Great post @CADREAMIN
@CADREAMIN thanks for the info. It’s really helpful. Do you happen to know how the scholarship process works for Thornton majors? As Thornton doesn’t admit anyone in January, when will academic scholarship recipients (who are Music majors) find out?
@CADREAMIN thanks for the info. So if you haven’t been interviewed already, does that mean you definitely won’t get any merit $$ ?
How do admissions work for the school of Dramatic Arts? Do you get admitted through the individual college or do you have to get into USC as a whole first?
S was fortunate to get the white box this past January, around the 25th. I was skeptical about whether the white box moment would be such a big deal. S made it clear before he went to school that day that he wanted us to text him if it came in the mail. Had to respect his wishes and text him the news. Unfortunately, since the white box did not fit in the mailbox, there was no changing the plan even if we wanted to. Here is what happened:
At about 2pm on January 25th, I heard what sounded like the mail truck drive up our driveway, which immediately led me to jump out of my seat and open the garage door. The truck was already backing down the driveway so I turned my head towards the front door and spied what looked like a white package leaning up against our front door. Hard to describe the feeling of joy and relief for our son, who I knew had put USC into his top three. I had read previous posts about it being a box or package, but it was more substantial than I expected. As my wife rushed out the door, she teared up as I handed it to her while giving her the Fight On Victory sign. S arrived home about an hour later and was no less thrilled than his parents were, but I can’t help thinking it might have been nice for him to find the box himself. In any case, the white box moment is as @CADREAMIN describes it. I wish all who are reading this the same experience next week!
I had read about the box and told my D that I thought it was cool that USC admits like that. She wasn’t expecting one because the school is such a huge reach. I kind of had a feeling though. Not sure why. The doorbell rang in the afternoon. My H answered it and handed me a white box but it was an amazon box. Then I noticed a thinner white box on top that said USC.
My D works after school so wouldn’t be home until 5:00. I texted her at school and asked if she could leave class for a few minutes. She said yes. I met her and gave her the box and she screamed!
Maybe not the best way to have gone about it. Even though I told her everything was ok, she later told me she thought our dog had died.
It was a good day. It was my older D’s birthday. When I called to wish her a happy birthday I also told her about her sister and usc. While on the phone, she got an email that she was accepted to her study abroad program for next fall.
@ttg1125 If admitted to USC, the admission decision will be to USC generally and then to SDA as well as your assigned major… or to just USC, but Undeclared.
In prior years, SDA admits were often also afforded advanced notice by getting invited to an upcoming SDA event. Back in 2014, that was the case regarding my older daughter. I recall that invite arriving in the mail a few days prior to her receiving the “white box”. That of course led me to go on CC to confirm what it meant. There have been numerous CC posts over the years on that topic before… so searching for such may provide greater details as to what on campus event it was/is. But such invitations have always been advanced notice… at least for SDA admits… before.
Good Luck…
So, just to be clear, if we don’t receive a white box, it means we were not admitted? They won’t send a letter of denial, correct?
I think they send a letter of denial but it is not “priority” mail, so it won’t come before the portal update.
@Barcelona97531, since the postal service in the USA can be unreliable (I think by their own admission, about 5% of mail gets delayed or not delivered properly), so not receiving a white box on the first or second day after they are sent, will not mean you were not admitted. The portal update is the sure way to find out because if you have not received it, it may be slow mail or a mail mix up. I believe @WWWard was one who found out via the portal last year and his daughter got the white box some days later.
@Marcie123, that made me chuckle when you said your daughter screamed when you gave her the white box at school because I believe my S did as well when he got my text :-). Glad your dog is alive and well!
So nervous, but I’m confident my straight A senior semester (with 4 APs) is gonna help me out a lot, especially with a lower end GPA. Good luck to you all. I hope to be surprised in a good way 
@Nomorelurker actually she screamed and said “oh $&@!
After Explore, I can’t imagine her choosing another school. She had gotten deferred from her ED school. That would be the only one that might beat out USC, if she gets in.
The portal update will also include a copy of whichever letter was mailed… acceptance or denial. Denial letters of course simply arrive at the pace of regular mail.
If USPS were more efficient, I would concur that the old school approach utilized by USC is a nice touch. And maybe 5% or less of the boxes get delayed in arriving, but that still equates to likely hundreds who are unduly stressed out. It was certainly unpleasant last year, as my daughter was fully convinced of rejection only to learn via the portal update that it was not the case.
I would simply suggest a faster portal update. USC could still send the boxes, and of course those receiving such will still be thrilled – as they are well done. Maybe they will update their methodology eventually.
Are we expecting the box by March 24th then?
@ttg1125, if the box is mailed on March 23 and you live close to USC in Los Angeles or thereabouts, you may receive a box on March 24 (next day). As I recall, back in January (for the USC scholarship notification boxes), some in Orange County and other parts of Los Angeles (maybe some in the Inland Empire or San Fernando Valley) did not receive it next day.
Also, there is a chance they mail the boxes on March 22 this year, in which case some may receive a box on the 23rd. If you live in Northern CA, likely going to take 2 days to receive a box, so if it is mailed Friday, 3/23 and if no mail delivery Sunday, you might not get til Monday, and the portal may update before then.
I would say that opening the portal at just the appointed time can be quite a thrilling experience as well. Especially since the ups and downs of the mail make it plausible you may have to access the portal anyhow to get your result.
We are all making guesses on the date, but the truth is no one knows. I can throw out a best guess date based on the last 6+ years and before you know it, on CC it becomes a fact. New posters come on board and don’t read backwards and just take the first thing they see as carved in stone.
So please, for your own mental health, be cautious with the date expectations and know only admissions has that info. It gets very tense as the dates get closer to that March 23rd time frame, so mentally, just prepare for the next week, then anything before is a big bonus. Don’t want to prompt any anxiety attacks.
They have always posted a picture of the trucks leaving admissions with the packets - that is the real deal!
Students, go live your life, enjoy what is left of senior year, keep your grades up. Parents, we can’t help but torture ourselves on this site, not sure why. What will be will be.
Fight On! :)>-
@CADREAMIN, good advice about date expectations, but relax? What’s that? Enjoy senior year? Whoever said junior year was the hardest was smoking something. S has three AP tests this week, an internship to do, several other extracurriculars, and I am still getting over jet lag from last week’s ExploreUSC trip to the West Coast, taxes to complete, not to mention another scholarship weekend that we attended the previous week.
There are something like 4 or 5 universities announcing whether or not S was admitted, in the next two weeks or so, plus USC scholarship results. No relaxing in this household til April!
lol, I never said relax - I know better than to suggest that! Mine was more of a suggestion to fool yourself and set expectations out there. I was a wreck for three of mine (the fourth was an athlete so we knew where he would be going when a junior - that was relaxing).
The kids can distract themselves better than the parents, they have tests and things to keep up with. Us parents can’t let it go for a second and obsess obsess obsess. And it is a silly torture since we have zero control over any of it at this point.
Soon it will go from decisions of which college to which color comforter. That is much more fun, and relaxing!
@piranhavator, they sent Thornton Music Majors an email sometime ago (mid Feb. I believe) saying they would be considered for all merit scholarships and notified by April 1. Not sure if there will be interviews beforehand or when any awards will be announced. I have scoured CC and not been able find any specific examples of Thornton Music students hearing about admittance/scholarship information early.