<p>I think the phrase “led to believe” is germane here. The USC hype about NMS Finalists getting Presidential Scholarships does not focus on the “if admitted” part. It’s there, but it’s not a center of attention. I think my D may have put less into her supplemental app and references for USC than she did for other schools because she thought USC was somewhat of a shoe-in given her high GPA, test scores and NMS status, whereas other schools seemed less so. Perhaps they should make it clearer that admission is not guaranteed in any way even for NMS finalists…Because perhaps they have, with this blinding incentive, inadvertently weeded out some excellent kids. This is not a new topic – if you scour the message boards for past years you will find it comes up. But of course it never occurred to us to check this until after the rejection.</p>