<p>Does anyone know if any of the programs in SCA offer merit scholarships based on talent – ie. portfolios, etc?</p>
<p>I think SCA scholarships are only given out to continuing students…because I’ve looked into it because I desperately need money. I’m hoping they’re large scholarships too</p>
<p>Sydney is correct. Merit/talent-based SCA scholarships are for continuing students only, since many Freshman receive University scholarships. The application period is sometime in March/April, if I remember correctly.</p>
<p>I would recommend looking into the cultural/identity scholarships offered by USC, if applicable, because they are given to entering freshmen. (ie: African American, Latino/Hispanic, GLBT, etc.) Those are usually given out by the respective alumni clubs:</p>
<p>Asian Pacific Alumni Association Scholarships</p>
<p>Black Alumni Association Scholarships</p>
<p>Half Century Trojans Scholarships</p>
<p>Lambda LGBT Alumni Scholarships</p>
<p>Mexican American Alumni Association Scholarships</p>
<p>Town and Gown of USC Scholarships</p>
<p>S2 received a letter today with a merit scholarship for SCA from a named donor. We had never heard of such a thing before but are very pleased!!</p>
<p>congrats, Madbean!! (And on the acceptance, too). </p>
<p>My son received a talent merit (non-academic) departmental scholarship from Thornton last year (a four-year scholarship) as an incoming freshman, so I suspect they do in fact exist for other audition/portfolio-based programs, even for freshman. </p>
<p>Sometimes dedication to one’s art needs its own reward–after all, some of these kids had to use time that would’ve otherwise been spent on academics, meaning that while they were qualified for acceptance, they might NOT have quite qualified for academic merit scholarships.</p>
<p>I think the OP was asking about scholarships students can submit applications for (I think?) though…</p>
<p>The incoming freshman merit scholarships for SCA must be new, though. They didn’t have those when I was there.</p>
<p>I know there is a USC School of Theatre scholarship being given for an incoming freshmen student. As of today the student has not yet been notified. It is a partial scholarship.</p>
<p>My son’s talent-based scholarship came a week or two after his acceptance as well. He did not submit any extra application for it.</p>
<p>madbean: congratulations to your son! Which major?</p>
<p>Madbean, congratulations! My S was admitted to Interactive Media and had also been accepted to all 6 of the other schools he applied to. 5 of them were on the Best Schools for Video Game Art/Design list. Every other school gave him very generous academic merit-based scholarships and/or talent-based scholarships. USC gave him nothing. I know there are no guarantees in this game called college admissions, but it did strike us as odd that 6 of 7 gave him quite a lot of money and USC had nothing to offer. </p>
<p>We were willing to send him anyway, but he opted to attend another school in part because of the emphasis of the program at that school and in part due to the size of the campus and the feeling he got there. We are from SoCal, and many of his friends think he is crazy for not going to USC, but we trust in his maturity and ability to choose the program that he feels is best for him. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone who will be attending SCA!</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son, bubblemom. He did great and it sounds like he chose the right program for him. Sorry he won’t be a Trojan. </p>
<p>The opportunities my older S1 (class of 2012) has had (he’s an SCA IM major also) have been breathtaking. USC paid for him to do an international collaboration with grad students in Holland, and last year he had 2 games he designed accepted to the GDC. Very lucky, but he has been inspired by the loads of creative kids and faculty he works with at USC. I’m a little biased, as most here know, but I think there are many places to get a great education–and rankings (even though they do favor USC) are not as important as personal fit and opportunities.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>