<p>The automatic presidential thing is a standard USC thing, it’s their policy. 
Not to get hopes up, but 15000 of the 16000 semi-finalists become finalists. If you did poorly on the SAT (I believe ~2000 is the limit) or have bad grades or a bad disciplinary record, then you may be one of the 1000.</p>
<p>[USC</a> Financial Aid - Grants & Scholarships - Undergraduate - Freshmen Only Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/grants_scholarships/undergraduates/meritbasedfo.html]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/grants_scholarships/undergraduates/meritbasedfo.html)</p>
<p>As I said above it is NOT in any way, shape, or form an automatic acceptance; most acceptances (probably 75 - 90%) are sent in March & April. Rejections are last to be sent. Also, USC is becoming more and more selective every year. My class (2012) was the strongest in USC history and that will probably be the case for 2013. The acceptance rate dropped from 25% for 2011 to 21% for 2012.
I’m not trying to scare you, but I also don’t want you to get the idea that NMF is an auto-acceptance.</p>