<p>Teachcounsel and Tomismom, you make very solid points. I just want to add that getting admitted to an ivy is very similar to being considered for a merit award at USC in that you cannot predict which very deserving highest achieving students will be selected for which program. As we see all the time on cc, it is not uncommon for a student to be accepted to Harvard, but not to Yale. Or accepted to Yale and not to Harvard. And, as you noted, it’s from this same pool of exceptional students that USC finds candidates for Trustee and Presidential scholarships. Since each university will have an over-abundance of excellently qualified applicants from which to choose, their own priorities will come into play.</p>
<p>When my S was invited to interview for Trustee (2008), we were really shocked. I think it was his out-of-school achievements that pushed him over the top. He had the required high stats (also offered merit awards at CMU and WashU, for example) but so do many many others. Perhaps what pushed him over the tip was that he had finagled an internship not open to HS students which led to a serious, no bs rec letter from the co’s director of design (which he also sent my S–not being a school rec). In his SCA major, perhaps that sort of initiative and a professional recommendation may have made his application stand out. Who can know?</p>
<p>The other point that may have come through is that my S really wanted to go to USC–his first choice. If a student looks down on USC and only applied as a distant back-up and to see how much $$ they would be offered, that attitude (if it comes across) could sink their interview.</p>