<p>Hello everyone on College Confidential!
I have a number of questions... here's some background information to get you started:
I was chosen as a USC Trustee Scholarship Finalist not too long ago (yay!) and someone told me that once you're a trustee finalist, you're already guaranteed presidential level financial aid (that is, you're already guaranteed a half-ride)...</p>
<p>Is this true? because it sounds waaaay too good to be true!</p>
<p>And on the same subject,
if anyone's gone through this experience, can you share some of your wisdom?
I got into the College of Letters & Arts for East Asian Languages and Cultures... what kinds of questions should I expect?</p>
<p>hi, i got trustee last year, so i can explain.</p>
<p>there are no guarantees associated with the interview. you can in theory get nothing after interviewing. last year however, they said relatively early on that 3/4 of the people who interview do get trustee (i know 8 people who interviewed and everyone got it), so its not a horribly competitve process at the stage youre at. if you do badly at the interview you can be demoted to presidential, and so just because of how the process works its unlikely youd ever get anything below that. </p>
<p>(copied from a pm i sent someone)</p>
<p>in terms of the interview, anyhoo, the interviews begin at like 9. the interview consists of three individuals, usually one student, one faculty member in the major you listed, and another faculty member not in the major (so im economics, so i had an econ major, a econ lecturer, and a spanish professor). in all honesty, the key to succeeding in the interview is really a matter of just having good communication skills, and being able to cleary convey your thoughts and your interests. they do focus a lot on your application, so make sure you read your application beforehand! (they can be like why did you answer some question the way you did, and they wont tell you what your answer was!) (and yeah that was a little annoying, i printed out my whole application and brought it with me and i knew several other applicatns who did too). aside from that, it really is just like any other interview. they ask a lot about your interests, your academic career (the first question i was asked was to describe my high school, i remember that because i said it was ghetto hahahah), and your interests in whatever major you put. its a very short and painless process and so your main goal really is just to present yourself as an amicable, friendly, motivated individual whose accomplishments speak for themselves.</p>