@bigchoices2018 AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Good things do come to those who wait! @saltandpeppery Bravo! Woohoo to you too!
Woahhhh Just checked update today after many hours of fruitless refreshing and checking. Awarded the Trustees after being interviewed for the Presidential (bumped up!!!) Thanks God and thanks to @marylousquires for giving the heads up! Been a long three days for me here!
Congratulations @MrReshokar ⊠thatâs the best news I have read on this forum so far!! Well done!!
Great news indeed!!! But I think everyone else on this thread went to bed. Exhausting for sure!
<:-P @MrReshokar Thatâs fantastic news! Congratulations!!
Wow. I see thereâs been a lot more great news here since I went out last night and took a break from CC :-). Congrats to all who got the news they were waiting so patiently for!!! @saltyandpeppery, @willibethere, and to @MrReshokar for the incredible bump up!!! I am certain that S would be proud to call you all his peers and buildling mates in McCarthy if we can make it work next week.
Somebody posted earlier on this thread that this happens every year and that it was NOT an IT problem. Clearly, USC IS having IT problems not only with the scholarship results but many portal delays and crashes for many of the 55,000 who have unfortunately been up long hours and some all night to get their RD results.
Hope USC can find a way to not repeat this next time. Maybe it would make sense to invest in more servers or whatever it takes to make it smoother in the future. Emails may be the way to go? Meanwhile, hope some of you who still have not heard will continue to get more good news. Happy Sunday! No doubt it will be for some on this thread. Unfortunately, only about 13% will be celebrating on the other thread this weekend :-(.
Congratulations everyone!! One of you scholars needs to major in Comp Sci so we can avoid future portal issues. 
Does anyone know if we will receive anything in the mail for Presidential/Trustee Scholars?
In case anyone missed reading thisâŠhereâs another reason for each of you to be proud of:
https://news.usc.edu/139338/usc-acceptance-rate-fall-2018-admission/
I just wanted to ask what perks besides housing and the money do merit scholarship kids get? I got Presidential for Marshall and I am having a tough time weighing my options so far (UCLA & Cornellâs Dyson Business School).
@ApexDude I believe you will also be eligible for exceptional funding where you can take more than 18 credits at no extra cost. Iâm not sure if there are more perks. Are you making a pro/con list of your choices? It would help to see the pros/cons listed in black and white. But it may not all be tied into the perks associated with being a scholarship student. Have you considered the school as a whole? Maybe cost is a factor. Is one school much more affordable for you? Maybe itâs the curriculum. Does one school have a special program, or research initiative (or even a professor) that youâre interested in? As a public school, UCLA may have larger classes, and the UCâs have âimpacted majorsâ where registering for certain classes and even graduating on time can be a challenge. Cornell and USC are private and have high tuition; will you be able to remain if your GPA falls below the minimum required to maintain the scholarship?
The hardest to quantify, and something only you can answer, is where do you feel you best fit? Have you been able to visit these schools, and if you were lucky enough to do so, how did you feel about the school, other students, etc.
Congratulations on being accepted to three great schools, and best wishes on your college decision.
Thank you for this very thoughtful response! Yes, I am trying to assemble a pros and cons list for both. As of now, it is really between Cornellâs Dyson and Marshall. I am still waiting for Ivy Day and Berkeley as well. I really appreciate the list of questions you assembled, I will apply them to my thought process!
@ApexDude, I agree with many of the points made by @hafamama. It is definitely a great idea to make a pro and con list for any two schools you have narrowed down. If you can afford USC and feel confident about maintaining a 3.0 GPA to maintain your scholarship (which should not be too difficult to do), I agree that USC is preferable to UCLA on many levels, including many that she mentioned. There are probably other (very biased ) threads on CC that compare USC and UCLA.
I also agree with @hafamama that the decision between USC and Cornell may be more difficult and interesting. I would add to that discussion the question of where you think you might want to live and work after graduation? A Cornell business degree is going to have possibly more weight in NY, Boston and the Northeast where many companies are impressed with Ivy schools and directly recruit. Certain majors in business like Finance may be better recruited at Cornell if you want to work on Wall Street.
