@Nomorelurker , we have not committed either way but my S18 NMF Presidential recipient is more strongly considering FSU and Miami-Fla at this point. He is studying classical vocal performance, and all three have strong classical voice programs and strong music schools. He did also receive a nice music scholarship from Thornton. He has full tuition to Miami and a full ride + to FSU. USC would be about $30,000 a year for him. If he had received Trustee, we would have talked him into taking another look at USC. He has moved on without a thought. His parents will take a bit longer, LOL. Our daughter is a junior in SDA, so we have one more year at USC. Itâs a great school, and the new University Village and McCarthy dorm are amazing even with the added cost. Good luck to all as you make your decisions!
@Lilliana330, thanks for the clarification on the possible definition of âsatisfactory performanceâ as you understand it.I think it makes sense to not require too high of a GPA that could discourage students from selecting challenging courses that might be more difficult in the grade book.
The last thing you want is for a student to take beginning German to get an âeasy Aâ because he/she had four years of German in high school vs. trying a new language that she is curious about, or avoiding an interest in a Comp Sci class out of concern that it may lower the GPA. If USC defines âsatisfactory performanceâ as a 2.0 GPA, I commend them. I expect most of scholars are going to excel with much higher grades, but taking away that pressure makes some sense.
@vistajay, it sounds like you have two very talented and creative âkidsâ. Like you, the Trustee would have made it an easier decision for us⊠A full ride at Miami and FSU are awesome options to have. Best of luck to your son.
Iâm deciding between Trustee at USC and a couple of other institutions (three T-20âs and one T-10). However, Iâm seriously loving this scholarship and Iâm finding it incredibly hard to turn down in light of the poor financial offers that I have received from elsewhere. Aside from the full-tuition, can someone speak to the additional benefits of the Trustee Scholarship? Also, how would I be able to contact other scholarship recipients? Thanks 
@Pawrrrrrr, congrats on your Trustee at USC. S got the Presidential half tuitionâ award, but like one of your other offers in Texas (read your other thread), it may not be sufficient when looking at other offers. Understandably with full tuition offered by USC, it would be hard to turn down. You are in a unique circumstance to have more than one great merit offer. S was also offered close to a free ride at our State Public University Honors Program. He revisited and found there were many positives, despite the proximity to home. He was also admitted to another T20 that is less $$$ than USC and waitlisted at another T20. However, I suspect if taken off the waitlist, the $$$ will not be very generous, from what I read about waitlists. In our case, USC is still possible but S must decide whether it is worth the extra $40k a year. You may have a similar dilemma when comparing the full tuition at USC vs. partial merit at other schools.
Have you been back to visit USC since your interview? It might help to spend some more time there to become more comfortable with choosing a university so close to home. To answer your other question, I believe there is some programming involving Scholars at USC. Being a Trustee, you will likely have an edge when competing for internships or research opportunities that you might be interested in. It may also be of benefit when you graduate to have it on your resume. If you matriculate, you will also meet many more recipients at orientation and if you choose to live in McCarthy Honors dorm. USC is an excellent university and a great opportunity (despite being close to home). I am glad you are loving the scholarship. Good luck and Fight on!
@nomorelurker SAP is a common financial aid term (which USC is applying as a merit req. in this case) used by FAFSA and most colleges for aid qualification. So if you see that as a requirement elsewhere, it also means 2.0.
Thereâs also a units completed/units attempted ratio requirement, but thatâs usually not an issue unless a student fails or drops a large number of courses after the W deadline.
I posted this in 2018 NMF thread, but will post it here as well:
In case it helps anyone, our USC-bound Presidential recipient ended up receiving $2,000 University Scholarship, and then, today, an additional $1,000 âNational Merit College Sponsored Scholarshipâ showed up in her USC Financial Aid Summary. She also got an email telling her there was an update to her Financial
Aid Summary. This is no doubt due to her naming USC as her first-choice school (on 3/20/18) with National Merit Scholarship Corporation. I thought it might be helpful for people wondering if/when this would show up after naming first-choice school with NMSC. That makes total gift aid with Presidential ($27,660) to equal $30,600 for 2018-29. Every little bit is appreciated. I imagine Presidential goes up as it is percentage-based, but that other two remain the same . . . if anyone knows differently, please chime in.
