My D qualifies for Tuition Exchange which is 33K a year. Since this money comes out of HR funds and not FA/Scholarship funds there’s no motivation for USC to consider her for the Full Tuition scholarships. She’s a NMSF and likely NMF so I wonder how they’ll look at her. Was hoping she’d make semifinalist for the USC scholarships so they would fly her out for interview and she could visit the campus - now I’m not sure she’ll even be considered.
@Dolemite, my D knows someone who is a freshman using Tuition Exchange and was either a NMF or a Presidential, so it can happen and I think they stack. Note - USC doesn’t “fly the kids out there” but they will reimburse a student’s cost of up to a certain amount (2 years ago it was $250). We are on the east coast so that covered most of the cost of a flight. Parent costs are not covered. However, if your D is nominated for a scholarship I highly recommend a parent attend the Explore session with her. They have many opportunities for parents to interact with admissions and faculty during the 2-day event, plus sessions on security and financial aid. I learned so much - it was money well spent.
@jmek15 Thanks for the travel info.
My D asked the AO when she visited her high school and was told they stack(TE and NMF/Presidential) - which is like Full Tuition + 8K so it make USC a very promising prospect if she gets accepted.
how critical is interview? By the time we realized, there were no interview slots.
@srk2017 interview is said to be none evaluative and USC says if I recall correctly that they do not consuder interest. We visited and DS went to a session at our high school. Fingers are crossed!
DS did go to the sessions at the school and then USC sent a reminder asking him to apply early if he wants to be considered for scholarships. It appears AO didn’t talk about interviews during the school visit. Good luck to your DS.
Since everyone’s been fretting over when USC is going to send out merit acceptances (including me!!!), I asked them. I was told, “Decisions to students selected as scholarship finalists are scheduled to go out on the 23rd of January.”
That’s awesome! So based on the other perosn’s info from before, usually they mail decisions out on Friday and we receive them around Monday. Would that be the case here? Or are they mailing them out on Monday?
Only opinion but I would be surprised to see them mail on a Monday since the have done Friday’s the last 7-8 years. I think they usually hedge a few days so I would bet they still go out on the 20th. That is great news they are looking at that week versus the next regardless if it’s Friday or Monday. Mailing Monday would avoid the dead time on Sunday, but it would be a real switch up for them. Mailing Friday avoids a zillion calls over the weekend for them to deal with as well…“When will it arrive?” etc. If they mail Friday most get them by Monday and negates all those calls to admissions.
Good job @hopingforusc - just call and ask!
May be they meant students get them on 23rd 
@CADREAMIN That’s what I’m thinking (hoping!), too. They aim for Monday publicly and that’s the night they update the portals, but usually get the mail out on Friday.
Does USC send you anything if you don’t qualify for a scholarship? If you end up getting the dean’s scholarship, will it be a big package like the other scholarships?
@transmitter2342 Everyone who is accepted, even those in March without any scholarships, gets the big package.
Does USC notify everyone who applied for a Merit Scholarship if they got it or not in January/Feb?
They notify those students whom they want to interview for the big [ Trustee, Presidential ]scholarships in Jan/ Feb. In addition, those selected for an interview also receive notification that they have been admitted.
if you are not invited to interview [ which is a requirement to be eligible to get one ] then you are out of the running for those scholarships, but may end up receive other smaller scholarships[ Deans]
See post #301 for more info. If you do not get a scholarship your portal will update about 4 days after scholarship packages are sent with letter that you did not get one (“no soup for you”) but are still being considered for admission and will hear in March. That same letter in physical form comes 4-7 days after packages, usually portal updates first.
Hoping someone appreciates the Seinfeld reference.
I hear you soup nazi @CADREAMIN
So deans scholarships are awarded later? On this list:
http://admission.usc.edu/docs/Scholarships.pdf
many scholarships are listed with a notification date of April 1. But I do see some say interviews in Feb so obviously must notify earlier.
@CA1543 Some Deans are awarded at the same time as the big ones. You just aren’t invited to come for an interview for them.