<p>Will being a national merit finalist help my chances of admission, or will it only help me financially IF I am accepted? </p>
<p>I know that USC loves getting National Merit Scholars, and I was just wondering if that influences acceptance?</p>
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<p>Curious what you mean by this… how do you know… citation/link? </p>
<p>I’ve not seen anything published about National Merit Finalist status being a factor in admissions but it would seem that it would be considered as other honors are considered. I do know one NMF who applied and was rejected so it is not a sure thing.</p>
<p>BTW- congrats! If you are accepted to USC and you have indicated USC as your first choice, you will receive a Presidential Scholarship- 1/2 tuition.
[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 long as everything else is on par with 2009 admission statistics, ie not 2.0 GPA and NMS.</p>
<p>I just know that a) they do offer a very large scholarship based on national merit, and b) they tend to publish things noting their high number of national merit scholars. I couldn’t find anything at the moment, but I’ve definitely seen it.</p>
<p>It reminds me a little of University of Oklahoma, but not to the same extreme. Oklahoma is not a very well regarded school, but they have one of the highest number of NM Scholars (number 1 per capita in the nation, I believe) because they throw huge amounts of money at anyone who is a finalist.</p>
<p>Now obviously USC is a better school than OU, but I guess I was just wondering if there is at all the same thing going on. I haven’t seen any school on the level of USC offer such a large NM based Scholarship.</p>
<p>I think you are absolutely right that USC has shown, through offering the scholarship and publicizing the number of scholars, that it values National Merit status. In terms of helping with admission, being a finalist certainly doesn’t guarantee it but it probably enhances your application if you also have the grades and scores to qualify. </p>
<p>I also think you’re right that USC has used the NMF scholarships to attract top students. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if USC reduces or stops the scholarships at some point in the future since, as you have stated, the school is now very well regarded and admissions statistics are improving every year.</p>