From past threads and your experience, does USC notify via email or mail? I am afraid we are losing some mails due to lousy postal service.
Portal update best to follow. E-mail telling you of portal update is usually later. Acceptance packages in mail follow update to portal.
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My student was accepted back when they sent packages out via USPS (2020). They stopped doing that and now notify students via portal update and email.
Regardless of which school your student is applying to, they should be checking their portals and email spam/promotions folders regularly.
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They use to rely on mailed packages first followed by portal update at end of that mail cycle. But recently they have been been updating portals followed by acceptance package. They didn’t send out packages one year cause of the covid fear of mail. They should be sending out acceptance packages as normal this year.
Former Dean of Admissions at the University of Chicago Law School who now lives in Southern California and runs her own admissions firm. So highly respected source.
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Wondering if a student does not get accepted to their first or second choice major, will USC offer acceptance as an undecided/exploratory major? Their website lists this as a possibility, but when this question was posed in a recent info session, the AO responded that students can only be accepted into their first or second choice major.
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The numbers are consistent with other schools so not guessing they are wrong, but still don’t see how someone with no direct ties to USC would have this info. I didn’t think schools gave early access to not yet public admissions numbers to private consultants. Perhaps they do.
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Yes… unless they have very recently altered their longstanding practice. Being admitted Undeclared has been an option. My younger daughter was admitted that way in 2017. She then internally transferred into SCA during her first freshman semester. At orientation, she was in a large group of similarly admitted students. So, it has been rather common.
Being from FL we don’t have much info on USC. What majors is it known for and what percentage are local CA students vs from other states?
Thank you and good to know this has been their practice. My D23 listed Annenberg as her 1st choice and Marshall as her 2nd choice major. Given how competitive Marshall has become, unsure if they are considering students who list it as their second choice major.
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Is your student applying this year or are you looking for information for a future applicant?
Take a look at the latest first year student profile or section F & J of the Common Data Set.
Hi everyone, have any other parents received a hard copy letter and brochure in the mail regarding financial aid?
The language in the letter is worded in such a way that if the answer is a rejection from USC come later in Jan., it would just be cruel.
It starts of saying “We are delighted by your student’s interest in attending USC…” It gives information on financial aid and says “there is no need to wait for an admission decision…the sooner the aid application is completed, the sooner we will be able to let you know how much aid we can provide.” It ends with “we are excited about your child’s application to USC and look forward to working with you.” Signed “Office of Admissions” and underneath, “Financial Aid Office.”
Wondering if others received this letter/is this standard for all applicants? This is definitely toying with my emotions ad this is my child’s dream school!
Sorry, it’s standard for applicants, comes up every year. They process FA and admissions separately. The FA office just wants people to get their stuff loaded up as early as possible to complete the checklist on each applicant. People don’t understand how/why they would process FA for so many applicants, includeing those that will ultimately not be admitted, but they do - it’s a pretty automated system in terms of getting docs turned in and accounted for in the early stage of the process. Thus, these FA mailings encouraging people to get the needed docs in.
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Thanks, that’s what I figured. The language in the letter (delighted and excited about your child’s application, we look forward to working with you, etc.) and it being signed by both the Admissions Office and Financial
Aid Office threw us off, wish they would qualify the letter and say it’s not related to admissions/that everyone gets the letter - would save some potential heartache and confusion!
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To be safe, has your student checked their portal and emails (including spam) to see if any additional financial information is being requested?
We were from Florida too. Our family sent two daughters there from Tampa. There is a wealth of information available about anything and everything USC via their website… including each individual School’s specific webpages.
For a breakdown… in terms of applications, yield, admissions by department, etc… I suggest reviewing the freshman profile:
Microsoft Word - First-Year Student Profile 2021 Final for review[1].docx (usc.edu)
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You’re welcome. And in terms of Marshall, that will likely be the case.
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As suggested above, USC Financial Aid will often ask for things directly. And they expect you to upload them through FAST. They will list within the FAST portal (for financial aid) everything received and everything still needed. Having already submitted them through CSS will not suffice. Often, they request the same item(s) even more than once. Sometimes, they will even invent a new request, meaning that they want you to generate a letter or explanation to upload. The key thing is to simply take it all in stride and supply whatever they ask for… even if you have already submitted it directly to them before. There is no point in arguing or trying to explain that they already have it. Simply give it to them again if they ask for it again. My advice is to just get used to it. We dealt with it for two students and eight FA cycles.
But generally speaking, the FAO will replicate many requests for items already submitted to CSS. And as stated above, your FAST portal can seem complete time after time, but then they may simply ask for something new or for you to replicate a submission. So maybe get used to checking it often. Or, if you ignore it, they will eventually email you too, telling you to check FAST.
And yes… although it seems to defy logic, Financial Aid and Admissions are on two completely separate & independent paths until when admissions announces its decisions. The FAO will basically learn who is being admitted as you and every other applicant are. But until then, they will work as diligently as possible to get everyone’s FA account/profile completed… just in case you & all who applied for FA are admitted.
So, you will derive no hints regarding potential admissions via the FAO or their communications with you. That is just the reality of how they operate.
Good Luck…
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