have kids been contacted for interviews? and if so is that for the merit scholarship?
The notifications regarding merit scholarships (whether you are in the running/selected for an interview) will come out this Friday. I am not aware of anyone who has been contacted for an interview yet.
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All Dec. 1 applicants (selected and not selected) will receive a portal update AND an email this Friday, correct?
Or do only those selected for scholarships get a portal update and everyone else only gets an email?
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Is there any idea what the yield rate is for the recipients of the top scholarships?
Edit: I assume they are giving out more than 100 trustee scholarships and that some are declined, for instance.
Our D has USC as accepting her application on 12/2. I believe she filled and sent on 12/1, and I also believe USC had an extension to 12/2 this year due to technical difficulties. I haven’t seen this acknowledged anywhere. It all says “if application was submitted by 12/1” etc. Assuming she’s fine and eligible, right?
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She is fine whether Dec 1st or 2nd, there is a tweet that application was extended.
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For scholarship notifications, they eventually send you an email that says to check your portal. But most students that are following sites like this one see it in their portal before they get the email. Portal is updated first, then emails are sent out to all accepted to interview. The “no soup for you” portal update/email gets to everyone else shortly after the acceptances.
The no scholarship letter also gets updated to the student’s portal, the email just let’s them konw of a portal update.
Updates should be out between 3-6pm PST if they don’t have any issues.
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No, I do not know the yield but I would assume that it is much higher for a full-tuition Trustee scholarship than for the half-tuition Presidential.
For Californians, a half-tuition scholarship still puts USC at approximately twice the price of a UC.
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The range for scholarship notifications has been 800-1200ish over the years. There has been fluctuation because Deans (1/4) use to be in early round then they moved them to March, will see what they do with those this year. Previously, when scholarships were named in the package (in recent years they haven’t been separated), 300 were invited to interview for the Trustee, Stamps & Mork, the other 500 or so were invited to interview for Presidential (which could be bumped up or down). Now it’s one big pool interviewing for Presidential and Trustee, although I assume there are notes on applicant file that could flag a potential Trustee v Pres.
When divided, they tend to give about 180-200 Trustee/Stamps/Mork (not all of those are available now, Stamps and Mork were only 10 each when provided) with those matriculating being 120ish (these great kids tend to get great offers from other great schools and the extra 20 was the Stamps/Mork). How many scholarships are acutally given each year (to those that actually attend) are published in the class profile.
Presidential figures stated as 200 given, but add NMF to that later and it ends up being about 350 total on 1/2 tuition.
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The only ones notified of interviews/auditions could be some in Thornton/SCA/IYA as they work on their own timetable.
The general merit interviews are the ones being discussed with invites released Friday.
Did anyone send an additional letter of recommendation when applying? I only sent one from a teacher since they only request one but was wondering if they encourage another.
FYI - My daughter was not accepted during the scholarship round but she did receive a small, merit “university scholarship” when she was accepted during the regular acceptance in March, and then she also received another small (but bigger than the 1st) scholarship after she committed which was a nice surprise. Additionally, as has been mentioned above, there were no “white boxes” last year - only a portal update and email but she did receive two other really nice boxes of goodies from Marshall after she was accepted.
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I think the answer is based upon your application and what may be needed to bolster or underscore accomplishments. My daughter has a fairly unusual EC, for instance, so when possible she included a recommendation that both verified and provided context to provide a fuller explanation. She was very strategic in the teacher recommendations as well.
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As stated above, only 800-1200 or so will be admitted during February as part of the merit scholarship announcements round. The vast majority of current and past USC students, including both of my daughters, were instead admitted in March – and not January or February. There are still a handful of potential scholarships handed out in March I believe… plus NMF scholarships can apply if admitted then as well, but yes - most merit money is allocated to those admitted in January/February.
USC is rather generous with financial aid for those who qualify, but clearly the financial considerations do lead to many who are admitted to USC still ultimately committing elsewhere. In recent years, the yield rate has climbed from circa 34% up to 41.3% last year, but that still means that 58.7% (or 5,216) of those admitted to USC last year (8,884) enrolled elsewhere. Of the 3,668 who actually enrolled last cycle as the new freshman class, 686 did so with some form of merit scholarship, so clearly the yield rate is rather high for those actually admitted in January/February.
Let’s face it, the #s can be very intimidating, but overall, they will still likely be admitting 8500 or so again this year. Good luck to all those here on CC who have applied. Hopefully you are among those beating the odds and gaining admission.
