Interesting moments during senior photo session… When the photographer said to smile or laugh at your mom ( or in my direction), D’s smile or laugh was wider and more natural. The photographer picked up on that and always asked that when her smiles were not natural!! There were many times during the session, something got in my eyes!! My girl is all grown up and ready to take on the world!
I believe that USC (Cal) has an honors dorm and an honors program, but not an honors college.
The honors dorm is currently Birnkrant, but will be in the new University Village development when it opens next year. In order to live in the honors dorm you have to be the recipient of at least a 1/2 tuition scholarship, so a NM award works. But don’t think for a minute that an honors dorm = no partying!! That is definitely not the case.
The honors program for engineering (other majors may be different) requires a maintaining a 3.7 GPA and taking four honors-specific classes over the course of the four years. There may be additional requirements - can’t recall off-hand. Students in the honors program get other benefits/invitations/special considerations.
You all may know this already, but the USC scholarships (other than NM which is automatic 1/2 tuition if you get accepted) arrive in the form of “Nominations” at the end of January. If your student is nominated for a particular scholarship, they are required to visit USC for a two-day Explore USC program. On the second day, they have an interview with three USC representatives that will last about a half hour. About 2 weeks later they will be notified of their award. Most kids will be awarded the scholarship for which they were nominated. Some will get less, possibly nothing, and a very few lucky ones may get bumped up to a higher award.
(note: this was our USC experience in 2015 - I did not check the website to see if anything has changed so I apologize in advance if I’ve gotten anything wrong!!)
Hello 2017 Parents. I am a newbie. Any OOS recommendations with scholarship for my child wanting to do CS major with below stats.
State - TX (We are considering TAMU and UTD)
Class Rank - 8.2 (56/682)
ACT - 26 (I know it’s low but taking it next week)
GPA - 3.8
15 AP (including senior year), 2 DE classes and decent extracurricular activities (TSA President, Robotics, 4 years of volunteer work etc).
Thanks
Wait, if your kid is a NMSF they have to take the SAT again? Oy.
@cleoforshort Not necessarily. Basically your child needs a verifying score taken in the last couple of years. Exact details will be in the application. The old qualifying score was 1950 with the old SAT.
If you kid has taken the SAT already you can call the NMC and ask if the current score qualifies. They are very nice and will let you know.
@Dolemite She took the old SAT in January and scored well above a 1950. After she took the ACT, the subject tests and the APs, I promised her no more testing. Such a freaking slog.
@mtrosemom Once I have confirmation from her school that she did indeed get selected I will make that call! Thank you!
Thank you both!
@Dolemite Most of the USC schools have honors programs (e.g., Dornsife’s is called Thematic Option; Annenberg has an honors track). There are also a number of additional honors and scholarship designations, such as Renaissance Scholars, Discovery Scholars, etc.
I believe that @jmek15 is correct about nearly everything, although I’m not sure about the part about the “possibly nothing” part in the following: “Most kids will be awarded the scholarship for which they were nominated. Some will get less, possibly nothing, and a very few lucky ones may get bumped up to a higher award.” I was under the impression that even if you don’t get one of the big (full tuition) scholarships such as the Trustee’s or the Mork, everybody that comes to the scholars weekend ends up with at least the Presidential (half tuition) or the Deans (quarter tuition).
That, at least, was my understanding.
I remember reading that for NMSF the verifying SAT score must be on the new SAT, not the old one (before March 6). There’s the kicker. Does anyone know if I am correct in saying that?
@longwood --I cannot quote a source, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that you are incorrect. I recall being confident in my son’s decision to only take the old SAT. I believe this is the last class where both old and new SAT scores will be accepted, but I won’t swear to that one. However, I would feel confident wagering money that old SAT confirming scores are acceptable for the class of 2017.
@CT1417 I think that you are correct. I’ve been looking online for the past hour on this, and nothing on the national merit website says that the verifying SAT needs to be the new one. I don’t remember where I thought I had read that before. Sorry for the confusion.
