Not sure what they vague answers are…but it sounds like they may not have accepted the waiver - submission of this request does not guarantee that a waiver will be approved. Are the vague answers just requests for other info? They may require their own form as well as additional documentation; if so, you have to submit anything they are asking for your FA to be complete and considered.
Will repeat this a few times tomorrow:
If accepted please post:
School/Major
City or State or Country
Will you attend?
Yes! / No / Maybe?
If rejected (first, sorry it blows)
Mention of Trojan Transfer?
Yes / No
Thanks in advance, this info is helpful to everyone posting and/or following
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I submited everything needed, including all needed forms. when emailing them they just kept saying it was “under review” and the fast portal says “This appeal is currently in review. Once the review is complete, you will be notified by email” and “We will notify you during the review process if additional documents are required” and they havent contacted me for any separate documents nor have they emailed saying that the waiver isn’t accepted 
OH! Then that’s ok, it is still processing. No one has their FA info yet and won’t for another week or so. It sounds like the accepted the waiver or you would have been asked for a bunch of other stuff. But since they are still saying CSS required on your portal (portal can lag actual progress) have you tried calling them? Do that if not, they are super helpful on phone. And do so before Monday cause it will get crazy busy to get through then.
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thank you so much omg i was stressing out youre a life saver <3
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I edited reply above and added thought to call them. FA on the phone is amazing, the hold time not so much. But if you have a window you can sit on hold, try to call them. I guess the other option is you can see what happens tomorrow to see if time investment makes sense - good luck!!!
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It doesn’t surprise me at all that they didn’t say they approved waiver even though other schools did. So don’t stress that!
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If we don’t get any emails from FA, I’d that indicative of rejection?
You know, it is funny. If someone had asked me three months ago if he would pick any school over USC, I would have said, “No Way!” It has been his dream for so long. But when he didn’t get in EA, he was absolutely devastated – in tears. We began applying to safety schools after that.
(He had already applied to a few other top tier schools, including WashU, but we figured if he got deferred from UChicago and USC, there might be something wrong with his application that we weren’t seeing and we had better have some attainable back-ups.)
At any rate we started to focus on the upsides to WashU. One of his best friends had already been accepted to WashU with a full ride via Questbridge. We live twenty minutes from WashU and he is a very shy kid. He loves his cats and the idea of being able to see them on weekends was very reassuring. So being able to be close to friends and family was a big selling point. Plus, my husband has worked with their graduate program through his work and was very impressed with the school.
And, now, their scholarship package is bigger than what he would get with the Presidential NMF scholarship at USC, if he were to be admitted. So, honestly, it has him taking a hard look. Again, it would be a good problem to have if he gets into USC and has to make a choice. But it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he didn’t get in — and it certainly felt like the end of the world two months ago.
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What time today is the decision expected?
4-6 pm PST
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Not if you’ve already been providing all of the required information in your financial aid portal.
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I would say it’s a good sign. D applied for SCA too and had absolutely no questions asked, no interview and she’s a FA applicant. We know that the answer will be a flat No, USC, UCLA were reaches from the beginning, even Chapman. Was accepted to her target and safeties tho. So yes, all this movement around your student application is a good sign IMO but you’re right, keep the hope low and enjoy the good surprise. Good luck to your student.
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I can tell you that I called the FA office two days ago, waited on the line for about 5 minutes, and then a knowledgeable and nice person answered my question. It’s worth calling.
I’m hearing this story a lot about students deferred EA at a dream school only to learn that there are other great schools. Some fall in love with a different school, and the invite from the top school comes as a nice surprise and late in the game element.
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I am curious for those whose had kids accepted in previous years who had not completed a FAFSA or request FA whether they received emails before decision? Reason why I ask is because all the schools my son received admission to would send us emails with reminders about decision day or info about the school. We have gotten nothing from USC after early decision came out. So I’m not feeling very confident today
Super happy for your son! My nieces both graduated from WashU and had an amazing experience. I regret not pushing my daughter to apply to their art school … she ran out of steam on the essays required for applications and portfolio submissions, and because we need merit I concluded that the chances of receiving what we need were slim. Now she’s gotten some great acceptances and merit from other schools and I’m kicking myself for not pushing her to do one more! As I’m sure you are aware living so close, he can’t go wrong attending WashU!
I think people are getting worked up and over analyzing what various types of communication from USC mean.
Financial Aid and Admissions work separately. USC knows that cost is a concern for the majority of families. I’ve watched as applicants to other schools become frustrated when they cannot view their financial aid at the time of admission. The goal at USC is to make sure that every document is in place so that, once a student is admitted, financial aid can be determined as soon as possible.
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My D23 has been in different places with each decision - sometimes I was there, sometimes not - so no videos here. I also didn’t want her to feel pressure, remembering vividly when her sister D22 was devastated after being waitlisted at her top choice school. I didn’t record or photograph D22 either.
The only exception was when D23 got into UCLA. We happened to be out to dinner with a group of friends when I noticed her intently staring at and typing on her phone right at 8pm ET on the day the decisions were expected. I was across the table so she didn’t see me pull out my phone and capture both her pre-decision gaze at the phone and her arms-in-the-air, “I got in!” exuberance when she received the decision!
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USC was dream school but deferred EA. Admitted: UCLA, UCSB, and some other safety. FAST still says In process. “No docs needed”. We won’t qualify for FA, but all FAFsA and CSS submitted anyway. Not feeling confident especially because of all the FA taking here. We’ve heard nothing from FAO. Has anyone heard of admits with no FA reach out?
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