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So both scholarship and no-scholarship emails look exactly the same asking applicant to check the portal? Don’t want my daughter to get too excited when she gets the email 
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I dont think so. I think it said in the email that while you weren’t selected for scholarship consideration, you are still being considered in the regular pool.
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Please try to have realistic expectations about Friday and understand that while around 1000 will get good news, 40,000+ will not. There are two expecations that I see each year cause great distress - the ease at getting a scholarship (it’s not), and the financial aid students think they will get. Kids don’t often understand the financial reality of their situation and how many applicants aren’t even admitted with pretty much a perfect academic record. I see this time after time - “I have a 4.0 and took hard classes, so I assume I will get a scholarship/get accepted,” and/or “My parents owe a lot, so I am sure I will get good aid for for college.” For many, neither of these come true, so it is best to keep expectations as level as possible and deal with a great surprise rather than utter disappointment.
I worry about you applicants - I know this covid thing has been so hard on you crazy social teens and 20 somethings, you have been dealing with an upside down world the last couple years, and missing a lot. Add to this college decisions - with elation for some, but for many more, there will be disappointment and angst that is a natural part of the process. We will see both of these on Friday and again in March, and for every other college out there as well. For some it is an easy and clear ride, for others (most) it is full of emotional ups and downs. Even though mine got into USC and all ended well, it didn’t mean the college acceptance process was without pure torture at times.
I want to warn you that it can be hard seeing “OMG I got in!”, “I got an interview!” while the clock ticks away and nothing is coming to your portal or it’s the “no scholarship for you letter.”
Just know your time and special moment will come - AND IT WILL! - but it just may not be Friday. Wait for it. It’s ok to be sad, or be pissed and even jealous, but by the time you wake up after the weekend, commit to shake it off best you can and look forward to your own good news at another time. You will all end up at a great place - make it that way, wherever it is!
For years, I have always been encouraged by how supportive the posters are on the USC pages here (compared to some other sites). If you are struggling in this process, please talk to someone, even on a random site like this; find people to support you. They are out there.
Please don’t let the numbers game of college admissions and their scholarships define you. I have said this before, but don’t let anyone/a process tell you or make you think you are not awesome.
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Thanks @CADREAMIN. I completely agree with you that many including my D22 will have disappointments this week, but they all need to keep in mind that this is just another week and not a week that defines who they are or what they can achieve in the future.
A few years back my son applied to 16 colleges and was only admitted to 4 of them. But the one he ended up going is a great institution and he is very happy there. He already has 4 internship offers for this summer. My D22 (and us) learned a lot from my son’s experience and my D22 plugged all the holes that we thought were in my son’s academic and non-academic activities/achievements. But still she has already gotten 1 rejection and 2 deferrals. But we also learned patience and confidence from my son’s experience that we are good with these rejection/deferrals, and know that we have another 2 months to go for all college decisions to rollout. All the kids have done their best. There is no point in fretting over something we cannot control. They should be focused on their senior final semester and enjoying the last few months in high school. This is time for enjoying one’s accomplishments from K-12.
Celebrate if you get acceptances. If you get deferred or rejected, please remember that you are not alone and there 10s of thousands like you , and you are what you do with your college education and not defined by where you attend college.
All the Best !
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You’re welcome @formydd. Yours sounds like pretty typical path that we all have to navigate! We learn a lot for the first one, but it still doesn’t guarantee a path for 2, 3, 4…
What I find an awful outcome of this is the kid who takes a rejection very personal and for some time feels like all the hard work they did was for nothing, and they enter this dark tunnel that can be hard for them to get out of. When an applicant has a dream school that they have been working toward all through high school, after that rejection it can be hard for them to see it will all work out, even though us older/wiser folks know it will.
I think this college acceptance/rejection period, along with moving out of this covid nightmare, is a good time to provide extra support and hugs to our kids (and any kid out there) on the cusp of college and adulthood.
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I went back to last year’s thread and did not see exact wording. It sounds like those with good news got a simple email message to check their portal for an update. In the portal was an acceptance letter and scholarship interview information. Later on, an email to those that weren’t invited to interview for the scholarship was sent.
Everyone got an email and those with good news directed to the portal.
Those with good news were told 50 percent will be awarded the Presidential, 20 percent get the Trustee and 20 percent get the Dean’s award (1/4 tuition).
Perhaps @lkg4answers has exact wording
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