<p>Raexmd. I think the answer to your questions are sprinkled throughout many of the previous posts. That is why you may sense a touch of frustration in responses to your question. First, take a deep breath. You are neither underqualified nor screwed, nor is it likely that you were backburnered. As alamemom says, you simply were not in the top tier of applicants that USC accepted with an invitation to participate in an interview for a possible trustee or presidential scholarship. Since those top tier students need to interview for those special scholarships, they are admitted first and invited to USC to interview. You are in the 95% bucket with everyone else not invited. You may be still considered for other scholarships. That may be a dean scholarship, or maybe another scholarship. That is essentially what your letter says. I think USC is simply trying to communicate with you where they are at with YOU in the process. That is candidly more than most other schools do with their applicants. All of the applications submitted by Dec 1, including yours, has gone through a cursory review, and the letter you recieved simply tells you where you stand today. Those remaining applicants, including you, will hear by April 1 or so. Some will hear earlier. Some will earn a Dean’s scholarship, some will earn no scholarship. USC is a private school, so it can do whatever it wants to form what it considers to be its “perfect” class, and that includes the timing of admissions. Unless you need a 50% or greater merit scholarship for you to attend USC, it is simply premature for you to come to any conclusions about your likely admission. Your stats appear to be competitive with those admitted. This is just my humble opinion. Good luck!</p>