I love usc. My son is a sophomore and cannot say enough about how wonderful the school is…but I have to tell you, I’m so frustrated now. My daughter is up for a trustee scholarship and we still haven’t heard anything yet. I don’t think either one of us have slept…we’re from NJ. I think usc should have a better system in place.
Sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 6:15 a.m. Pacific time my son’s portal was updated. He interviewed for and received the Presidential Scholarship. He is National Merit Finalist so no worse than we already knew but really hoped for some kind of bump up to help with affordability. Like many others here he has other higher ranked choices (in engineering) without as much out of pocket expense, so some tough choices ahead. Good luck to those who haven’t yet heard and congratulations to those who received what you wanted (or better). Good luck to everyone with the choices you’ll be making in the coming weeks.
I’ve seen trustee, presidential, presidential bumped down to deans and one trustee down to presidential. At this rate I’m expecting to be one of those trustee down to $500…LOL
@marylousquires, I feel your pain. I was up til close to 2am before I fell asleep, only to wake up at 7am (PST) with still no result. Fortunately, we got the result before our S left for school this morning. Totally agree that there must be a better way to do this! Hope it will be good news for your D when she finds out.
Hope it’s good news for you as well @bigchoices2018. I know it’s frustrating to have to keep waiting and checking. Congrats to @kevbostic even though NMF, at least it’s not a bump down which might be disappointing in some sense.
So, USC is giving folks Merit Aid and those folks are finding out their acceptance before everyone else and yet folks are still kvetching? There are a lot of folks who are going to get rejected by USC that would LOVE those problems.
@JohnGaltlll, understand that it may seem like some are complaining, and it is certainly great to be admitted early and be offerred any merit, but for some students and families, not getting the merit they interviewed for, may in fact be the equivalent of a “rejection” as some won’t be able to afford to attend USC.
And some that have yet to be admitted may find they cannot afford USC.when they get their financial aid package. I saw no holding back from USC at to the details about these awards and the possibilities of not getting awards for which one was interviewed. You are still finding out the information before most applicants as to the cost of attendance.and most would quickly trade places to at least get an admissions answer as early. And it does not just “seem” like it…
@JohnGaltIII Sorry about my complaining…I hear you. My bad. I just wish there was a better system in place, but you’re right…I sounded awful.
Have any Thornton Music students received notice of Trustee or Presidential scholarships yet?
I understand. There are serious systemic flaws to this entire college system and folks in the middle class are bearing the brunt of those flaws. For the top 30 colleges you have to be very rich or very poor to attend. USC has a lot less flaws than some I will not mention here…
@JohnGaltIII ^^ This is absolutely true for my family. My son applied to USC because it offered the full tuition Trustee scholarship (about 100). At other schools, it’s nearly all need-met aid, very little or nothing in merit. We had hoped that on the chance he was accepted to USC AND was in the running for a scholarship, we could afford to send him. If the award isn’t the Trustee (or a close equivalent as one student was awarded Presidential plus $25K Annenberg) then we have no choice but to decline the admission. While it may sound like kvetching, the reality is, the scholarship result may work as a de facto rejection.
@ JohnGaltIII I think we all understand what you’re trying to say, but for an individual holding out on his scholarship decision, the anxiety and frustrations/joys just shouldn’t be compared and contrasted with someone just holding out for decision. I don’t really think any is greater or less because it’s all subjective to the person.
From my experience weighing people’s emotions only leads to quarrels, and judging from the atmosphere, this forum is for us to exchange knowledge and express our anxieties together as people who are generally in the same boat. 
@MrReshokar It is the same boat for everyone because most of those folks waiting on the admissions have to wait even longer for their financial aid number to arrive. The stress is no more or less. But you are correct is that I should not complain about the complaining. Because then someone will complain about my complaining about the complaining and at some point we breach the space-time continuum,
Does anyone know when and how they notify Viterbi engineering students if they have been selected for any special program like Engineering Honors Program or the Viterbi Fellows research program? Was hoping it would come with the notification of scholarship (and it may have for others), but did not for us sadly. Hoping maybe comes later?
@JohnGaltIII Haha “space-time continuum” lol :)) :)) :))
Maybe I’ll try the opposite approach…mine is probably not out yet because they’re trying to find ways to add even more money to my scholarship :)) @JohnGaltIII Totally get your point, I think my whining stems from my inherent impatience 
If people turn down trustees does it get re-awarded to someone else?
^^Yea, I was wondering the same… Can scholarships be upgraded if a few of the scholarship recipients do not end up attending?
A lot of schools say they don’t but I really hope USC does because I really need this scholarship to attend and it’s my #1
I am certain that it is much more complicated than that. I am certain they must have a yield expectation in the same way they have such an expectation for general acceptances of offers of admission. Also they have allocated budgets which they could either exceed or not based on the expected yield versus actual yield. What they do with any excess if their actual yield is lower than their expected yield is really the question here. They may apply that remaining budget somewhere else or retain for next year as a hedge against possible unexpected higher yields, or maybe as you have suggested offer some or all of that excess $$ to a another student - who knows.