What are my chances of getting a merit scholarship to USC?

Paying for College
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<p>Hey, I was wondering if somebody could tell me if I had a good chance of getting merit aid from USC, or if I'm out of the range. I really want to go there, but with the cost being so high I'm really relying on the merit scholarships they have.
My stats are: 4.0 UW GPA, 4.9 W GPA; 2180 SAT; ranked 2nd in my school; good extra curriculars; pretty good essay and good counselor rec., I think; 5's on AP US and AP Germany, taking several AP's this year; originally from Germany.
If anybody could tell me what they think my chances are of getting some type of merit aid for USC, please tell me!
Thanks!</p>

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<p>Are you going to be NMF? I know NMF’s get automatic 1/2 tuition. Your stats are similar to student who graduated from our local high school, though that student’s class rank was 4th out of 150. Was NM commended. Would have interviewed very well and had an uncommon major/minor combination (engineering/theater). Has full tuition at USC.</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, I’m not national merit finalist. Does it help if your major/minor combination is uncommon? I just thought that it doesn’t really matter what you put down for the major (as long as you know what area, likes arts and sciences), since you can always change it later. Does it have some impact on scholarship consideration?</p>

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<p>Sorry, I did not mean to imply that an unusual major/minor combination helps. I don’t know if it does; it just was something I noted that might have made the student stand out. This student had significant EC’s in both fields that would have confirmed the intent to pursue those courses of study. It had surprised me that that student received full tuition when tha student had not qualified for the automatic half tuition. Nevertheless, your stats do put you in merit aid range. Good luck. You could probably get a better idea of how much merit aid you would get b checking out USC’s Common Data Set.</p>

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<p>Your SAT is equal to an ACT 32 which is very good. But, many USC applicants have ACT 32 and better. </p>

<p>Are you counting on a scholarship to be able to go to USC or to any school?</p>

<p>Have you applied to any schools where your stats would give you a lot of merit money?</p>

<p>I don’t think your choice of major is going to help. Like you said, you could change it. Some schools take away scholarships awarded for certain majors if you change it.</p>

<p>:) BTW…did you misspell your state on purpose in your info? Location: Penssylvania???</p>

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<p>*Has full tuition at USC. *</p>

<p>That’s not typical for those stats. Maybe some of his “full tuition” scholarship is really FA (some don’t like to admit that. Some FA recipients call their aid “scholarships.” )</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids, it is not likely that there is financial aid. Both parents worked with my husband and family income is well over 200k. This student is not a URM. I do know it was not an automatic scholarship as the student did make a special trip to interview for it. Student was profiled in local paper specifically because of the award-USC is a rare choice for local students.</p>

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<p>^^</p>

<p>ahh it was a highly competitive scholarship that required an on-campus interview…yes, there are a few of those. The student must have had some hook to nab that scholarship.</p>

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<p>

Indeed there are a “few” of those at USC… of the 2,869 entering freshmen this year, 420 of them received the Trustee (full tuition) or Presidential (1/2 tuition) scholarships for which they traveled to USC to interview. In addition, another 232 received USC- National Merit Scholar 1/2 tuition scholarships (no interview required). <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/0910/FreshmanProfile2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/0910/FreshmanProfile2009.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Hey, i am a high school junior right now. I get A’s and B’s and am taking 3 Aps this year. Not too many extra curriculars. How did it go though with getting a scholarship. What kind did you get? Thank you. It means a lot. I was born in Germany also ;).</p>

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<p>Florin -</p>

<p>This thread is almost two years old and the OP hasn’t posted in over a year. Maybe you could find some scholarship winners over at the USC forum who could answer your question. </p>

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