<p>hi Hawaiiboy
My S is a recipient of the McNair, the highest level of merit scholarship for out of state students at USC. It qualifies you for reduced to in state rates of tuition.They award 40 annually, after an interview weekend.It is highly competitive, and not only numbers driven.
You MUST submit the Honors College application for this scholarship and the deadline is Nov 15. Its a duanting app, but financially, well worth your time.
There are other scholarship which you would be considered for without doing the Honors app,like a McKissick or Coopers.
One of the nice features at USC is that they allow the “stacking” of scholarships up to the cost of education (which is the number higher that tution alone, it includes room/board,books,transportation,etc).
S is lucky enough to have this benefit, as he was a National Merit Finalist and USC awards an automatic scholarship for this (the Lieber) which is awarded along with his other one.
I took a fast look at the admissions page for Honors (sc.edu/admissions/honors) to see what the 2007 stats for the entering class looked like.The 2008 stats werent there yet. They had an entering Honors College class of 288.The average HS GPA was 4.49 (weighted I guess) avg SAT was 1350-1440 and avg ACT was 30-32.
I encourage you to fill out that Honors App.They state that 100% of incoming Honors College Freshman received at least 1 academic scholarship.
S’s experience there has been stellar.
Let me know if you want more info on the McNair process!</p>