My DD does not have a notification (OOS). But I’ve had the same question: They award 50 in state and 45 oos. But it seems that very number attend the TS weekend. So do you have to commit to attending UofSC before accepting a TS weekend invite? Certainly some must turn it down.
Got an email being named a Top Scholar candidate, wondering if this mean we got something or it is another round? Need to attend an interview between 24 to 26 …
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The implication is that the interviews are just to decide which of the three TS scholarships you will be offered. Congratulations! See: Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships | University of South Carolina
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Interesting. Eager to read the email.
Is anyone in this thread considering the BS/MD or have any feedback on program?
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We looked into it and seemed interesting, but shes not sure about medicine so she has not applied.
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Congrats to those who got the Top Scholars invite. Sad for my kiddo. Really thought that he had a chance and he really loves USC.
For those that are invited, no you do not need to commit and they know that they will “lose” some of the kids that do attend. They do not appear to backfill the lost slots, though some kids have reported to being moved up to McNair from Horseshoe in previous years.
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Do we know all of the TS invites released? Given it’s a small pool, i would guess they all went simultaneously. Nothing here in NJ.
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They do a couple of batches based on the response to the first set of invites until they reach their desired number of attendees. Once that has happened, they send the people who were not invited an email stating that they were declined for Top Scholars. I think that has typically happened within two weeks or so of the initial invites.
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All the people in this thread who got top scholar are OOS. I’m in state and hoping for top scholar. Has any in state top scholar been released?
Yes when he got his acceptance he scrolled down in his portal and did that. Hopefully no issues and he will get his soon.
Or is in state TS sent at a different time
Mine too
Maybe they invite OOS earlier as there’s travel arrangements for flights, etc. I have no idea but almost don’t want a decine email. Would rather to just hear nothing 
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I wish they did, this makes me feel guilty, but we don’t know what we don’t know yet so impossible to make a decision. I wonder how it all shakes out year to year.
They have a fact book with Scholarship spending on their website. They fill more some years than others. Edited to fix a bad autocorrect.
DD got the invite, also OOS. There is a very quick turnaround time to accept the invitation to the Top Scholars OOS weekend, they want a response on whether you’re coming by January 23rd at noon, maybe to open it up further?
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I would think unless committed elsewhere, everyone invited would go as I understand airfare is paid for. There is no downside and everyone who goes gets something.
Out of curiosity, when is TS weekend? They are of course competing with other schools who host their top scholarship finalist weekends, all of which are mandatory like TS so it makes the kids who are in the mix for more than one make their decision ahead of time.
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We just turned down an invite to another school but that weekend event was in late March.