fantastic! Did you also get an invitation to interview? It has been reported that some who are offered a Presidential merit award are invited to interview, while others may not.
If there is an invitation to interview for your award in the box, it reportedly means you must show up at one of the Explore USC dates that USC offers (starting mid February and through about the first week of March), and do well to get that award. It is reportedly possible to be bumped up to a full tuition Trustee award, or bumped down to a Dean’s 1/4, or in some less common cases (reported by some on CC) possible to be offered less.
If offered a Presidential award without an interview, it reportedly means you have that award and do not have to travel to USC to interview for it.
Once again, congratulations to you and your family!
A word on when the portal updates. It has been reported that in the past few years or more, the portal has updated at approximately between 3am (EST) and 3:30am, about three days after the mailing.
In this case, since we know that the merit letters were mailed yesterday, assuming USC does not change their previous habits, the portal should update approximately starting 3am (EST) Friday morning (January 26th).
It was also posted that not everyone will be updated, but it may take several hours for everyone to get their portal update and notification. I believe it was posted that an email will be sent out by USC when the portal has been updated. I am fairly new to CC, so I am only reporting what I have read from others who have been through this process. If in doubt, check with USC Admissions.
Would you mind sharing your major? Credentials? @abell73
Just got mine today!!! Finalist for Trustee, and two others that I don’t remember the name of!!
@vegucated26 what major are you and what state are you from if you don’t mind my asking?
@vegucated26 what is your major and what state are you from if you don’t mind me asking?
@Nomorelurker dang you’re on top of things! I saw this before I called USC, and they pretty much said the same thing! I heard that it’s extremely rare to get bumped up, so I just hope I stay on Presidential scholarship…
@“uscihave_questions!” I was surprised to get an acceptance because I had more than 5 B’s (less than 10 tho). My GPA wasn’t the best in my school but I did have a 35 one-seating on ACT, 800 on SAT math II and SAT foreign language test (will not be named for privacy reason), and over 750 on US history. I didn’t have a good SAT bio score and I wasn’t the PSAT National merit thing.
I did have one national award and did a research with a professor but what you should really take away from is you REALLY REALLY have to dig deep into the major you’re passionate about. I was the founder of a club that was related to my major, did competitions in that field, and did my research in that field as well, which is why I think they accepted me.
*I applied to the School of Arts and Science, btw!