@longwood - I thought that it was strange that they didn’t say that either was acceptable, but I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that either is fine
USC is a great school. vibrant campus, good and rising academics, amazing spirit, good greek life, access to opportunities, internships, jobs, amazing alumni, great weather, good looking student body. a very healthy mix of fun and party. having said all that, make no mistake about it, the area around the school is very sketchy…Follow the daily police report. The crime rate around the school and stuff happening to students is abnormally high. Walking alone at night should be forbidden. I love all that the school offers, but don’t kid yourself about the area and issues…
Basically, USC is a big city school, near but not in downtown LA. LA is the second largest city in the U.S. with an extremely diverse population. University of Chicago is also in a sketchy area, Columbia is one of the biggest slum lords in NY and the area around it used to be extremely sketchy. Although I’ve heard it’s improved from when I spent time there in the 80’s. I’m told you can walk in Morningside park now.
USC has the look of a suburban campus because most of LA is one big suburban sprawl. It’s not in the fancy/upscale Westside, Hollywood Hills, or near the beach nor is it in Watts/South Central. (Which have improved from 20 years ago.) It’s not far from two big freeways, is surrounded by large boulevards, is just outside of what would be considered downtown LA. But walking downtown while possible wouldn’t be recommended, more because of cars/traffic and urban design.
You don’t go to USC because of it’s neighborhood. My understanding is the school is trying to work with police to keep their students safe. What I’ve heard is the local neighborhoods are a lot better than they were years ago. But at the end of the day it’s a campus in the middle of a city.
Welcome @ACT2017 ! I’m sorry I don’t have any specific recommendations for your child, but I think a couple of other parents on here have DC planning to major in CS and can weigh in.
@ACT2017 wrote
North Carolina State University. VERY highly regarded computer science undergrad, esp if your kid likes gaming.
How far out of state do you want to go? I have some other suggestions, but they’re in the northeast.
MOD, NCSU is a great school, but they don’t give many scholarships and the ones they do have are extremely competitive. They also have to follow NC law which I think only allows 18% OOS students.
@Act2017 Welcome. It might be easier to offer suggestions if we knew what type of school he/she wants to attend (large/small, LAC/large research) and budget you have.
Based on the given stats, have you considered TX Tech? They look like a match school: http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=852
ACT Composite 25 average 22-27 range of middle 50%
Welcome @ACT2017 …lots of us from Texas here.
The OOS/chasing merit hunt can be a challenging thing. TAMU is likely going to be one of your best and most affordable options. Is your child prepping hard for that ACT?
I got an email back from the head guidance counselor, she said she has not received the info for NMF yet. She said the admin “may have this information” (wink wink nod nod), but that they haven’t shared it with her yet, and that she would when they give it to her (which I read as code for 9/14).
D17 and I are going to Senior Night tonight, they may discuss it there. Probably not, but they might. H says until we hear it from the horse’s official mouth there’s a possibility, but D and I are operating from now on on the assumption that she did not make it. I’m interested to see if I learn anything tonight. I hope I do.
Good morning everyone 
Welcome to the thread @ACT2017 ! My son graduated in CS from the University of Delaware in 2015. That’s probably too far away 
He works for one of those Big Companies in Silicon Valley.
In last night’s college news, no tears! (Thanks everyone for your support yesterday–I was reading on mobile all day and hate replying on my phone.)
George Washington is officially off her list, due to its housing and dining. The vast majority of freshmen live in one massive dorm, composed on 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, and (yes) 6-person rooms. Rooms, not suites. All the beds in one room, desks shoved into an annex if lucky, old-school closets for each person, and a shared bathroom. She was horrified by the videos! No wonder they don’t show dorm rooms on the tours.
The List stands at 6: three Arabic Flagships (Maryland, Oklahoma, the new one at Indiana), Mississippi, American, and our state flagship (as the “God forbid something awful happens” option).
Today she will email the Flagship directors with more questions. Tonight we’ll look at the calendar for scheduling visits.
I need to dig deeply for more scholarships. Darn NMSF cutoff.