Hi everyone! I noticed that there wasn’t a thread for the WBB program this year, so I decided to start one for this year’s applicants. The deadline just passed so I figured now would be a good time to start a discussion. Word is spreading and people are starting to recognize the value of WBB, so the competition is only getting harder (go figures, haha). Like many others, WBB is my dream program and top choice!
Good luck to everyone who applied!
Hi! I applied through italian school Bocconi and am waiting for some results. Hopeful! 
Do you have any idea of the number of applications?
Nice to meet you caprabianca! I believe around 1000-1500 people applied last year, but don’t quote me on that haha. Around 100 applicants are admitted. Out of the 100, 45-55 people accept and actually become part of the cohort. WBB is only becoming more recognized (especially since its first class graduated last year), so I’m thinking 2000 (or more, even) people applied this year.
If anyone has more precise numbers, please feel free to correct me!
Hi! I’ve got the admission letter on January the 23rd! I’m still a bit worried about the scholarship though, does anyone have any info about financial aid wbb-specific? I’ve sent the application by december 13th through the italian school bocconi, will I be eligible for USC financial aid? Thanks
Congrats to all of the USC WBB admits! When I heard about that program on our USC tour I thought it sounded interesting! Where were opportunities like this back when I went to college?
Hi everyone!
First off, congrats on your admission to WBB–I will never forget the day I was accepted. I also will never forget difficult it was to find information about the program 
My name is Jesse Kesner, a 3rd year in WBB, please feel free to add me on FB or shoot me a private message and I will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have, or connect you with current students/ WBB alumni who can help to answer your questions/comments and concerns.
Congrats again and looking forward to telling you more about the Wbb family.
Thanks goodness you are here @wbb19student. WBB is like IYA - new, smaller program and not a ton of info, so it is super helpful when those going through it can advise! Fight On!
Has anyone already received scholarship information about WBB from Bocconi University?
Has anyone received a WBB (through USC) decision yet? My first choice was WBB and second was IR at Dornsife. My application portal says I’ve been accepted to my second choice program of BA at Marshall School of Business. Where do y’all see the WBB decision?
@noush22 I believe the default 2nd choice major to WBB at USC is automatically BA at Marshall and not what might have been listed on common app in another school. If it says you rec’d 2nd choice major of Bus Admin, you were denied for WBB (and also denied or more likely not considered for IR at Dornslife). Congratulations on your acceptance to USC Marshal! It is a fantastic accomplishment.
I should clarify… by saying not what you listed on common app in another school, I meant other school within USC (SDA, Dornslife, etc)
I have been admitted to WBB via USC channel. Is there a community formed around WBB class of 2022? I’m currently looking at housing and stuff which is going to be open soon, but I want to know where the other WBB fellows are choosing!
Hi! I got in as well via Bocconi School, and I’d like to connect with someone else!
Did you get a separate email or letter for your acceptance into WBB? I heard nothing about it until I got the email about GSI so I called them and they told me I’d been admitted.
Hi, proud parent of a newly enrolled USC Marshall World Bachelor in Business (WBB) student here. I’m posting this as an FYI for any future WBB Presidential scholar early admits and their families. The merit scholarship process works slightly different for WBB (as we found out the hard way) and there isn’t any info posted on USC’s website about the specifics. Hopefully by posting here it will help smooth out some of the bumps we encountered this year for future WBB families. I’ll cross post this info to the Trustee/Presidential scholarships thread in case Google sends people there.
Most (not all) of the US WBB admits are notified of their acceptance in the early round with other Trustee and Presidential admits. In their admission letter in the “White Box”, WBB early admits are notified that they are invited to interview for a Presidential scholarship during one of the Explore USC scholarship events. One bad thing about the acceptance letter is that the actual WBB program acceptance itself is hard to find. It isn’t listed in the main section of the letter but is found as “additional information” at the very bottom of the second page under the Merit Scholarship Status section. Not seeing that right away led to many moments of wondering whether a WBB admit was out of the running.
The Explore USC visit, overnight stay and scholarship interview were exactly the same for the WBB kids as they were for other Presidential scholars.
From that point forward, things start working differently for WBB. Scholarship notifications for most USC Presidential and Trustee winners happened via portal the night before Regular Decision boxes were sent out by USC Admissions. That didn’t happen for WBB admits. Do not, I repeat DO NOT, wait up all night refreshing the portal. Or the next day, or the day after. It will never update. WBB scholarship decisions and notifications are run thru the Marshall admissions office, not the main USC scholarship/admissions office and they will not show up on the USC portal. This year, the WBB early scholarship decisions came via an email from the head of Marshall admissions, in the afternoon, 4 days after other scholarship results were posted on the portal. Those were four very long days and nights for us, waiting and wondering about the results of the scholarship interview. Knowing before hand that the portal would never update would have been nice to know.
Fortunately, all WBB students are awarded either a 1/2 tuition or a 1/4 tuition scholarship as part of their acceptance to the program. The WBB scholarships are joint awards from all 3 partner universities (USC, HKUST & Bocconi) and they transfer to each school as students travel to them. It’s welcome news for the US admits that the scholarships are applied to each school’s local tuition cost. For example, if tuition at Bocconi is 14,000 euro, the 1/2 tuition WBB students pay 7,000 euro the year they are in Italy plus room/board. After doing the math, this aspect of the WBB program made USC an extremely attractive option for us.
One downside that is unique to the WBB merit awards is that they are program specific and are not transferable to other majors at USC. If students leave the WBB program to transfer to Viterbi or into a different major in Marshall, they forfeit their scholarship.
WBB students must also maintain good academic standing which is spelled out in the acceptance letter as at least a 3.0 GPA in all Marshall business classes and at least a 3.0 GPA in all USC classes. Grades at the partner institutions must be maintained at an equivalent scale. With only 2 full years at USC, and less within Marshall itself, that leaves little room for a couple of weak grades. That is another downside and may be why the WBB program is so selective.
One last important item…we found out recently at admitted students day that the WBB scholarship award will not officially post to the USC financial aid portal until sometime this summer. It’s only after orientation when the WBB classes are scheduled, that the WBB scholarship notification is sent by Marshall to the financial aid office and applied to the portal. Until then, the only proof of scholarship is the emailed letter from Marshall. Hang tight and don’t stress too much about the big numbers on the financial aid portal, it will eventually be fixed.
I hope this is helpful for future adventuresome WBB admits, Fight On!
@Quantjock Wish I could like your post 10 times! So helpful! With WBB being a newer program and pretty small, little information has been posted - but questions come every year since it started. I am sure current and future WBB students will find this super useful, and we are all about helping our Trojan family around here. 
Congrats to your student, it sounds like an amazing program!
Hi all, I’m a current UK ‘high school’ college student who wants to apply for the WBB however it says I need to upload ACT or SAT scores which we don’t do in the UK so what should I do? I’ve emailed Universita Bocconi (which is where i’m applying through) however I wanted to know what past/current students have found out pls.