@WWWard @CADREAMIN Both of your insights are so helpful - thank you! Could you elaborate on the rumor that merit awards are more likely to go to applicants who qualify for financial and/or are of certain demographics? I’m curious about that. Are they more likely to go to URM and FG students, do you think? Thank you!
This is the announcement about the MyUSC downtime, I’ll let someone more knowledgeable than me take meaning from it:
From 12:01 to 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 27, ITS will be performing scheduled website maintenance During this maintenance, faculty, students, and staff may be unable to access the MyUSC portal, the online USC directories, and some USC websites for up to 10 minutes.
I may be remembering incorrectly, but didn’t someone further up in the forum say that it would be applyusc.edu that would have the decision notification, as opposed to the MyUSC portal?
@collegemom111111 I really don’t believe that but that’s what I thought that poster may be referring to; I think that logic is more of a justification by some that don’t get a scholarship. But is there crossover of kids that need FA getting it, sure, because there are some great kids out there. I absolutely believe USC wants the best people they can get regardless of their demographic.
@romns116 It’s hard to give example of days because they are always updated just after midnight (last 4 years). So if arriving tomorrow (Thursday), the portal would updated Saturday morning (late Friday night just after midnight). If they don’t start arriving till Friday, the portal will update late Saturday night which is officially Sunday morning.
If not sent till tomorrow, portal will update Sunday morning (late Saturday night)
The give 2 full days for them to arrive. So send day-arrive day 1-arrive day 2, then post late that night beginning of third day of arrival for packages.
2018
Mailed Tuesday, the 23rd,
Arrived Wednesday the 24th. First to post 1:@4pm
Portal updated Friday the 26th at 12:04 am (so late Thursday night)
I am still hoping they went out today and we see them arriving tomorrow, but the myusc is suspect. Also, they may be putting it out there to throw people off, then surprise them a day early. Setting a later target has been done before. 
Hang in there everyone!
@CADREAMIN thank you for your detailed answers!
@apple349 You’re welcome. Best of luck to you! Still hoping for packages to come tomorrow. Will know soon I suppose (but not soon enough for anxious applicants). Been there, done this - it is exciting, and the anticipation is mind numbing, but mostly exhausting for those with apps in. Ya gotta love the ones that are oblivious to all this going on!
And then more than 38,000 that applied by December 1st get to go through it again in March with the other 20,000 that applied after Dec 1st. Buckle up, it can be a bumpy ride.
@CADREAMIN made an account just to thank you! i’ve been continuously checking this page due to your insight, i’m so nervous!! :-S
@brbaph omg! how sweet is that! I have been where you are and I still remember how anxious I was, and I am just the parent. Sooo hard on the students. Study or find something to binge watch, stare at your phone, etc., - forget about this (ha like that is possible). Good thoughts for you! Fingers crossed.
So when you go to thier website and go to undergraduate admissions. They have a big ad that says scholarship notifications. Tells us that we will hear back by the end of January
I live in wa. How long do you think it would take for a package to arrive. Lol if I even get one
How long does it usually take for international students to receive their packages? Is it usually before the portal updates? I live in South Africa so I feel like it could take weeks with our postal service.
As far as merit scholarships being offered to need based kids: as another post pointed out, the deadlines for financial apps hasn’t passed so don’t believe that is taken into account. Also, on a personal note, my S didn’t and doesn’t qualify for need FA and was offered and received the Presidential scholarship. Rumor has it that need may come into play in getting bumped up to Trustee (full tuition) but again just part of the rumor-mill.
@Burrowsc Where do u get your info re admitted students and tuition?
@CADREAMIN
Thank you for your detailed answer! I’m amazed at the empathetic disposition you and @WWWard consistently maintain even when posting the same answers to the same questions. Thank you for being so willing to help us.
If you want to estimate your USPS Priority Mail zone for a potential “white box” delivery… go to this link and enter 90089 as the shipping zip code:
https://www.usps.com/priority-mail/map/
Keep in mind that this is just an estimate. USPS misses the delivery window up to 5% of the time too- unfortunately.
Thank you for the USPS Priority Mail Zone info! We live in the middle of nowhere and it looks like we are in the 3-day window. DS has already been religiously checking our mailbox, even though I’ve told him that it looks like white boxes haven’t been sent yet. It’s hard to watch how the stress affects our kids! And he’s keeping very busy with school, our high school musical and friends - but I can feel the tension coming off of him!
@sue101 not sure what you mean
@WWWard so if packages shipped yesterday, if I live in a zone where it would take 2 days to receive the package, I would most likely receive it tomorrow, correct? And if they ship today, I would most likely receive it Saturday?
ugh I’m in Oregon and it’s looking like a 3 day wait…