Missed USC scholarship deadline

CADREAMIN
Sun, 07 Jan 2018 16:53:01 +0000

Yes, merit at USC is very tough. The hardest thing I see from applicants is thinking getting merit from USC is not that hard, then being incredibly disappointed at the end of January. Only 800-1000 get merit awards in January from the about 30,000 that apply early (it was 27,000 a few years ago). The end result is 315 half or full tuition awards (not all the 800-1000 attend USC in the end). Some NMFs get added in March, but it is a small figure as well, the guess is there is 150 NMF awards. There are also some Deans (1/4) given out in March, that number has fluctuated over the years - it seems to depend on how many they see accepting the bigger awards.

Of the 55,000+ that applied last year, they didn’t accept 3,000 students with scores and grades in the 99 percentile. So those students didn’t get merit or even just get admitted. But in holistic admissions like USC, lower scores can be overcome with a passionate application that shows why you are a good fit and what you can bring to USC.

As a warning, students and their parents that get merit tend to show up on this site at end of Jan to post about it, making it seem like everyone in the world is getting merit (except you). So don’t let this become a source of anxiety - there is enough of it already in the college process. Good luck!