@Isoinfo great news for your daughter on more money! Has your daughter decided on USC at this point? I canât remember. My daughter is committed and excited for admitted students day in 2 weeks!
@TreeAlum Yes, very happy to get more scholarship dollars! She has decided on USC and made her deposit. She was there is February for a scholarship interview and did an overnight with a student and even met a potential roommate. If you find out any interesting information about Freshman Science Honors on your visit, would you please share? (I saw your post about that on the other thread I started about FSH.) My d has applied to FSH. If they both get in, I imagine they will meet! Let me know how your admitted student visit goes! My d instantly felt at home, and, from the minute she completed the visit, we were about 99 percent sure she would attend. Has your daughter decided on USC or is she waiting until after the visit to commit?
@Isoinfo oh my daughter is totally committed! It was pretty much her top choice (she did also get into UCLA, Berkeley, and UCSB-honors but we are OOS and she loves USC). For her getting the Associates Scholarship after not getting the invitation to interview was icing on the cake. She still has to finish her FSH app, hopefully by Saturday? They extended the deadline to next Tuesday I believe. Sheâs fine if she doesnât get accepted but I think she would enjoy it, both for the rigor and the community. Iâm going to message you about other stuff.
Congratulations to all future Trojans and to those who have decided on another school, you will be successful wherever you land. Quick update before I fade off into the sunset. After much reflection, S has decided to withdraw his application from USC in the next couple days. He is extremely grateful for the early admission and the opportunity to interview and receive the Presidential scholarship. Still waitlisted at a top choice and leaning towards other opportunities. Itâs been fun. Fight on!
Congrats on narrowing the field and best to you all as he finalizes his choice!
Wow @Nomorelurker Iâm a little surprised. My S18 still undecided.
@booajo, why surprised?
Probably because the majority of your posts were on USC threads, along with a high level of re posting information put up by other USC posters. So it appeared to be a strong contender, but maybe not with student or the cost is too muchâŠthat happens. From several posts, the COA was an issue, so not a big surprise here. Good luck.
Exactly.
@Booajo, not sure what the âexactlyâ refers to since another poster rudely answered a question that I posed to you, something Iâve noticed @blueskies2day do repeatedly since I joined CC, along with various other posts questioning my knowledge about USC or implying that others should not listen to my views about various aspects of USC, writing that people on CC incorrectly speculate about universitiesâŠ, and that CC members should (paraphrased from one of his earlier posts) âonly listen to alums, current students at USC, or parents of students at USCâŠâ, regarding USC safety, location, as well as other topics. Not surprising that @blueskies2day has yet another wild and incorrect speculation about my last post. Also, I was not aware that @blueskies2day was monitoring the frequency of my posts on CC. Actually, I have posted on multiple threads on at least six or seven different universities that my S applied to, including Georgetown, and WashU where S was waitlisted, Emory, UGA, Tulane, Stanford, Cornell, and others, most of which he was fortunate to be accepted to. I have also posted on multiple general topic threads, including the Parents of HS Class of 2018.
That being said, my family has ties to the University of Southern California, significantly more than the rest. In addition to cousins, siblings, friends, and sons and daughters of friends now attending or who attended USC recently, our family is connected to the university in other ways which I choose not to disclose, due to confidentiality. Suffice it to say, my family knows more about USC during the course of the last fifty years than @blueskies2day or ten of him as a parent of a child who attended USC could possibly know.
No, our decision in the end was not based on finances or COA, as blueskies incorrectly and rudely guessed. However, I have noticed in various posts on the general USC thread that blueskies seems to have a shallow and insensitive view that families should simply pay the increasingly exorbitant fees that USC AND other universities charge now, citing in one post (paraphrasing) that everybody knows the costs of USC and since families have saved and worked hard over the years, they should just pay up or withdraw". I donât have time now to find his exact post # on the other USC thread, but itâs there to be sure. While I find $77,000 annual tuition at any university to be fairly obscene, fortunately, we were able to make the numbers work, given the Presidential merit scholarship USC awarded my S after his interview last month in Los Angeles.
