USC Class of 2026 — Regular Decision

hi i want to change my major from a humanities major to the econ/math combined major program. both of them are in dornsife. is it difficult? and should i bring it up during orientation?

Yes, you can certainly tell them there incase there is a pre-req that is good to start early on for the new major. You advisor will eventually sign off the change with you, but mentioning it at orientation is fine. There are so many GEs to do at USC so you have plenty of time, but changing won’t be a problem and easy both being in Dornsife.

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when will other scholarship decisions come out (scholarships except the full tuition/half/quarter) ?

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Does anyone know anything about orientation?

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These links may be helpful to both new students and their families…

https://parents.usc.edu/

https://housing.usc.edu/

Fight On! :v:

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yes! fall admit with no test scores

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Yes, once you get your Net ID, you’ll be able to reserve your orientation date.

Congrats, that’s awesome. Any specific hooks that boosted your chances?

Congratulations! Are you willing to share your stats? I have D23 who is thinking of applying TO next year.

My daughter received an email earlier today regarding “USC Housing Application Information.”

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For USC, I 100% think it was my son’s essays and the USC short answer questions that got him in. His stats are not stellar, nor did he have any scores (SAT, ACT or APs), no leadership, or was captain of any team.

If USC is her dream school, I would focus on the essays and try to come across being unique in her essay and her answers. Also, make sure it comes thru that USC is your kid’s #1 choice.

Hope that helps!

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D22 has been working under one of the USC professors for the last 4 yrs. Still got rejected. :frowning:

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Daughter attending Explore on Monday. Any recommendation on where to stay? USC Hotel is all booked. Also would you recommend renting a car to get around or just use Uber? We plan to visit UCLA too so maybe a hotel that’s convenient to both schools if possible.

UPDATED: We learned by calling Admissions today that possibly (??) Thornton students are no longer eligible for campus merit awards (Trustee, Presidential, Dean’s, etc.). That’s sort of what it sounded like. Could this be correct?? Or are we just not asking right or hearing things wrong? Thornton “does not participate,” at the time, sounded to us like this was the case. (If this is ever found to be wrong info, please do correct here, folks; but, that’s what they seemed to just say pretty clearly – unless they just meant, Thornton is not a part of the campus merit/interview process, which we knew.) The Financial Aid offer did come through before April 1, just this evening on FAST. It’s much like we were led to expect from USC, and very different picture than the packages offered everywhere else so far. USC had been DD’s top choice. Good luck to everyone, one and all!

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We always stay at the Marriott LA Live in downtown. Easy to get to USC and has a lively area with lots of restaurants and next to the Staple Center or now known as Crypto.com Center. You can choose to stay in Beverly Hills but there’s not anything really in the middle. It’s either one end of LA to the other. USC is about 30 min away from UCLA. I highly recommend renting a car so you can explore.

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I just checked my FAST portal and saw it was updated. I got something called the University Scholarship, which gave $3,750 a year and had this description:

I’ve never heard of it, and when I went to the scholarship info link it gave it wasn’t anywhere in the databases. Does anyone know what it is or more information about it?

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Hi…
Here is an email we got today from our admissions counselor that seems to contradict what you were told…so who knows?

Thank you for your email; it’s so great to hear from you! Congratulations again on your admission to USC Thornton! Admitted students who are selected to receive a USC merit scholarship should be notified via email by April 1 (please note, only those who are selected to receive a USC scholarship will be notified.) We do not offer Thornton specific scholarships at the undergraduate level however, I definitely recommend checking out the “Other Possible Sources of Aid” section if you’d like to explore other possible scholarship resources: Financial Aid | USC Thornton School of Music. This will include both USC and non-USC scholarship options. You’ll likely find that some options are only for current USC students or the time has already passed to apply for them, but if these resources don’t provide immediate options, I hope they can still be helpful for future reference.

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UPDATED: @rmb1234 THANK YOU for this. It COULD be that I spoke to soon in previous post, based on this information you shared. Are we still in the WWOW, and is it April Fool’s on us?? Really not sure now. Usually the admissions decision and the Fin Aid summary online are what you get, and the show’s over after that. However, on the phone yesterday, we were indeed told we would “receive an email.” No email had been received when the FAST portal updated yesterday evening (but we figured all any email would say would just be, “check your portal because it has just been updated”). On the OTHER hand, when asked on the phone yesterday – how many possible communications are we watching for here? A possible merit letter AND a FinAid update, or just one thing?.. Answer from very nice person was, “just one thing.” Did we misunderstand? I bet they had a lot going on too with incoming calls :slight_smile: … It’s not April 1 yet, and DD has received no email I know of, so we’ll hang tight, thanks. If the tears last night were for nothing, that would be a lot better. (Also, respectfully, maybe better too if USC might simply consider communicating admissions/packages clearly and at once as a best practice?) Still, DD has some incredible opportunities elsewhere, and from essentially everywhere else she applied, is extremely grateful, and will be fine. Thanks for this community and all you do. It’s a stressful process.

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It’s just a way to give you a little something totally at their discretion. They don’t list Director’s for 4K either but they give it out.

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The FAST page is where the real info is about any money being offered. The e-mail you receive will just say basically “dear applicant, your financial aid info is complete.” Once someone gets that e-mail, it is officially done. That e-mail can lag behind FAST a couple/few days. The emails sent are only “there has been an update to your FAST,” like when a loan goes through, or it’s complete as mentioned above. They don’t put details of the update in the emails, if that makes sense. Technically, one is in the WWOW until the “FA is complete” e-mail is received.

They really could make the whole independent processes with Thornton more clear. And yes, most schools send acceptance and money info at same time. At USC there is always risk of kids getting excited about acceptance only to find out days later they can’t afford to go. I don’t think there is sensitivity to that emotional angst in different parts of the process. When asked why USC or any school does certain things, the only answer sometimes is “cause they can.” Supply/demand rules it seems. There are always some stunned by the financial reality, which is understandable cause it is a very unknown process till one goes through it (many times).