Yeah, that is what I feared. So it essentially renders the intent of the donor meaningless because it isn’t changing anything from our son’s perspective, except maybe loan debt, which he wouldn’t have had at WashU anyway. Since it says, “each situation must be reviewed,” should I proactively attempt to make a case or just wait and see what they do first?
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I think it is highly unlikely that usc will stack the scholarships. You may want to see if Wash U will still take him, in light of this news scholarship info.
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Yeah, I doubt they would and he’s pretty invested in USC, regardless. Oh well. I’m still wondering, though, if I should proactively approach it with USC or just notify them of the scholarships and see what happens.
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Are the scholarships being sent to him or to the university?
What does the small print on the scholarship say? Does it say it can be used for housing or does it say that it can only be used for tuition?
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They are all being sent to the university. The big one can be used for anything, including room and board. The smaller ones only for tuition and books.
The scholarship funds will likely arrive, and post to his account at different times. A letter from you won’t make a difference. A letter from the entity awarding the scholarship might.
He can contact the entity awarding the big scholarship and ask for them to state that the scholarship is for housing. It might not make a difference when he is living in the dorms. When he is living off campus, he may receive the funds to pay for rent. I’m not sure if that will make in your calculated EFC.
I would likely wait and see what they do first, and then you can respond accordingly. If WashU in fact is treating the new external scholarships differently, you can then address that subject with them and see how they reply thereafter. Ultimately, they are in control in terms of how they will proceed or adjust any numbers. But they have an incentive too in keeping a projected enrollee on track toward attending as expected. Hopefully the answer you seek is forthcoming…
OK – My son wanted to wait and see what they do, as well. Thanks for the advice.
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OK – thanks for the suggestion.
Hello,
We will be there to attend orientation in July and are thinking to bring over luggage with some move-in items. Is there anywhere on campus that has storage facility that can store the luggage temporarily till move in?
Thanks
One more question, an earlier post notes the move-in day as 8/17. When I googled, the date says 8/16. Can someone confirm which it is? We plan to get there a day before the move-in day.
Thanks
I would rely on USC’s academic calendar, which shows 8/16.
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Your student should receive an email with move in info. Convocation is August 17. Move in is completed before convocation.
USC Housing used to offer its own storage solutions, but I do not see those links anymore. They may have opted to just let Campus Storage (link above) coordinate it for them. But you may want to call or email USC Housing and simply ask… (800) 872-4632
E: housing@usc.edu
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Ugh! Looking over the “2023 College Free Speech Rankings”, it was very disheartening to see USC ranked so low at # 136 out of 203.
Ranked the very best… UChicago. Ranked the very worst… Columbia University.
USC’s unfortunate highlights (lowlights):
- 41% of students say shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus is never acceptable.
- 47% of students say they have rarely or never self-censored on campus.
- 32% of students say they are not worried about damaging their reputation because someone misunderstands something they have said or done.
- For every one conservative student, there are roughly 4.5 liberal students.
Hopefully things will improve overtime but realizing that free speech is more respected or recognized or accepted at 135 other college campuses is obviously a trend in the wrong direction.
Some other elite colleges and where they rank:
#1. UChicago
#3. Purdue
#6. Claremont McKenna
#24. UVirginia
#26. UNC
#31. Notre Dame
#57. Carnegie Mellon
#62. NYU
#69. UC Berkely
#82. Emory
#84. UCLA
#99. WashU St Louis
At least USC is far higher than my own alma mater, JHU, near the bottom at #196. That was a key reason I encouraged my daughters to not even consider JHU. But, I never expected to see USC evolve downward toward the same level. Here’s hoping that USC can reverse course and be in the top-50 sometime soon…
A link to the rankings… Free Speech Rankings
Number #1 ranked UChicago’s “free speech” policy permitted a student to repeatedly dox a professor, threatening her personal safety. While USC may be a work in progress in some areas, I think they would have had a very different response and would not have indulged such hateful behavior.
May be time for UChicago to revisit their policies?
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So, if you are entering USC as a member of the Class of 2027 next month, once again… congratulations! So, what exactly are you joining…?
