I was accepted to one of the claremont colleges under Early Decision! however, after realizing that my parents critical health conditions are only worsening, I would like to stay closer to home. USC is 10 minutes away and I was accepted to USC.
The reasoning for backing off the agreement would be:
My mom recently dealt with cancer (hysterectomy) While she is a cancer survivor, she is affected by high blood pressure and diabetes. She often has doctor appointments.
My father recently had a heart attack. He had surgery to unclog his arteries.
I am unsure if this would be a valid excuse for backing down of an ED agreement. Attending USC would be my only option but I am scared USC would rescind my admissionā¦ what are yaāll thoughts?
@Paquil216 I would get in touch with the Claremont school and tell them your situation and go from there. But, from what Iāve read if you are an early decision candidate and are seeking financial aid, you need not withdraw other applications until you have received notification about financial aid. Hope that helps.
@Paquii216 I have a child at a claremont and one at usc. There is a train that runs from claremont to union station. I think it takes about an hour.
My claremont daughter has a car and visited my usc daughter last week. She left claremont around 7:30pm and was at usc by 8:30. It took her 45 minutes to get home late Friday night and that was including traffic right around usc.
I was wondering ā can a student who is working towards a BM from the Thornton School of Music also work towards a minor in a non-music subject? Or get a BM from Thornton and a BA from Dornsife? If so, are they authorized to take an extra semester or year to do so?
Thanks!
I need some advice. My S has a Presidential scholarship to attend Viterbi CS Game. However, he got into a car accident in February; he got a concussion and missed 5 weeks of school. It has been 7 weeks now and he is still experiencing 24x7 headaches. He is trying to catch up on school work, but due to the headaches he can only study for 30 minutes because the headaches become too painful. He then spends the next 2 hours try to nurse it. Then the cycle begins again.
It is apparent he will not be able to complete all his classes. We are looking into dropping some of his classes to reduce his load. We email the admissionās office to find out whether dropping some classes could impact his admission status. It has been more than a week and still have not gotten a reply from the admissionās office. (His counselor was OOO last week.) S is getting really anxious. I think the school will work with us, but still there is always that possibility things donāt work out. Also, what if admission office came through and he attends SC this Fall, but has to withdraw due to the headaches? Does he lose his tuition and housing fee?
We have been going through his counselor all this time, but have not able to reach him for over a week. Any suggestions on how to escalate this to get a faster response?
@mmrose You can stay as long as you can pay for it. You can double major/major-minor across schools, that is one of the big perks of USC. Many do! Engineering has gpa and pre-req requirements, but a BA in Dornsife should be an easier add. The student can do it anytime at a meeting with an advisor, just tell them what to add. The advisor will guide them through it and build a 4 year plan that includes it - so they can see what it takes to get it done. Depending on the major(s) a student may need to carry more credits during semesters, take summer classes or stay an extra semester. depends on the student and the combination.
@MMRose, my son is currently investigating the same scenario you are. Admitted to Thornton for a BM, but plans to add a BA or BS at Dornsife. Do you/your child have AP classes with scores of 4 or 5? Each of those classes qualifies as 4 USC units. Some of them may also meet the general education requirements (i.e., AP Bio, AP Chem) enabling students to start taking classes in their other major/minor sooner.
@pshiao Maybe ask if he could switch to spring admit. Your doctor could write a note to explain. His health is the most important thing and he needs to start college without the difficulties that a concussion presents. That way, you do not have to make the payment for the tuition before knowing he is going to be fine and able to tackle the work and not be too stressed. And while it might be disappointing for your S, first semester freshman year is tough enough, adding struggling with a health issues would be the worst. Google Kelly Catlin the Olympic bicyclist and Stanford. Concussions need to be taken seriously! Hoping for a speedy recovery and glad the accident was not more serious.
@pshiao Do not rely on email in this case. Call the admissions office and also USC Student Affairs as they will have some of the answers you are looking for. Yours is a specific situation and while there is good information here you need exact information in your case.
As to tuition when you register I believe you are enrolled in tuition insurance by default if you do not choose to waive it. It costs.37 of 1 percent of your tuition and mandatory fees and covers 100 percent of the tuition and mandatory fees (excluding the student Health Insurance Fee) for the semester if a student withdraws from all classes due to injury or sickness. I would read the details to see exactly how it works and what it covers.
If it were me I would err on the side of caution and pursue a delayed start if there was any indication the situation had not resolved. Even if he had to start a year late the first year is a base for a program like that.
@pshiao I would think you could defer given his medical situation. I would hope USC woukd honor his acceptance and not count a lesser course load against him.
My D spent all of 8th grade in bed due to a neurological illness and then returned to school the next year (never doing 8th grade), not yet recovered. I wish we had insisted that she take it easier. Stress will not help with recovery. Your son should have access to a counselor who can help him deal with the trauma of his injury as well.
@pshiao agree with @JohnGaltIII to get someone on the phone. I believe you mentioned before that your advisor said he needed to graduate, not sure if dropping classes affects him actually graduatingā¦but we mentioned earlier you can request to defer enrollment up to a year, were you able to ask his counselor about that? Either way you need to find someone to talk to there. Itās such a unique situation that I believe they will want to escalate it to someone that can truly help you work through it. If admissions refers you back to counselor, let them know you havenāt heard back recently and are trying to get this sorted and push to speak to someone else. It sounds like he should defer and I know that is disappointing to him, but his health is first, college can be done a lot of ways.
@CADREAMIN, @JohnGaltIII, @filmmomvt Thank you for your input. I called the admissionās office and was referred to another counselor, but could only leave a message and a follow up email.
Weād really dread the defer option. Weād likely will enroll this Fall and hope his health condition improves. Do you know if he can still defer by mid August?
@pshiao Yes he should be able to ask to defer at any time this summer within reason of course. But I would be sure to have counselor be onboard to possibility and make sure there arenāt issues with a certain date (I can imagine they donāt want it happening day before classes start kind of thing) just so it is easy to do at the time. So plain ask, āwhat is last day he can choose to defer?ā And of course there is timing of payments. I understand the need for you, and particularly your son, to feel things are progressing as normal and talking about deferring may be discouraging to his state of mind. So moving forward as planned may give him a boost in healing to have something to feel positive about. At the same time, you have to cover all possible scenarios. Being a parent is always a balancing act - wishing you strength, answers and hugs. I sure hope you get someone consistently responsive on the inside at USC.
@lkbux64 Thanks for the info! Iād love to talk offline, but havenāt posted enough to DM. Can you DM me and Iāll respond? Iām swamped until this evening, but would love to chat then!
Separate, off topic question. What banks have ATMs on campus? I recall seeing a cupcake ATM when I visited with my son, but I am looking for ATMs that dispense cash, not sweets!
@lkbux64 As far as I know the two mentioned above are the only two who have campus ATMāsā¦ We neded up just keeping our local account and my kid has a debit visa where he can get cash back at a store if he needs it.
You can double major/major-minor across schools, that is one of the big perks of USC. Many do! Engineering has gpa and pre-req requirements, but a BA in Dornsife should be an easier add. The student can do it anytime at a meeting with an advisor, just tell them what to add. The advisor will guide them through it and build a 4 year plan that includes it - so they can see what it takes to get it done. Depending on the major(s) a student may need to carry more credits during semesters, take summer classes or stay an extra semester. depends on the student and the combination.