I got a spring admit package in the mail yesterday and am able to log on to the portal but it hasn’t updated. Did anyone else have this same problem and get around it? There is no letter available and I’m not able to register for events. Thanks in advance!
Sent an email to my admissions counselor saying that I would like to deliver my appeal in person and perhaps speak with him in person. Please wish me luck. USC has been my dream school forever - and while I’m a pretty strong person - these past 20 hours have been the worst in a long long time.
According to their websites:
USC
45,500 Total Enrollment
19,000 Undergrad
26,500 Grad
UCLA
45,428 Total Enrollment
31,002 Undergrad
14,426 Grad/Interns & Residents
Has anyone received the International Freshman Academic scholarship or the FIRST robotics scholarship? Do these scholarship decisions come with the admission decisions?
My S was accepted! Does anybody know - have they already notified everyone who is receiving a scholarship? (He is not a NMF, and he was not invited for the interviews in Jan/Feb for Trustee/Presidential). However, I wonder, maybe he could still get Deans scholarship?
I believe financial notifications come out on March 27th, so he should find out then if he received any scholarship or aid.
Realistically… yes.
While there may be the possibility of a small scholarship offering via an individual School within USC, unless you applied for a specific scholarship & are awaiting that decision or unless he qualifies for the merit scholarship linked to being NMF and designating USC, the likelihood of any other merit money is not a good one.
USC is committed to meeting 100% of demonstrated financial need for those that applied for financial aid and qualify for such assistance. Such FA offerings usually consist of federal and university grants + federal work study + loans.
Rejected 
All the people from my school that I know applied to USC were rejected. Brutal
Did they send an email notification? Or do you have to log into the portal?
@screennamexxx you have to log into the portal
Accepted!! This is crazy I practically died because I thought I would never ever have a chance! I felt that my stats were lower than their average but this goes to show that dreams do come true!
Could anyone inform me on the roommate process? Is it better to do random selection or find someone via the Facebook page or other source?
Spring admit here anyone else?? I’m concerned about starting in Spring though
Thank you for all your help! I live in Europe, so I have not had the chance to really visit the campuses of the schools I applied to and to get a sense for myself, and that is why I am kind of relying on other people’s opinions.
@blueskies2day I was not trying to be hostile or create a bad impression of the USC campus in any way shape or form and trust me I was not raised in a “suburban bubble” as I am currently living alone in the center of my city. That being said, I have some safety concerns regardless of the school, and I wish to be extra careful, as I will not have immediate family in the country. I was just stating what a wide-spread stereotype has been and asking for advice/opinions, I thought CC was for. Anyways, thank you for your advice.
@chrys1, you are most welcome. You have every right to ask about any safety concerns you might have about USC or any university that you are considering attending, especially as an international student who has not visited campus. I hope I was able to present a realistic perspective of some of the pros and cons. I would not consider sending my S to USC if I was not confident that it is safe. That being said, as I posted earlier, students should be aware of their surroundings in any urban environment, as you well know, living in Europe. @WWWard has two daughters who currently attend USC and already responded to you earlier as well. I think he is a little more confident about the neighborhood around USC but I think he knows a lot about the current nuances of USC, probably a little more than I do. He and I both agree that it is safe but that there are some things to be aware of in terms of boundaries and perimeter areas that are more well protected. There is another thread called “USC Location” here on CC that may provide some additional feedback from some members here at CC. All anyone can do is express an opinion. You can decide if some of them are helpful.
I think you may have misunderstood some of @blueskies2day earlier comments. He/she can speak for himself, but I do not believe he thought you were trying to create a bad impression of the USC campus by asking your question about safety. I believe he and others thought that another CC poster @sleepyeyed2 may have been trying to create a false/bad impression of USC safety, possibly out of some bitterness because his student/child may not have been admitted to USC.
If anything, I think @blueskies2day may have been directing some of his comment, to me about safety, as he seems less concerned about safety issues at USC than me. I think he may also have been implying that I am not an “expert on USC safety” because I don’t have current kids attending (which he asked me about on another thread recently), and that I (not you) may live in a suburban bubble “living in fear” because this is my first to go to college. He and I had some differences of opinion on another thread.I already addressed his comments in my earlier posts but will repeat here that living in Atlanta, I am in no bubble and having lived in L.A.not so long ago, and having siblings, cousins, nieces, friends and sons and daughters of friends who either attend USC now or graduated recently, I know quite a bit about USC and the surrounding area, and even if I do not have current students attending USC or not an alumnus, my views on the subject are equally valid as his or anyone else.
In summary, USC is an excellent school in a vibrant exciting city of Los Angeles. Many international students love USC and for good reason. That being said, you are smart to consider the location and ask about any safety concerns that you might have. Hopefully most of your questions have been answered, but feel free to DM me if you have other questions or post any more questions here. Are you considering other colleges in the United States? Best of luck.
@Nomorelurker I get it now! Again, thank you so much for all your help!!!
Also, does anybody know whether merit scholarship decisions (not major scholarships like Stamps) are released with financial aid? If not, when should we expect them?
@boxerluvr Please post how it goes. Good luck!
@cno2022 Congrats.
As for housing, if you actually want to secure one of a set of specific housing preferences, it is best to locate a potential roommate (via CC, facebook, the eventual housing portal, etc.) and then agree on your preferences exactly and in order… and of course request to room together. By doing so, you make USC Housing’s job much easier and you are then twice as likely to get one of your top two choices.
Good Luck
@chrys1 You’re welcome.
It is of course unfortunate if you cannot visit before deciding. In our case, we did visit USC and researched the area and the DPS zone extensively. My oldest daughter would not be about to graduate from there had I not. But our experience has been fine… zero issues in almost four years. And my youngest is a freshman there now. And they both came from the FL suburbs with no “city sense” at all.
We have found the online rumors of safety concerns (especially what I had read all over CC) to be largely over-blown. Use common sense, avoid the areas that you should, stay within the monitored DPS zone (which is patrolled and covers a large area around campus), use the free Campus Cruisers or take Lyft/Uber for free within the zone, or simply take Uber or Lyft or the Metro to travel to Venice, Santa Monica, Hollywood, etc (my oldest is an actress who has had to go all over the L.A. metro area for auditions and jobs, etc.) and you should be fine.
Here are links for those curious about DPS, their safety plans and the zone they cover…
What time are the FA Award letters supposed to be on the portal tomorrow? Is it by 12pm PST again?