The National Merit Scholarship program is based on a student’s PSAT Score. If a student scored high enough on their PSAT in 11th grade, they would have been notified that they were a National Merit Semi-Finalist. Semi-Finalists can submit an application to National Merit Scholarship Corporation (not USC) and may be selected to be a National Merit Finalist (NMF).
Some colleges (ex. Alabama, Tulsa, UTD, etc) offer full-ride packages to students who are National Merit Finalists. For USC, if a National Merit Finalist is accepted (based on their application, not their NMF status), they are guaranteed at least a half-tuition Presidential scholarship.
National Merit Scholarship Corp requires students to indicate which college is their “first choice” in order to be considered for a college-sponsored National Merit Scholars scholarship. Each college has a different date (between March 1 and May 31) that they require a student to notify NMSC that a school is their first choice. For USC, the deadline for a National Merit Finalist applicant to declare that USC is their first choice, is May 31.
There is a thread about National Merit Scholarships in the Financial Aid section of CC. I usually try to direct more detailed Q&A over there because it can bog down the USC threads and may be confusing for those who aren’t familiar with the program.
Thank you. I realized as soon as I posted that this was what people meant. I just hadn’t scrolled back far enough. My apologies! So is this the best place for more general USC hopeful class of 2027 information, or is there another thread we should be reading? Thanks again!
This is the best thread for pretty much everything for the hopefuls. Ask anything! If a topic gets weighty and it starts consuming the thread, sometimes we create a separate one to house those posts. But overall anything can go here!
Is there another thread you should be reading about National Merit? It depends on where you applied. If you applied to multiple schools that give NM scholarships, you might read the 2023 National Merit Discussion thread. If your question is about the National Merit process at USC, go ahead and post your question here.
I would assume that USC doesn’t move forward with FAST documents unless you’ve been admitted. Why would they bother? But, if you were accepted EA, then I could see why you’d be frustrated.
My daughter was deferred, and her FAST document hasn’t changed at all. It still says “Application in Review”; so, maybe you’re getting a good sign of future admission.
Although it may defy logic, USC Financial Aid will actually work every applicant’s FA file to completion… and even without knowing if you will eventually be admitted. Much of their requests are simply automated. The FAO 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.
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.
So, while it may seem 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.
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.
Based on previous years (decades actually) March 24th has been a favorite for them. So that would be my guess, but they are in charge! Seems they are getting better at giving a def date a couple weeks prior.
It is silly they imply April for any decision news when it has never been April. Late March would be better that the disingenuous use of April.
My son received an email request for a zoom interview with a film department faculty member. They met via zoom and my son feels it went well. A quick google search suggests that there are typically no interviews involved in the USC admissions process. Anyone else able to weigh in if this means anything? (More curious than anything else. We are from the east coast and with a 3% acceptance rate, I need to mentally prepare if this is a real possibility ) Thanks in advance!
True… and it does clearly seem that way in terms of the perceived wasted manpower. But, independence and separation in terms of admissions vs financial aid is also the reality at this stage. And most of their FA requests are autogenerated.
The reality is that the vast majority of past applicants with “completed” FAST profiles by decision day have also learned unfortunately each cycle that they are among those not gaining admission. And a number of them in the past years had previously posted their innumerable hint theories related to FA inquiries or communication, assuming positive news was destined for them based on how their FAST profiles appeared by decision day.
My simple advice to all applicants applying for financial aid is to just try your best to get it complete and ready as you remain hopeful for admission. Then, if admission comes, your FA offering will also arrive in short order. Many however do not do so, and then they are disappointed having to wait much longer for their eventual FA decision because they waited until gaining admission before completing all of the various FA requests. It does take them about a week or a bit longer to generate an FA offering after the FAST profile is finally deemed complete.
But, it’s clearly up to each individual applicant to approach it as they choose to. No one though should be looking to FAST as any indicator regarding admission one way or the other.
) Thanks in advance!