@mayamurray Well, my daughter’s has locked-up 3-4 times since Sept, but it has always reset eventually. Sometimes, it works on one browser but not others. I would not read too much into it. You could always inquire with Admissions, but I would at least check using more than one browser before trying to contact them regarding the issue to make sure that it is not just an issue on your side or due to Safari acting up. I would also wait at least 2-3 days to see if it corrects on its own.
Both of my daughters also have Chrome, IE and Firefox on each of their computers for just such reasons. You can always download another browser for free and try such. There is no such thing as being limited to just one browser…
I have tried on both an iPad and laptop in 2 different browsers a few days apart. I can log into my portal, but when I click “check admission status,” I get an error message that says “this page can’t be displayed, because this site’s server might be under maintenance or there could be a programming error.” Is anyone else getting this?
@cj02523 yes just today for the first time - I can also log in to D’s portal but when I click check admission status I get a similar, though not quite the same, message:
“The you.usc.edu page isn’t working
you.usc.edu is currently unable to handle this request.
HTTP ERROR 500”
I am using Chrome
Never had this happen before, always worked before
Have we established if the website not working means anything? Bc mine has worked on every browser I’ve tried (chrome and firefox)
It would make sense to me that it is a sign of a scholarship+admission because the portal not working indicates that USC might have updated your portal, which would explain why it doesn’t work now
I wouldn’t think it would, as my application was probably nowhere near impressive enough to be considered for a scholarship… It’s just weird that some people’s portals are working but not others. I’m definitely overthinking things though
Mine is still working, too. @ZBlue17 I get your logic about updating for scholarship and that’s why it’s not working. But it sounds like a high percentage of people have portals that aren’t working and I’m not sure statistically that would match up with the percentage of people who get scholarships. Maybe it has something to do with a specific school updating their applicant pool?
The site NOT working may be because of several technical reasons, the least of which is related the speculation going around about scholarship/admission. Are any of you OP a computer scientist and know about hosting/website design/browsers ? It is a baseless speculation.
Yeah I don’t think my portal is not working for any other reason that would indicate an update to my application. My parents are just on my back right now to submit this tax return LOL
Mom of an applicant here and first time posting. I just want to jump in and share the portal craziness on our end. We’ve experienced everything you all have mentioned here! I check the portal much more obsessively than my son, usually on an iPad. For several days last week I could log in but then received a blank page when I clicked on any of the menu items. At that point, everything was working normally when my son tried from his desktop. Then there was a day when the portal seemed to be down from any device. Then the portal was back up again but received error messages on menu items…then, back to blank pages on all devices. Finally, the menu items went back to blank pages on the iPad only. Now everything is back to normal. I am going to agree with the folks who said these were meaningless glitches on USC’s end.
For reference, my son applied in early November to the IR program at Dornsife. I would say he has a 50/50 chance of receiving a merit scholarship. Also, FYI, we didn’t receive any financial aid info, but he’s not eligible for need-based aid. No other mailings, though, either, but we did take a tour and attend an Explore USC event here in Seattle. So if they track these things, he’s already in the system as interested… He’s also a legacy, but I don’t know if that matters very much anymore.
So, as with all of you, it’s hard not to over analyze every detail of his app and obsess over every little thing as an indicator. Hang in there everyone. Good luck and fight on!
The portal glitches between now and next week mean nothing. They do not update portals until after packages are sent. You will know when packages are sent.
USC = Mail BEFORE portal updates.
So what you are experiencing means nadda, zero, zilch. But if it helps pass the time wondering and worrying about it for the next week, I get that.
@CADREAMIN and @madbean So what in your experience actually constitutes merit scholarship consideration? Is this phase purely stats and #s driven… i.e. - standardized test scores, GPA, rank, etc.? Or do holistic components like essays, ECs & demonstrated creativity (for the talent-based majors) factor into merit consideration at all? I have read that the merit scholarships are generally divided up among the various schools. If that is accurate, one would think that a merit candidate within SCA and SDA, for example, may not be the same as one in a program like business or engineering.
My daughter, for example, has applied to SCA for both of her major choices. In terms of stats, she is likely in that 97th-98th percentile range for test scores, rank, GPA, etc. Not sure how that equates when you are only offering 1200-1500 or so interviews out of 55K+ applicants. That may be reserved for only the top one percent. But does merit within SCA also factor in her creative portfolio and submissions? Or is merit strictly by the #s?
I don’t think any portal glitches at this point are indicative of any sort of admissions decision. As someone said before, they don’t even update the portal until the week after the packages are sent out.
Good luck to all, the wait is killing me too, but relax and try not to overthink things!
@grtd2010 Um, yeah…some of us do know about hosting/website design/browsers. Looking back at the start of the posts about login problems, and realizing how the time frame fits with patch releases for servers, if I were someone having a login problem the first thing I’d do is clear my browser history and see if that fixes the problem.
@WWWard, the invitations for merit interviews are portioned out and since about 5% of USC undergrads are in SCA, we could expect about 5% of the 1200 -1500 invitees are also from SCA (rough guestimate–60-75). When I was at ExploreUSC several years back with my son, they seated all the SCA finalists and (if attending) parents together at the hosted dinner–at tables set aside that included SCA professors on the admit committee as well as admissions reps. I recall about 20ish SCA Trustee finalists. Of course, those spots are spread among the different majors, so more populated SCA majors get the majority of finalists. That year, IMGD had 2 invitees total (none were scheduled for the 2nd Explore).
If you’ve read my stickied post (very long) on what USC tends to look for in scholarship candidates, I talked specifically about how they view creative majors/schools. My observation is that stats do matter for these merit awards, but lots of great applicants to USC have amazing stats so there is still a large pool of candidates. I am guessing here, but it makes sense that SCA admissions–since they have the same deadline for admissions as the merit deadline–may do a quick review for their top academic candidates in each major and perhaps review those files in depth before they move to others. In that way, they would be able to filter the most creatively exciting (in their view!) from among the already highly qualified academic applicants. So, as I’ve posted elsewhere, the first hurdle for Trustee, Presidential, etc. consideration at these talent-based Schools will likey be somewhere in the top quartile of all USC admits (check the freshman profile for 2016-17 to find that sweet spot in GPA and test scores). But after that hurdle has been cleared, I believe grades/scores will not matter AT ALL. So throw that consideration away for the moment, as they regard the supplements and writing samples and creative portfolio and honors won, and statement of purpose etc etc. At this point, I think they look for leaders, creative thinkers, self-starters and unique points of view, who will bring that energy to their major. For non-talent-based (audition/portfolio) majors, there may be more emphasis on out-of-school activities, awards, honors, community service and internships which all point to leadership and dedication to the major field.
It won’t be long now, CCers. I send you all the best of luck, because you are all thoughtful, amazing students and people. Unfortunately, there are far fewer open spots for the big scholarships (and even admission–gulp) than there are fabulous applicants.
Is English considered a Talent based major? I mentioned wanting to pursue creative writing, but on common app I put my career goal as “college professor”. I didn’t send any writing supplements, so I’m worried. I don’t really have any supplements to send b/c I’m more of a reader that dabbles in writing.
