Hey guys! I applied by the Dec 1 deadline and USC has marked all my application materials as received. Yesterday, I received an email about financial aid and sending in required documents. Although in the email it says it has nothing to do with a decision, do you guys think it means anything? Sorry if it’s a stretch lol it’s just my top school
The FA office at USC is separate from the admissions office. It doesn’t mean you’ve been admitted.
The FA office has to prepare aid for current students and possible future admits, so they have to see who will get the correct forms in, by deadline dates, in order to process information for funding dollars from the feds, state, private donors, and for the FA office to make their deadline dates.
USC’s funding is a combination of private and public dollars, all of which requires a streamlined process.
So, if they ask for supplemental information, it means they got your paperwork, on time, for scholarship consideration if admissions admits you.
My daughter received the same thing. I call and they told me the exact same verbage as Aunt Bea. I did ask, do they do this for all 58K students that apply because it does seem like a lot of work for students who will not be admitted, but she said they do this for about 36K students. Once admitted, you will receive a final award letter not an estimate. Which makes since, but it seems like a lot of time could be saved in the weeding out process.
@1123Mom well what decides if you’re one of the chosen? That’s the question…
@ihopeigetintbh There are plenty of students that do not request or qualify for financial aid at USC. Besides full pay American families, most internationals are full pay so there are a lot they do not process apps for. While admissions is certainly busy, a lot of the process is automated in terms of gathering info.
They have been doing this a long time, while conspiracy theories will pop up, admissions isn’t going to do anything that will give someone a hint they are admitted ahead of time.
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I have no idea. She did tell me that some students start school without a financial aid package. What’s funny is, why would a school go through 36K FA packages when they are only going to admit 9K students? She told me that they needed more financial information to get a better picture of my financial situation.
I don’t think they would do anything to give someone a hit of admittance, but I sure wish more of these schools would go to rolling admission.
I hear ya @1123mom! Rolling is awesome, but USC goes old school which makes it a long spring - we’ve been through it four times! My youngest had her admission to one school on Aug 23 and we really thought she was going there up until she got into USC. That was a long ride thinking one way then eventually shifting!
Try to enjoy the anticipation if you can - or just ignore it, cause once they know where they are going, it becomes all about where they are going, then poof, they are away at school. 
Good luck come Jan and/or March!
This is common practice at most universities. While it seems like a lot of work, most of the process is automated and so it is pretty simple to prepare most offers. It is only the complicated cases that require special attention.
@ihopeigetintbh @1123Mom We got the same email last year and our son did not get in. It is not a hint of acceptance.
When the email asks for documents, do they want you to send directly to the school or through IDOCS? If it’s through IDOCS, you might have already uploaded the required docs for another school school, in which case, USC wouldn’t need to request them.
@techinerd what is IDOCS? where do you locate IDOCS?
@1123Mom idocs is through collegeboard. I think there is a link to it via your css profile.
Well no, they requested info to be uploaded directly to the USC site
Last year my daughter received all sorts of things from USC/Viterbi while waiting for a decision … and, ultimately, she was not admitted.
Just to be clear… there are no early hints related to financial aid, communications from admissions, etc. Even direct communications from a School within USC may not indicate what you would hope… as even the creative schools seeking out applicants for interviews, auditions, etc. also seem to have lower admission rates. So the majority interviewed, etc. still face rejection later.
In general, it is all standard. The Office of Financial Aid is completely separate from Admissions. 800-1200 or so of the applicants who applied by Dec 1st will learn their fate in late Jan, as they are offered some form of merit scholarship offering… signalling admission as well. No one is actually rejected during that Jan phase. But the other 54K+ total applicants will all learn their fate together in late March… first via “old school” snail mail and then via portal updates thereafter.
But that is it. Every cycle, applicants search for hidden meanings in everything. But there are no such hints. Over time, they have all been proven false in prior discussion threads like this one. With an admission rate overall of only 16% and likely falling, at least 84% of all applicants will be unfortunately disappointed by late March. And that will include applicants who applied super early, had fully complete admission portals, had fully complete financial aid portals, etc. USC processes everyone fully… and then the Schools decide in terms of majors and the university overall decides. 8900-9100 or so applicants will be admitted… either to USC and to a School… or just to USC as Undeclared (no assigned major yet).
As a parent of two students at USC now, my advice is to focus on finalizing all application packets, including financial aid, at every school being applied to… and to make sure that list of schools being applied to includes (IMO) at least 2-3 safeties, maybe 3-6 matches and maybe 3-4 reaches.
Good luck to all applicants this cycle…