You saying that to be rude or you honestly think that from my stats?
No, he is being honest. It is not what you want to hear or believe.
Speaking for myself, I’m urging you to be realistic. By all means, apply in time to qualify for a merit scholarship. But also look at the admitted students profile for the Class of 2019: http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/docs/USCFreshmanProfile.2014.pdf. Out of over 9,000 who are offered admission, only 135 receive full tuition scholarships. You haven’t given us much info, but the little bit you have (33 superscored ACT, composite 30 ACT, a few AP’s) puts you at best in the middle 50% of those admitted. Your original question is how hard is it to get a full ride to USC? The answer is: the top scholarships are full tuition, not full ride, and they are very hard to get.
I guess I just wont even apply then…
@mansoor757, I’m not sure if your thread is serious or not, but I’ll play.
Assuming you are making a serious inquiry, I would urge you to apply to USC if this is a school you would like to attend. USC is one of those colleges whose admissions decisions are difficult to decipher. Someone with stats substantially lower than yours could get half or full tuition (NOT half/full RIDE, I said tuition), and someone with stats higher than yours could be outright rejected.
That’s just how USC rolls. So nobody can help you in this decision; just put forward your best application and be sure to apply to many colleges, including safeties.
I couldn’t disagree more with @prospect1, and short of being an athlete or some other special category (this OP is not) the full ride scholarships such as the Stamps and the full tuition scholarships only go to those students, as others have said, that could also get into Ivies and similar schools. That means ACT of 33+ (not superscored, only single sittings are counted), SAT of 2250+ (1500+ M+CR), top 5% of class with lots of AP or similar courses, and the various intangibles beyond that. And for the full ride, at least, there are in-person interviews. Those might be required for the full tuition scholarships as well.
I know admissions can be odd sometimes, but why in the world would USC offer the top scholarships to students that don’t boost their class profile? The whole point of those kinds of scholarships is to entice students that would otherwise be attending HYPSM. I think it is irresponsible to provide false hope. Yes, this OP might get accepted to USC, although the chances are rather slim I think. But getting a full tuition or full ride scholarship? Not a chance.
BTW, in that first paragraph is the answer to your question of how hard it is to get these scholarships, @mansoor757. Pretty damned hard.
Never mentioned once in this thread that I was hoping for a full ride…
I plan on doing a physics degree and research so I think I would be an asset to the school.
@ fallenchemist, I agree with you that it is unbelievably hard to score a half or full tuition scholarship from USC. Unbelievably. If anyone read my post as providing false hope, that was not my intent. USC does, however, practice very holistic admissions and because of the nature of some of the majors offered at USC, a kid with pretty low stats, but with very desirable talent of some sort, can get one of these scholarships. I know some kids like this personally. Of course, I am speaking of the type of talent that would be attractive to ivies as well, despite lower stats.
I have already said I do not believe this student will qualify. But, I really don’t know a thing about him, including whether he’s even an actual, serious poster.
@mansoor757, but you asked how hard it is to get a full ride at USC? CC posters assume you are asking the question about yourself, if not then you need to clarify that it is a general question and not specifically about you.
No, you asked how hard it is. And I told you that, exactly. But it is the natural inference from the original question. And by the time I posted, you had said
That says pretty directly you had been thinking of applying, and the “even apply” is a very strong implication that you were in fact asking about those scholarships for yourself.
OK, @prospect1. Since the OP stated pretty clearly that they have no EC’s or special talents, I was focusing on academic scholarships only. You are probably correct that they have similar value scholarships for very good but maybe not super-top academic students that have great talents in the arts. I would especially think that USC, NYU, and similar schools might tend to do that. It’s a good point, but as we both agree not likely to be applicable in this case.
@fallenchemist, I am willing to pull out my crystal ball and say that for this OP, who seems to be all over the place regarding his intentions, there will be no golden envelope waiting for him on scholarship day. For some reason, I am picturing some kid giggling at all of us behind his computer screen.
@Corinthian
They offered more than 135 full scholarships, but not everybody accepted the offer.
DD14 was awarded half tuition scholarship (Presidential) and when she attended USC Explore, they told the group that the average SAT for Presidential candidates was 2250. Full tuition s/b 2300+.
That is fairly typical of schools like USC, Tulane, Miami, WUSTL, etc. who all have a mix of full tuition and full ride scholarships that are used to lure the very best students to the schools. They build into their model (and budget) their best guess as to the percent that will actually be accepted. They all also have lesser, but still generous merit scholarships such as half tuition, 1/3, etc.
I’m a current student on a Trustee (full tuition) scholarship, and my SAT score was 2150. I went to the Explore USC for Trustee candidates, and the group average was also 2250, but it doesn’t mean anything. Don’t be discouraged by what everyone says on here.
Also, there are no full rides, the best you can get is the Morks or the Stamps (full tuition + $5000 stipend)
@LayraSparks: do you also happen to be upper middle class ORM?
And OP’s composite doesn’t translate into 2150 but into roughly 1980, so far below your score. You can see why admission is at best fifty fifty, and odds of a full tuition scholarship basically zero.
OP’s stats are good, but not sufficient for top California colleges; if OP needs a scholarship he’d probably have a shot at Chapman, perhaps even Occidental (not sure).
LayraSparks is from Hungary. She posts all the time about her full tuition and stats so I think it is ok to repeat it. Got rejected from 10 schools, accepted to 3, so obviously USC was a great opportunity for her, but not the norm. There are many factors in play, like ethnic background, country you are from, ECs, the demographics that class needs that particular year, etc., and without the entire picture, it can mislead others which is dangerous. Better to count on nothing and be pleasantly surprised than make people think it is normal to get good merit with a 2150. Maybe for a film major that is good, but again, depends on the year, and who else is applying. But typically, no, it is not a full tuition type score so the OP with a 1980 has pretty much zippo chance. But anyone can give them the application fee and see what happens.
@blueskies2day The last time I was on CC was 2 months ago, so I obviously don’t repeat it all the time. Most of my rejections had to do with the fact that I was asking for financial aid as an international student, not with my stats (I got into an Ivy, so they couldn’t have been that bad. Also, for the record, I was waitlisted at 2 schools, not rejected, and I had a couple of acceptances the year before, and outside the US).
Oh, and my interviewer actually said that when selecting people for scholarships, he did not know their ethnic backgrounds or their nationalities, so there’s that.
I NEVER said that OP will definitely get the full scholarship, because very very few people do, but saying that he has a zero percent chance isn’t true either.
Does USC provide financial aid to internationals?if yes then the trustee scholarship is the same as financial aid if you are low income.