Per USC… these are the new #s for the Class of 2027: By March 24, a record-high 80,790 applications had been received, and USC sent acceptance letters to 9,277 students, yielding a record low 9.9% fall admission rate.
Of those admitted, 23% will be the first in their family to attend college — the highest rate ever recorded at USC. Legacy students make up 12% of the admitted class.
A third of students identify with a historically underrepresented racial or ethnic group.
Californians make up 38% of the new class, followed by New York, Texas, Illinois, Washington and New Jersey as the most represented states. 19% are international students from 87 different countries.
3.9 was the average GPA for the class of 2027. 41% of students earned perfect grades in high school.
More thoughts about the university in general…
The University of Southern California was founded in 1880 in Los Angeles and is the oldest private research university in California. USC is composed of 23 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, enrolling roughly 21,000 undergraduate and 28,500 post-graduate students from all 50 U.S. states and more than 115 countries. USC is ranked as one of the top universities in the United States and with a fall 2023 acceptance rate of only 9.9%, admission to its programs is considered highly selective.
Current Facts and Figures:
Students (2022-2023 academic year) Rounded to the nearest 500
Undergraduates 21,000
Graduate and professional 28,000
Total 49,000
Student Demographics (Fall 2022)
Asians 19.3%
Black/African-American 5.8%
Hispanic 15.3%
White/Caucasian 24.8%
International 26.6%
Other 8.2%
International Students (Fall 2022)
Regularly Enrolled International Students 13,056
Student Retention Rate (Fall 2022)
Fall 2021 (% enrolled Fall 2022) 97%
Six-Year Graduation Rate (Student Right-to-Know*)
2022 (Fall 2016 freshman class) 92%
Undergraduate Tuition: $63,468 (2022-23 undergraduate estimate of costs)
Financial Aid awarded, all sources (2021-22 fiscal year): $773.4 million
Alumni: There are more than 450,000 living alumni in the Trojan Family. USC alumni can be found in positions of leadership all over the world, with more than half of them living in California.
Endowment (as of June 30, 2021): $8.1 billion
University Budget (2021-22 fiscal year): $6.2 billion
USC sponsors a variety of intercollegiate sports and competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Members of USC’s sports teams, the Trojans, have won 107 NCAA team championships, ranking them third in the United States, and 412 NCAA individual championships, ranking them third in the United States and second among NCAA Division I schools. As of 2021, Trojan athletes have won 326 medals at the Olympic Games (153 golds, 96 silvers, and 77 bronzes), more than any other university in the United States. USC has had 537 football players drafted to the National Football League, the second-highest number of draftees in the country.
USC has graduated more alumni who have gone on to win Academy and Emmy Awards than any other institution, largely due to its top-ranked School of Cinematic Arts. The university has conferred degrees upon 29 living billionaires. USC’s notable alumni include 11 Rhodes scholars and 12 Marshall scholars. As of January 2021, 10 Nobel laureates, six MacArthur Fellows, and one Turing Award winner have been affiliated with the university. USC is also the birthplace of technologies such as the Domain Name System, VoIP, DNA computing, transform coding, and dynamic programming. Other top-ranked programs include USC’s Thornton School of Music, School of Dramatic Arts, and Kaufman School of Dance. Among its highly ranked programs, stellar standouts include the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Viterbi School of Engineering and Marshall School of Business.
So, take pride in becoming an USC Trojan officially. And Fight On! 
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Big shift from Class of 2024 in terms of internationals. It used to be 12%. https://about.usc.edu/files/2020/09/First-Year-Student-Profile-2020-Final.pdf
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I believe the Class of 2024 had fewer international students because many couldn’t travel during the early stages of the pandemic.
Did you see this USC article?
International students composed 17% of this year’s applicants and 19% of admits. Their numbers are up about 10% compared to last year, and up 40% compared to 2019, the last admission cycle prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the United States, the countries most represented are China, India, Canada, South Korea and Singapore.
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Hi! I was just wondering if USC requires or looks at the 1st quarter grades if you apply Early Action. For now, I have 2 B’s that I know I can change to A’s by the end of the semester, but I’m not sure if I can change them before quarter grades are due. Thanks!