Dammit no box in PA (2 day shipping zone)
Whatever, I’ll still keep hope
Anything in nyc
anything from ppl in socal who didn’t receive yesterday??
@SOoverthis I know how athletic order works but not sure about performance so would have to defer. I actually think an admissions advisor out of Thorton would answer that from USC or at a roadshow. Unless @WWWard knows the process…
The ones you get when you call admissions can be students or not specialized at all, some just answer to send the call to someone else - so see if you can get to a Thorton advisor. Admissions phone folks vary which is why they keep giving students info like packages are sent until Feb 1. (I also think to get said caller off the phone, they will say anything.) They were ALL sent Tuesday. They are told to be ambiguous with these questions.
Nothing in south florida (near miami). Still a chance it could come tomorrow, but if not, maybe it just wasnt meant to be.
@CADREAMIN and @WWWard - how do we know the 800-1200 number to receive white boxes? does USC provide exact numbers after the fact?
@CADREAMIN and @WWWard - any ideas about what would happen in an interview to either bump up or down the award from what is initially interviewed for?
@SOoverthis While I am not sure of the order, the decision would still need to be mutual between USC overall and the individual School within USC. That does not have to be the case in March… as you could be admitted, but only Undeclared. But they must mesh in January. It is why merit offerings to those within the creative and performing arts Schools seem rather rare. It requires extensive extra coordination even to have it all line up in time for the merit decisions this week. I do not know the #s for Music or Dance or Drama, but for Cinematic Arts, it was only like 1% of the over 2K who applied who got in and with merit during last January. Good luck though…
@kevbostic Yes… the letter last year said so… 1200 out of 32K+ to apply by Dec 1st.
@CADREAMIN and @WWWard - from what i can tell from https://admission.usc.edu/docs/Scholarships.pdf there are about 315 awards based on these interviews. am i reading that correctly? so of the say 1200 who received white boxes, approx 300 of them will get award, or about 25% odds?
has anyone recieved a box for deans/box with no mention of scholarship? do they ship out at the same time?
Here is the “no scholarship for your letter” from last year with numbers. Been this for years and years…400-450 are trustees from history…
Exact numbers of kids who go on to get/take scholarships are published.
Dear (Student),
I am sending this update to first-year candidates who submitted applications by December 1, the deadline for USC merit scholarship consideration.
Scholarship Selection
Nearly 32,000 students applied in time to be considered for USC merit scholarships. We have offered admission to approximately 1,200 students who will proceed to the next phase of consideration for our top awards: the Mork Family, Stamps, Trustee, and Presidential scholarships. (Student), I am sorry to say you were not selected for further consideration for these awards.
This notification only applies to the scholarships I mentioned. You will still be considered for other awards, including but not limited to those listed on our Scholarships page. I encourage you to apply for financial aid if you have not already done so. Visit the Financial Aid website for application instructions. Also, if you are admitted, named a National Merit Finalist and select USC as your first-choice institution, you will receive a USC Presidential Scholarship worth one-half tuition.
Admission Selection and Notification
Your application is still being considered for admission. We are planning to offer admission to more than 7,500 additional first-year students. We mail notifications in late March so you will have it by April 1. I am grateful for your patience as you wait for us to finish this difficult work.
Mid-Year Reports
If you or your school counselor has not already done so, please submit your mid-year report: your final grades from the first term of your senior year. You can report them online at you.usc.edu, or your school can send them to us.
We wish you the best of luck. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us online or at (213) 740-1111. Thank you for considering USC.
@kevbostic The yield rate from Jan admits seems to mirror closely the overall… so roughly 34% who get white boxes this week will end up enrolling at USC. When you think of the angst of those not getting white boxes, it sort of makes it even worse unfortunately… as around 66% of the people excited this week will not even end up committing to USC. So that’s about 800 white boxes that maybe should have gone elsewhere. Just saying… 
First time post, been reading for a while. Thank you to all who contribute. We are in So Fla, and no package yet for my son. Mail already came today.
As a parent who went through this twice before, I know that it is a stressful week and then potentially disappointing to not receive the white box in January. But while most consider themselves in that top 3%… based on their own personal experiences and self-evaluation… things clearly change when you are also being evaluated against a pool of 32,000 or more similarly stellar applicants. We all cannot be in that 3%. Often, other factors are at play too beyond just grades, test scores, rank, ECs, Essays and the like. It can come down to your first choice major or status as First Gen or not or geography, or URM status, etc. Often, it comes down to how well you positioned yourself as right for USC or vice versa. Too many wrongly assume that a 3.99 or 4.0 uw GPA and 1500+ SAT seals the deal. But by the end of March, 3K+ applicants with stats like that will be outright rejected.
In our family’s case, the two white boxes came… but they did so in March. And that is the case for 89% of those at USC right now. Only 11% of admissions come in January. So stay strong and keep the faith… especially if USC is your dream school. And if that is the case… find a way to let USC know… both the admissions staff for your chosen School within USC and for your assigned USC admissions counselor too. They do take that into consideration. And knowing that you will commit if admitted (unlike the 66% who presently do not) cannot hurt your chances any
Good Luck
Thanks guys. @chrys1, it really is more about the story than stats, as so many have posted. Will have to check with S whether he is comfortable with posting stats. The main thing I want to say here is to not give up hope.
If you did not get a box in the mail yet, you may still get it tomorrow. We expected a letter on 2 day USPS delivery last month and it took 3. If in the end one does not, it will be disappointing, but so many will get into great schools. Good luck to everyone throughout the rest of the day. Gotta take a break from CC for a bit!
@WWWard . Thanks for all information. So if 66% who get the boxes this week, eventually not committed. Can I assume the scholarship invitation letter will triple the size of the final award? For example, the trustee scholarship is 100 final. so they will invite 300+ for the interview?
@chrismc New user, what’s informed delivery exactly?
I live in NY and I just got my box. I’m so excited.
On USC Admissions’ instagram story, they said that portals will be updated tomorrow to reflect merit scholarship status. No time given.