@PotatoStorm Just wanted to say you’re awesome for keeping everyone optimistic during this draining process 
Good luck on day 3, everyone!
I applied before the scholarship deadline, but I never received an email from them notifying me about the status of my application. I assume this means that I didn’t get selected for the scholarship. However, I am more concerned about not having even received an email for a portal. Is there something that I am missing?
D’17, from a northwest Chicago Suburb, got the invitation for the full tuition scholarship today.
IIRC, when we went to Explore last year for Trustee interview, we heard approx 40% of those interviewed got the scholarship.
@CaptainMerika Did you fully submit your application on Common App? Check the status and see if USC has downloaded your app. You may have provided an incorrect email when you applied. I’d say give a call to admissions.
I have a question regarding Mid-Year Grades Report. Clearly I am behind on the loop.
Was I supposed to wait until the end of my first semester of my senior year (this Friday) to submit these grades? I am finishing exams this week eager to submit my grades and am seeing people getting accepted already. Clearly I have made an error. Please let me know, thanks.
@ParkerCOE You can be accepted without submitting your midyear grades yet. Everyone ends the semester at different times. I haven’t heard anything for me yet, but my semester grades won’t be finalized until next week.
Thanks for this. Good luck on your finals or whatever and your admittance. Peace and love.
@ParkerCOE I got accepted and my semester ends tomorrow
@mintyicedtea, that’s interesting! Sometimes it’s hard to know if they are saying 40% of those who interviewed now have the scholarship (as in, they are attending USC with the scholarship, so included yield into the equation) or if they offer 40% of those interviewed the scholarship total, and of course, only about half of those matriculate.
@binky17, I was referring only to those who are receiving the invitation to interview for the competitive Presidential (not those who will automatically receive the NMF Presidential). SO, for NMF who are not also invited to interview–which is most NMF–you will not have this choice to make of whether to come to explore or not. That was the question I was addressing. However–bright spot! The NMF’s who list USC as their first choice, will get an additional $1K a year, and perhaps a bit more. There are details about this in past years, but I’m afraid I can’t recall how this works.
@phsstudent17 I have the same question. I got an email from Thornton today saying that I’m being considered for admission to Thornton as well as merit scholarships through USC and Thornton but I’m not exactly sure how this works.
@carreraj106 I did submit the app on the Common App. It says it was downloaded on December 1, 2016. The email I used is also correct; I used the same email for other colleges and I am getting responses from them. I am surprised to read about the scholarship acceptances recently when I have heard nothing back from USC, not even a portal activation.
@it622, if you applied to an audition-based major, they will wait until they review portfolio/audition for admissions decisions for that. If you are not admitted to your audition major, you will still be admitted to USC (does Thornton have a non BM type of major that doesn’t depend on passing an audition?). You’ll get more info at Explore. Good luck.
Thank you @madbean! Nmf path in general is confusing, i.e. the first choice designation, when one must choose for a particular school, etc.
@madbean Can people who applied to audition-based schools still be considered for the big merit scholarships? The interviews happen before admissions decisions are sent.
@madbean True! In full disclosure, my aging brain might be remembering that number wrong. If I find my notes I’ll post it.
Anyone from Georgia got the scholarship letter today? Just curious if it takes another day to get to Georgia.
Nice
**Decision: Accepted **
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): none
ACT (breakdown): 34
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No ranking system but most likely top 10%.
AP (place score in parenthesis): didn’t submit
IB (place score in parenthesis): none
Course Load: AP Biology, AP Physics C, AP Physics 1, Multivarible, BC Calculus, Pre-AP Spanish, AP Psychology, APUSH and other honor classes.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): No really any big awards
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Captain of Varsity Tennis Team, Top 50 in New York, Vice President of Coding Club and President of Gardening Club.
Job/Work Experience: Shadowed Dermatologist for half of a summer, tutor ACT and coach tennis to young kids.
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered at Hospital for 200+hours (over 2 years)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8
Common App: 8 I thought it was pretty good. It really described my love for the environment and showed my passion to protect/study it.
USC Essays: They were ok. I talked about how I loved the atmosphere and campus vibe in addition to the opportunities that USC could give me to help me flourish.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 10/10 My Math Teacher and Tennis Coach. He is famous for writing very good recommendations and wrote about how I was a leader to the younger kids on our team especially during a bus accident. He also mentioned how I was hardworking both in tennis and in my class work.
Teacher Rec #2: 7/10 My Physics Teacher. I love him and I’m sure he wrote great things about me but I feel like they were very generic lol. Typical of him
Counselor Rec: 10/10 Both my counselors are amazing. I’m sure they wrote fantastic recommendations.
Additional Rec: none
Interview: none
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Environmental Sciences
State (if domestic applicant): NY
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: Private High School
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Over 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
Reflection
Strengths: ACT, GPA and Course Load
Weaknesses: No Sat 2 scores (did terrible lol) and essays
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I don’t know but I’m very happy and grateful for the opportunity. I especially thought I would never get in anywhere when I was rejected from my first choice school (ED).
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Rejected at Duke (ED), Deferred (Umich), Accepted (StonyBrook)
General Comments :
Congrats to all that were accepted and to those that weren’t, Have confidence that all your hard work will pay off and you will find the perfect school for you! #Fighton
@PrimeNumber2 I’m in Georgia and haven’t gotten anything… however I doubt I will get an interview/accepted in this round because I’ve already been to campus for a few meetings and an interview!!