Taking nothing away from Cornell, which has excellent programs, USC Marshall is an excellent business school too. Honestly, job prospects will likely be better in Southern CA and CA in general with a Marshall degree. USC is also well respected in Asian countries such as Japan and China in case you plan to work internationally. No doubt others will argue that the âTrojan Familyâ is powerful across all of the country, but I think Cornell has better national branding. Just my opinion though. Of course, weather is a huge factor in the winter months, which may or may not be a consideration for you, but Ithaca ainât fun in January! Cal Berkeley does not have direct admit to business so you would have to apply to Haas as a sophomore and from what I hear, it is extremely competitive. Many end up having to major in Econ. The Bay Area is great, but again, CAL has very large classes like UCLA and I personally donât care for the immediate area around CAL, too many indigents harassing students. I know there are some who would say the USC area should be factored in as well. No doubt of the three, UCLA is probably in the âsafestâ area but I believe USC to be safe if you are aware of the issues and pay attention to your surroundings, which you should do at any school. Good luck.
The main reason we drop a candidate from Trustee to a lower, or no, award is the studentâs behavior during the interview. Interviews are conducted by a team of faculty, senior staff, and an award student. We have read at least six dossiers for that dayâs interviews. We are looking for NEW information we did not find in the submitted documents. We understand when students are nervous, shy, or overwhelmed. We usually cannot get past a student who replies with canned, memorized lines that do not respond to a question, or outright obfuscation, or deliberate talking over somebody else who is speaking. Also, students who seem likely to move from our school to another will be dropped. If you interview for a Trustee scholarship from Viterbi and you spend your interview talking about how great Cinematic Arts is, youâre a risk nobody from Viterbi wants to take. This applies to all schools.
@ttrojan I read your post above ^^ and frankly, Iâm not sure how to respond, or even if I should, primarily because Iâm not sure what was your motivation in posting it. It certain would have been a lot more helpful for us to have had this information before the interview, rather than after the scholarship results!
I had rationalized various reasons my son was dropped from Trustee candidate to Directors recipient. But based on your post, it seems that the âmain reasonâ was his behavior during the interview, and the fact that the panel did not get new information. I realize that maybe he doesnât interview so well, and perhaps his answers and overall demeanor just didnât cut it. Oh well. It is what it is.
I met some great kids and parents during Explore USC, and virtually through CC. Iâm sincerely happy for all the scholarship recipients, and they deserve recognition for their hard work.
But TBH I really wish I hadnât read your post.
@hafamama Someone that actual represents USC or has their applicants best interests at heart, would not post something angry like that or spiteful like the one made in the Spring Admission thread that insults every spring admit. 3 posts in last 3 years. I would disregard it all. Likely holding a grudge.
@Nomorelurker I read your post mentioning the need to maintain a 3.0 to keep the scholarship. May I ask where you are seeing this information about USC scholarships? My daughter was awarded a Presidential scholarship, and I can find no mention of a minimum GPA â just the need to make satisfactory academic progress toward the degree. She will most likely attend USC, and I want to make sure we are aware of all requirements to maintain the scholarship. Thanks!
@Isoinfo, congrats on your daughterâs Presidential. I could not find anything current about GPA requirements for Trustee and Presidential on the USC website, but I believe as of 2 years ago or so, 3.0 was the minimum GPA required to maintain those USC scholarships. It may have changed so itâs definitely something to look into if your D matriculates at USC.
Daughter is accepted. She is NMF and has selected USC as her 1st choice of university. She was not invited for merit based scholarship interview- Will she still get the half tuition off? I was searching USC site but couldnât find a clear answer. Thanks!
Not sure its current, but I Googled âusc presidential gpa requirementâ and found the following on the school website.
âUSC Merit Scholarships
Scholarships are awarded based on academic excellence, leadership, service, talent and other criteria speci c to the individual program. Meeting the stated requirements does not guarantee that youâll receive a particular scholarship;
our scholarship recipients often exceed the minimum criteria. Recipients must enroll full-time (16 units each semester)
and maintain a cumulative GPA at USC of 3.0 or higher.â
@MC, I was told by multiple AOâs that your D will receive the1/2 tuition scholarship.k even if she did not interview. My D is in the same boat.