S18 got the Discover the USC Experience email too. But it is an invitation to apply to USC, LOL. Just automatic promotional spam triggered by some score report from College Board, it looks like.
^^^^^ @vhsdad and @WWWard - probably a combination of the two. My boys applied to less than 10 each. Me - only 3 also - USMA, USNA and USAFA. :"> I’m with all of you, nice diversion.
I think the strong economy has also played a factor in the increase in applications to higher tier schools.
@sekere62 Just saw your post that USC did notoffer a bus to the airport on Sunday after Explore. I’m sorry if my post about the airport bus led to any misunderstanding. The service had been clearly announced during the first Explore weekend.
Anyway, sounds like your DD had a better deal with Uber and better company too. From chatting with other parents, it was clear the students were of an incredibly high caliber. One had a DS accepted to Viterbi who had already been accepted to Georgia Tech and Texas A&M.
I understand regular decisions are mailed. Is there also a portal update? We will be out of town for a week right around when decisions are coming I think.
D has an interview for Town & Gown scholarship next week. Any advice on what to expect?
@booajo Yes, there is portal update at midnight on third day after mailing. For example, they were mailed on the 23rd last couple years and update was 12:01am on 26th.
Here is breakdown of 2017 date/times
2017 mailed early am on Thursday March 23rd
Friday, March 24th - First reported of packet received was 10:02am by someone in Socal home sick that gets mail early in the day! Usual time is 11:00am - noon for first report
Portals updated Saturday night Sunday morning 03-26-2017 at 12:00 am
Has played out this way for years, days may vary, but again, portals update on the third day after mailing.
thanks @CADREAMIN
Tough situation because we MAY be in California, and IF he was admitted, we would want to visit USC. But if he is NOT admitted, certainly don’t want to torture him further.
Our timing is just a little off–unless they miraculously release early this year (not expecting that).
They could go as early as the 20th, it has happened but that was several years ago, but best guess is anytime that week. They did mail out on 23rd last two years, and 24th in 2015, that seems to be the window. Hope it’s early this year for everyone! Ugh, ya would not want to go there if not admitted, brutal. This time is hard enough on seniors - and their parents! They do put up a facebook/instragram post when mailed, that is about as certain as you can get, but probably too late for your planning. Good luck and will keep an eye out for you!
Last year scholarship decisions came out from about 4:00-6:00pm PST, the same day packages were mailed for regular decision, March 23rd. Via portal update. I guess they get the packages in the mail trucks then run to the computer to blast those decisions out as well.
I should add, in years prior, they sent scholarship decisions out the Friday before they mailed regular decision, but for this year I would plan on same day as mailing so you don’t lose your mind thinking they are coming earlier than that. Then if they do, bonus!
Did anyone else get a Financial Aid Notice a few days ago? I assume it’s standard but it requested a lot of specific tax info.
Quick question: If you did not get a January scholarship notification, what are the odds that you will receive any significant merit aid?
S has received about 50%+ at 3 other very good schools, although not as high in as USC in the vaunted US News rankings. He was asked to apply to USC, but quite frankly unless he gets similar money, it will be hard to justify. Our EFC is full tuition, which is ridiculous considering it’s more than half of our income.
@hatethiswait It’s standard. The Financial Aid Office is independent and processing all FA applicants equally at this stage.
@MylesCK Unfortunately, the odds of significant aid for merit (absent NMF status) at this stage are very slim. But if he gets in, maybe the FA offering will be better than your current expectations.
Good Luck
Those receiving large merit (half or full) were all notified in January, the largest new merit possibility is Dean’s which is 1/4 tuition, which I get is nice but a drop in the bucket overall (13k, leaving almost 60k to pay annually). As mentioned, if a student is admitted in March and is NMF, they will receive 1/2 tuition. Any departmental or group type scholarships are small relative to the biggies, they are a couple to a few thousand.
Financial aid is one of the biggest shocks of the college process, many are surprised to learn that they get nothing. I think the biggest stunner for us at the very beginning was realizing that financial aid actually means loans in many many cases.
You don’t have to worry about someone posting, there will be a couple thousand new posts in the next few weeks, with many of those in anticipation of decisions being mailed and receiving them. Acceptances are white boxes about 1/4-1/2" thick, spring admits are a different color - light yellow I believe…They mail the denial (not a fan of rejected) letter the same time but it is sent first class where packages are sent priority (faster). In close areas that catch up and some in Socal do end up getting them the same day as packages. Best to count on the portal update done a couple days after mailing, it happens at midnight. Last year they mailed on 23rd and portal update was 26th at midnight.
Packages cannot be tracked, don’t even think about it. I say that with peace and love. 
How generous is USC with financial aid. Stanford advertises if income less 120000, then costs covered up to 10 percent of income. Is USC competative with regards to financial aid? Loans are not really financial aid, no matter what propaganda schools are putting out there…
It is important to us as the 50 percent presidential merit is a long ways from making USC affordable.
And those FA packages likely play a larger than expected role in those yield rate fluctuations. Last year, USC expected the normal (for USC) yield rate of 33-34%, but they ended up with a yield rate above 37% (and 358 more freshmen enrolled than what they had been shooting for).
Traditionally, 5900 or so of the 9K admitted to USC each year end up going elsewhere. Clearly, financial considerations have always played a key role in those family decisions. Who knows… maybe more kids than expected discovered that they could afford to attend USC after all…
Please post if anyone hears from USC. Does anyone know if acceptance letters are large in size compared to denial
letters?
@sekere62 USC claims to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. Of course, that element of meeting need includes grants, federal work study and loans. We found their FA offerings sufficient to allow my two daughters to attend… even this year, when they overlap and are attending USC simultaneously. But each family’s judgment is likely unique to their own financial situation, so I prefer not to judge how others will react when they finally receive their FA offering.
Good Luck…
Got back from ExploreUSC and can confirm that Director of Admission Kirk Brennan said they expect a 13% acceptance rate this year. He went on to say that they will reject 55,000 students (same total number who applied last year) which is mind boggling. Apparently close to 64,000 students applied this year. He went on to castigate College Confidential for providing false numbers regarding the percent expected to retain the award that they interview for during ExploreUSC. He said that a little more than 50% will get the award that they are interviewing for and that only 4% will be bumped up from Presidential to Trustee. Overall, it was a nice visit, except for the rain!