In the end, S made his decision to withdraw from USC for a variety of other reasons, including stronger awards by other universities, proximity to home, interactions with the student body he encountered at various universities on several sleep overs, resources and support, internships offered in advance, unique study abroad opportunities, specific graduate degree programs in his major, and fit and finish. Ultimately, it was not cost that decided it for S. Actually, a final decision has not been made, given he is still waitlisted at one of his other top choices.
Aside from some unpleasant exchanges with blueskies2day and maybe one or two other provocateurs these past few months, I have enjoyed my brief sojourn on CC. Hopefully some of my posts were helpful to others. I know I learned a lot from many others who have contributed, especially @WWWard and @CADREAMIN who I can vouch really know their stuff (although I sometimes did not agree with everything they posted) about the University of Southern California.Yet, I agree fully with them that USC is one of the finest universities in the world. They are doing students and prospective students a great service here on CC. Good luck to all, including those who ultimately decide on USC and to those who choose another university for whatever reason (including cost), and for my final time, Fight On!
Donât know what @blueskies2day meant by suggesting I was âreposting information put up by other USC postersâ. I have my own views about USC topics, including about USC location and cost, about whether students ought to be sharing their personal stats on forums like CC, or prior to award interviews, which blueskies did not agree with me. On page 4 post #47 of this thread, @blueskies2day disagrees with one of my views and posted the following as advice to others reading this thread:
âAlso, if you are new here, as in any forum, posters not directly involved with a school are posting based other posts, their research, sometimes with bias, and may have different views than those that have experience with it. Find the people that know the school from experience. You can always click on a user name to see previous posts and their history - telling you where they have been or havenât been, whether a parent or student or browserâ.
Of course it is ironic that blueskies thinks he is some type of expert on USC, since I have more experience with USC than blueskies, who had maybe eight years with two students at USC, compared to my fifty years of being associated directly with USC through family, close friends who are USC faculty members, and others intimately involved with USC.
Below are some posts from the general USC thread where blueskies made similar arrogant comments on the topic of the location and costs of USC. On page 317 post #4742, Blueskies does not agree with advice I offered an international student about USC location in my post #4668 and he arrogantly posted #4742, repeating and implying again that people on CC should only listen to those with a student in college:
âI would take the perspective of someone that has sent multiple kids to USC over someone that doesnât live there nor has sent a kid to school there. A lot of posters will act like experts, but have no experience with the school. Also people that donât have a kid in college tend to be over fearfulâ.
Again, very ironic since I have lived in Los Angeles and regularly visited Los Angeles and USC for decades, even though I do not have a student there at present. Also, I am hardly fearful, having lived and worked in major metro areas around the country and globe.
Finally, on USC Class of 2022 thread on page 344, after I had posted #5146 some sticker shock I was experiencing when I realized that USC was going to cost (prior to scholarship) close to $80k a year, blueskies has this to say on post #5147:
âI am amazed at the constant criticism of the cost. My goodness, the COA is published clearly with each of those costs laid out. For every school. Little Johnny doesnât need the biggest meal plan, most donât need that unless a big eating athlete, nor to live in the most expensive housing, as they are all great, parents donât have to come out to the fall football games, and students donât have to go home at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. There are a lot of ways to cut costs. Student can work. People make sacrifices for their kids. But if you donât want to pay for anything of value, donât go, there are obviously thousands to fill the spot of those who go elsewhere. I just donât get being given so much then still complaining when plenty of others have worked their whole lives to be full pay or there are those that canât afford to go or even applyâ.
to which @byeretirement answered blueskies before I saw his post with post #5148 p. 344 of the USC Class of 2022 thread:
â@Nomorelurker yeah, itâs grotesque, plain and simple. I really like the idea of the previous poster denying you the right to see your kids on holidays and breaks and to make sure they eat poorly and live in a rat hole. Thatâs a great compromise when flirting with a $400K investment I love Americaâ
I followed up with replies of my own to the outrageous suggestion by blueskies about my initial sticker shock about USC costs. I replied to blueskies with post #5149:
â@blueskies2day, you might try getting off your high horse in suggesting others may not be grateful or to just suck it up and pay $80k a year because âothers have worked their whole livesâ to pay it or are ready to take the place of a student whose family must seriously mull over the costs before making a decision. How do you know they all worked their whole lives? Maybe some inherited a fortune or were lucky in real estate or the stock market and never worked a day in their lives. Yea a student can work and I would suggest it, but that is going to be a minimal reduction in the overall cost.
