@Loyal0learner Usually they occur on campus, but I would imagine they have special arrangements for international applicants or other applicants who are unable to travel for whatever reason.
Does anyone know how many scholarships each major gives?
And also, what percentage of those 55k+ applicants applied before 12/1?
I could not find any recent answer to mmdins’ question but the Daily Trojan reported in January 2015 that approximately 28,000 students seeking admission in the Fall of 2015 applied before the 12/1/14 merit deadline. 51,925 students applied to USC that year so the percentage of students applying before 12/1 is most likely around 54%. Assuming (conservatively) that USC gets 55,000 applications this year, you can roughly estimate that about 30,000 of those applications will be submitted before the 12/1 merit deadline.
Good luck to all of this year’s applicants and Fight On!
Can we stack the USC merit scholarships? No, right?
Not sure what you mean. You can get a Presidential (half tuition), trustee (full tuition) or a NMS admission which has automatic half tuition and still get some additional merit aid that will “stack”. But you can’t stack a Presidential/Trustee with a NMS, if that’s what you are asking.
@jmek15 So if I understand, its possible to get a Presidential scholarship and then get additional merit scholarships like the International Freshman Academic or the Deans?
Not the Dean’s or any “named” scholarship. My D (a presidential) got some additional merit money added to her package. It wasn’t much, probably covers our travel & storage expenses, but every little bit helps!!
Is there any way I could communicate my interest in a Spring Admission to my admission counselor? I know a lot of students who receive a Spring Admission decision are not happy. I, on the other hand, would be absolutely thrilled to receive a Spring Admission decision, so is there any way I could communicate this interest at this point? Suggestions…?
@mayamurray Are you interested in ONLY a spring admit, or are you saying you just want them to take you and you don’t care how? If it’s the latter, I’m not sure it’s going to make a difference for them accepting you. But it won’t hurt for you to email your admission counselor. Just a couple of clear, to the point sentences is all you need.
Pardon my confusion, but are we expecting to hear back the 4th Friday in January as in years past? Or is it postmarked on that day and people don’t hear back until early the following week? Will the portal update the day they send decisions out? Not really expecting a scholarship but I’m still excited to hear something nonetheless
Is it possible for anyone to get Merit Scholar with Spring admission in this end of January?
Or Basically Spring admission will be announced in March without any Merit?
@HopingForUSC it is the latter… Do you think it is possible to communicate this tastefully and without being overbearing?
@jglover The acceptances are postmarked that day and I believe they mail them via Priority mail if you live in the States, so, depending on where you live, you could receive it Saturday, Monday, or Tuesday. I think in years past they waited until Monday to update the portal to show online registration for interview days. @CADREAMIN could probably confirm that for you. So, it’s possible you could find out you were accepted before you receive the package. They mail the letters saying you aren’t getting a scholarship but are still being considered for admission the week after the acceptances.
@mayamurray That’s why I said just couple of clear sentences 
. One that says USC is your first choice and then one that says you’d love the chance to go there in the Spring if they can’t offer you Fall admission is really all you need.
@HopingForUSC Do you think I should email my counselor after January decisions are released?
@mayamurray If it were me, I’d wait until then. But, I know all the details of my application/situation - I don’t know what’s in your application, etc., so you have to make that call for yourself. In the same boat full of nerves as you, so I know you’d rather have a straight yes or no - sorry!
@HopingForUSC thank you for the advice! And yes, this is a tense time as the end of the month is approaching. Good luck! I’m sure you must have a very strong application. 
Scholarship packages are sent on a Friday and start arriving Saturday. (There are a couple people in LA that may get theirs Friday, there have been legend stories of a literally one or two students getting theirs personally delivered by someone in admissions, not sure if that still happens). But Socal and a few Norcal typically gets theirs Saturday and then they fan out to the rest of the country between Saturday and Tuesday. Many many get it Monday. Makes for a super long weekend.
The portals don’t update until Tuesday early morning (late Monday night) between 1-4am. That is when people that don’t a scholarship are notified and those that got the package also get their portal updated to include the info.
They mail a letter if you didn’t get in that is a repeat of what portal says. That comes about a week after the acceptances roll out. Many would rather they send scholarship packages and no scholarship letter at the same time, but they never have.
USC is old school and wants the “winners” to get the feeling of getting a package well ahead of portal notification. I will admit, it is really cool to get that package, but it is brutal for those waiting that don’t end up getting it. So it’s a trade off.
Same thing in March, portal updates about 4 days after acceptance packages go out.
When I have some extra time later today, I will post a summary of what and how things have happened in the past…
So are scholarship acceptance letters going to mailed out on the 20th or 27th of this month?