I have no personal knowledge, but I take that as a good sign! My son had reached out to his admissions counselor in February asking if they needed to see his mid-year report, and she replied “not at this time.” (There was conflicting info. on USC social media that stated “now is the time to submit mid-year report.”) In the form email in his portal advising him he did not receive the merit interview, the last sentence stated to send in the mid-year report. He did that a few weeks ago (even though he never received a personal request to submit them). And in his portal it doesn’t look like USC has uploaded the report (it is received but looks different than other received items). I’m worried that since they don’t appear to be interested in looking at his mid-year report that he is not being considered for admission at all. I think since you got a personal email that is a good sign that they are considering you!
Most schools upload midyear reports through common app and they would be automatically downloaded - that is what it shows on my son’s portal - think this may be for those not done automatically and in consideration?
Can you self submit via a Midyear transcript?
Thank you
It wouldn’t be considered “official” unless sent by a counselor through a secure site. As per What is an “official” transcript? (usc.edu)
it is weird it doesn’t have a green check mark for mid-year report.
It’s odd that it looks different, but it’s probably to differentiate user-uploaded documents (the little paper icon next to it) and official materials like the Common App and USC Supplements (of which have green checks next to them)
I uploaded my midyear transcript and my school sent them too. I also have that weird no green check mark thing. I wouldn’t worry about it. I know they have my official.
Ours was automatically sent from DD’s HS, so I am no help
this is what ours look like too… and it was uploaded through Common App by my DD’s school
I need to add, at most of my DD’s schools, even the ones she has already been accepted at, mid year transcipts show as received, marked different than the other materials. I feel it has to do more with required application items with the orginial application, and items not required with the original application.
Just got an email to add mid year grades. Is this a good sign?
According to an earlier post, it seems as though they are in the final stages of admission. This isn’t indicative of your chances of success since they can’t make a final decision without the mid-year report, but if your grades are doing well now, consider it to be a good addition.
From USC website:
Why did I receive a request from USC for mid-year grades? How do I submit them?
Updated 03/11/2021 09:20 AM
We find that an applicant’s senior mid-year grades can help us make better admission decisions. These grades can show how applicants handle some of the most challenging courses of their high school career, and they can further illustrate emerging trends in overall performance.
We send many requests for mid-year reports in January and February to applicants from whom we would like to see additional information. If you receive such a request, you should submit those grades via the USC Applicant Portal as soon as possible, as we will not be able to continue our review of your application without them.
If you choose to mail your grades, it will take longer to process them. Please be sure to include your full name on the document and write “Mid-Year Report” on the outside of the envelope.
Oh, ok. My counselor did send something in and it said received mid-year transcript on my portal. But I just uploaded a screenshot of my grades-- hopefully that suffices.
It just seems odd to get this request 3 weeks before decisions come out and not in January or February. We could guess forever and not understand it.
Why does it seem odd? Not trying to start a fight, I just want to know what your thought process is 
The most logical way of thinking about this is that they just had too many applicants to go through and mid-year requests had to be sent later.
That makes sense.
Not sure if you saw my other post but I think the mid-year request was out there on the portal and if you had it sent by the school through Common App it was automatically downloaded so perhaps it is just those that hadn’t seen it and had not sent already that they reached out to via email - are you saying it wasn’t sitting as an open request on your portal since late Jan/early Feb?