Any way you slice it, $76k a year is fairly obscene for one year of college (for most middle class to upper middle class families or as @WWWard put it- âinsaneâ) and may not be the best return on investment for someâ
So there is the background on some exchanges I had with @blueskies2day prior to his recent jab on this thread #414 p. 28 answering a question I asked @Booajo why he was surprised my S is withdrawing application from USC, and blueskies rudely suggested that my sonâs decision to withdraw from USC was due to COA or financial.
Iâve got news for you Blueskies. Where you come from in your ivy tower, youâd probably like it if all the families at USC were wealthy upper class and did not have to question costs before making a financial decision, but being middle to upper middle class, we do think twice about spending $80k a year for undergraduate education. And, as I posted in the prior post, my sonâs decision came down to other factors, although he will certainly like the prospect of possibly saving $45k a year for his future, by making another choice.
In sum, I know USC very well over fifty years of family involvement. I would have loved for my son to choose USC, but he made a different decision and I respect his choice.
Hi, proud parent of a newly enrolled USC Marshall World Bachelor in Business (WBB) student here. Iâm posting this as an FYI for any future WBB Presidential scholar early admits and their families. The merit scholarship process works slightly different for WBB (as we found out the hard way) and there isnât any info posted on USCâs website about the specifics. Hopefully by posting here it will help smooth out some of the bumps we encountered this year for future WBB families. Iâll cross post this info to the WBB thread in case Google sends people there.
Most (not all) of the WBB admits are notified of their acceptance in the early round with other Trustee and Presidential admits. In their admission letter in the âWhite Boxâ, WBB early admits are notified that they are invited to interview for a Presidential scholarship during one of the Explore USC scholarship events. The Explore USC visit, overnight stay and scholarship interview were exactly the same for the WBB kids as they were for other Presidential scholars.
From that point forward, things start working differently for WBB. Scholarship notifications for most USC Presidential and Trustee winners happened via portal the night before Regular Decision boxes were sent out by USC Admissions. That didnât happen for WBB admits. Do not, I repeat DO NOT, wait up all night refreshing the portal. Or the next day, or the day after. It will never update. WBB scholarship decisions and notifications are run thru the Marshall admissions office, not the main USC scholarship/admissions office and they will not show up on the USC portal. This year, the WBB scholarship decisions came via an email from the head of Marshall admissions, in the afternoon, 4 days after other scholarship results were posted on the portal. We got the good news of a 1/2 tuition award but those were four very long days and nights for us, waiting and wondering about the results of the scholarship interview. Knowing before hand that the portal would never update would have been nice to know.
Fortunately, all WBB students are awarded either a 1/2 tuition or a 1/4 tuition scholarship as part of their acceptance to the program. The WBB scholarships are joint awards from all 3 partner universities (USC, HKUST & Bocconi) and they transfer to each school as students travel to them. Itâs welcome news that the scholarships are applied to each schoolâs local tuition cost. For example, if tuition at Bocconi is 14,000 euro, the 1/2 tuition WBB students pay 7,000 euro the year they are in Italy plus room/board. After doing the math, this aspect of the WBB program made USC an extremely attractive option for us.
One downside that is unique to the WBB merit awards is that they are program specific and are not transferable to other majors at USC. If students leave the WBB program to transfer to Viterbi or into a different major in Marshall, they forfeit the scholarship.
WBB students must also maintain good academic standing which is spelled out in the acceptance letter as at least a 3.0 GPA in all Marshall business classes and at least a 3.0 GPA in all USC classes. Grades at the partner institutions must be maintained at an equivalent scale. With only 2 full years at USC, and less within Marshall itself, that leaves little room for a couple of weak grades. That is another downside and may be why the WBB program is so selective.
One last important itemâŠwe found out recently that the WBB scholarship award will not officially post to the USC financial aid portal until sometime this summer. Itâs only after orientation when the WBB classes are scheduled, that the WBB scholarship notification is sent by Marshall to the financial aid office and applied to the portal. Until then, the only proof of scholarship is the emailed letter from Marshall. Hang tight and donât stress too much about the big numbers on the financial aid portal, it will eventually be fixed.
I hope this is helpful for future adventuresome WBB admits, Fight On!