Thank you, very helpful! Chances of getting in this week seems very very slim and for some reason my daughter has more realistic expectations than me!
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This is a terrific post. Thank you. 
I’m a parent, but my plan is to STAY OFF CC all of Friday. I would advise the same for applicants. This is all hard enough without making it….even more painful.
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Last year’s No Soup for You email rcvd the evening of 2/12/21
"I am sending this update to first-year candidates who submitted applications by December 1, the deadline for USC Merit Scholarship consideration.
Scholarship Selection
Over 41,000 students applied in time to be considered for USC Merit Scholarships. We recently offered admission to approximately 1,000 students who will proceed to the next phase of consideration for our top awards: the Trustee and Presidential scholarships - I am sorry to say that you were not selected for further consideration for these awards.
This notification applies only to the awards I mentioned. You will still be considered for other scholarships listed on our Scholarships page. Also, if you are named a National Merit Finalist, offered admission and select USC as your first-choice institution, you will receive a USC Presidential Scholarship worth one-half tuition.
Financial Aid
I encourage you to apply for financial aid if you have not already done so. Visit the [Financial Aid] website for application instructions, or to calculate an estimate of aid you might receive.
Admission Selection and Notification
Your application is still being considered for approximately 7,000 additional first-year offers of admission. We release notifications via the applicant portal in late March. I am grateful for your patience as you wait for us to finish this difficult work. If you are no longer interested in pursuing admission to USC, you can withdraw your application at the [USC applicant portal]
Mid-Year Reports
If you or your school counselor has not already done so, please submit your mid-year report (your final grades from the first term of your senior year). You can upload a copy of your grades online at [admission.usc.edu/status], or your school can send them to us.
We wish you the best of luck. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us [online] or at (213) 740-1111. Thank you for considering USC."
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Was that the subject line? 
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ha ha : ) - actual subject line was “Information about USC Merit Scholarships”. I think by the time she got the email she already knew from chatter on CC that she hadn’t been selected for scholarship consideration…not positive though - it’s all a blur.
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Thank you so much!!
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Mine was class of 2020 so received a box in the mail. An email followed a few days later. It said,
“You may be wondering about your chances of earning a scholarship. I expect that approximately half of attendees will be awarded one of the top awards, the Presidential scholarship, which is worth 50 percent of tuition. A smaller portion, perhaps one-fifth, will be awarded a Trustee scholarship worth 100 percent tuition, and a similarly sized portion will receive smaller awards, such as the 25 percent tuition Dean’s award or other scholarships. Most students who have made it to this point in the process will be named a merit scholar.”
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Those numbers have been pretty much the same for the last decade.
The Deans scholarship has been the wildcard. Those interviewing can get bumped down to a Deans and most years they also give out the Dean’s in the early round - so students just straight out get 1/4 - meaning they are not interviewing for anything higher. But importantly, they are accepted early which is great too. Some years they have given out a lot of the Deans in the merit round, and some years very little/none were given then, and they were instead given out in quantity in March. There is always some Deans in March which is a sweet surprise for some. The distribution of Deans seems to be based on the predictability of their yield.
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@CADREAMIN When do you expect Music/Dance first-year applicants to get their scholarships decisions?
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We also have the same question, not sure if we will know anything earlier for Music applicants regarding scholarship decisions
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They operate on their own timeline…they have to go through the audition process and see the overall talent pool they have and how to distribute across Thornton. I wouldn’t expect anything until March, and I have known a couple that even got them a couple days after regular scholarship decisions were released! But I guess there is no bad time to get good money. 
I have heard from a couple performance students that got it randomly and earlier, but in general, I have seen them come out just before or around regular scholarship decisions. So set expectations for mid/later March so you don’t drive yourself nuts.
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Out of curiosity, have there ever been any “early hints” on the portal as to if the student is accepted in the early round for scholarships? For example, if there financial aid is updated, or anything else?
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What time will the decisions be on the portal?
Usually 3-6pm PST. Usually, but they are in charge!
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All kinds of speculation every year, which sends this site in a tizzy, but none pan out.
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Hi just a random thought,
since USC send out merch to those accepted, do you think we can check if we have any package coming by go on to the usps informed delivery? or USC doesn’t use usps…
They aren’t sending merch. The update tomorrow will be emailed. Those accepted and invited to interview will have further info in their portal.
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Marshall often sends out swag but that isn’t until after the official announcements are made.
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My daughter got swag from Marshall and we followed it through informed delivery but it wasn’t sent/trackable until after my daughter already knew she was accepted in late March. And be careful with informed delivery - we saw a package coming from St. Louis around the time Wash U was thought to be releasing decisions and got all excited but it turned out to just be contact lenses we had ordered…
EDIT - the box of Marshall swag came via Fed Ex on April 8th so we could track that via our Fed Ex acct and we knew it was from USC because it came from a USC address. The item that we tracked through usps informed delivery was a “You and USC” brochure in a large envelope and was sent on April 12th. Again - all of these were after regular acceptances were sent out.
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Favorite swag was soft Thornton hoodie for my older son. I still wear it on early winter morning dog walks, though he chose another school. But that was sent after April acceptance.
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