We’re all aware that only ~3% will get a package right?? Bc it seems like people are so excited to receive a package that’s never gonna come
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LOL u out here crushing our dreams hahaha
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What is most likely to happen is that the notification and packages will come in the weekend before the 11th, they usually set a date further ahead and then do it sooner. Also yesterday on their story the admissions page said that notifications would come early Feb so we can probably expect to hear back before the 11th most likely. Doubt it will be in January though.
Quick question about financial aid. Not to freak people out. My DD’s complete application was submitted in October. Late November/early December, Financial aid asked us to fill out an additional form, basically assets, and how much is my DD’s 529 separate from her siblings, etc… They also said we were missing the non-custodial parent’s CSS form. That form was submitted on Oct 30, and other schools received it, so I know it is there. DD emailed Financial aid, and they told her not to worry about the missing non-custodial parent form, they have not downloaded everything at that time. Fast forward… I am still slightly stressed about that non-custodial parent form, so I keep checking the applicant portal, making sure it shows received. The first week in January the financial aid portal changed to “reviewing”, they will notice if anything is missing, and it has been like that since. Am I to assume they have it? It was submitted, and other schools have not had any issues downloading it.
Good morning. I have the same issue regarding the non-custodial form. It kept showing not received even though other schools had received it. I initially reached out and was told that to wait a little bit. The week before Christmas it was still showing so I called and spoke to three different people because they kept transferring me and emailed and they let me know that they were still in the process of uploading all the files and that it would take a while but to rest assured that it would get done.
Finally earlier this month it did change to under review so it looks like they did receive everything they needed. I do just think it was a matter of time versus the number of applications they received and trying to match everything up.
Thank you, It is comforting knowing I am not alone. I just found it odd, they do not download the CSS and the non-custodial parent form at the same time.
No. “Named scholarship” recipients are notified earlier than everyone else.
They’re informed that they’re accepted before everyone else. They get to know which scholarship they’re getting on or a few days after the RD kids are notified.
Good to know. So named scholarship recipients (ex. Mork) were notified early? Last year Trustee and Presidential scholarship recipients were notified on March 27.
The financial aid office is not shy. They will ask for what they need. Many times, they ask for it more than once. Our family has dealt with them from 2014 forward. Ultimately, we found them to be fair, but they have not always been overly efficient until they get to the final aid offer. But then again, they are dealing with tens of thousands of files currently. They do operate on a separate path and are not coordinating with admissions at this stage. So, simply provide what they ask for… even replicating submissions if need be. And hope for the best. Their aid offerings made it possible for both of my daughters to attend, including one overlap year while they were both at USC simultaneously. So we were thankful to them.
Good luck…
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I am not that generous in how I view USC, given how they have treated their students to protect their financial interests. For example, I believe they didn’t allow any gap year requests to protect their tuition base, which is far different than any other school did. If they want to get into the highest tier of schools, they need to adopt similarly student friendly policies.
Same thing with these scholarships. They budget that a large percentage will probably decline them for accepting other schools and yet don’t use the declined funds to help other students out.
If I am mistaken on either of these, please correct me and I will admit I was wrong.
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If you are being considered for a “named scholarship,” you will be notified by mid-February that you have been admitted and will be invited to interview for a scholarship.
Applicants not selected for named scholarship consideration will be notified of decisions in late March.
Who knows if they’ll mail boxes this year. Probably not. I think staff are still working remotely.
I honestly have been thinking this too. There has been a lot of talk about boxes but are we even sure that they will be distributed due to COVID. I know that RD admits for fall 2020 didn’t get boxes due to COVID but I am hoping that isn’t the case again.
This is good to know. The messages we’ve received re: financial aid forms have been things we’ve already submitted, so I assumed they were form messages… I’ll need to check again.
Clearly we each develop opinions over time based on subjective experiences or the like. My family’s opinion regarding USC is simply that… our opinions alone. But we have had very little to complain about regarding USC. My older daughter graduated in 2018, and my younger daughter will graduate in May.
I cannot directly speak to the two complaints you spoke about. USC though is in fact unique on a number of fronts: no early admission cycle, no wait-listing, etc. This January round of admissions that come with the scholarship invites are the closest thing that they offer to early admission. And they simply move spring admits forward if spots become available due to admitted applicants not enrolling for the fall. I admit that they could clearly alter some of their approaches… like I favor an universal update online at one set time for admission announcements versus their old school approach of the mail out of admission boxes. But again, my opinion is subjective. In 2017, my daughter’s box was so late that she learned online first, after feeling slighted/rejected for a few days. But many relish those mail box moments. In the end, it all worked out for my family. Hopefully most of this year’s applicants will have a number of options to choose from and not feel overly disappointed by May 1st. USC is not perfect, but it is a great university and served my family well. Hopefully the 3K or so who enroll this fall will look back just as fondly a # of years from now.
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I think the scholarship is effectively an early admission given they offer the same number percentage wise as are admitted early to other schools?
As for not allowing last years class to take a gap year without withdrawing admission is putting their own self interest above its students. Name another school that did the same? Especially one that views itself as elite. The top 10 I’m aware of had no questions and 300 or so gapped. Students situations could vary dramatically by needing to be at home, housing, health etc and then not allowing students to live on campus. No doubt some would have picked other schools if they knew.
Then toss on an almost 4% increase in tuition where others held or decreased their tuition.
I believe this reveals much about the character of the school as the only reason is to protect their budget. If they make this at such a visible stage, what smaller unnoticed decisions get made?
Undoubtedly it’s a great experience but they need to be better if they want to be elite. My daughter still applied but is in early too at another school.
USC:
“ Undergraduate students may be granted deferrals in specific cases relating to medical issues, religious obligations, required military/national service and, in the case of international students who will be attending online from abroad, inability to construct a reasonable online course schedule compatible with their home time zone. However, deferral requests for other reasons will generally not be granted. New students who have committed to enroll at USC but fail to do so will forfeit their spot in the entering class and will need to reapply (with no guarantee of admission) should they wish to attend the university in a future term.”
anybody know when they first notified scholarship recipients last yr?
Jan 26th if I am not wrong.
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Does being a natioanl merit scholar boost an applicant’s chances at getting the merit scholarship? I know usc has their own Presidential scholarship for only NMF but I didn’t know if NMF would be considered for the additional merit scholarships like trustee.
Last year the first boxes arrived in the mail to homes in LA on January 24.
You can read the chatter about early admissions in last year’s thread. USC Class of 2024 Applicants Thread - #382 by west2east20
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