Last year, Top Scholars invites were in the portal on Friday, January 19th. You had until the following Tuesday to accept the invite and the TS weekend Feb 24-26 for OOS, you have to attend to be considered. 45 (I think) in state students, 45 out of state students invited, USC paid for everything including airfare and hotel to attend the Top Scholars weekend and it was absolutely amazing. If you attend that weekend, you are guaranteed a scholarship of at least full tuition. Then there are five Stamps Scholars and five McNair scholars out of each group (IS and OOS) who get additional money above full tuition.
2 Likes
Hi, yes, 34 ACT OOS, with 9 APs and lots of ECs, honors, volunteer, job etc. Very competitive NC high school, rank is 30%ish. Has to factor in? Wondering about whether itās too competitive to get merit with these stats for Darla
How do these EA merit decisions align with honors college acceptance, anyone have any predictions or past experience info?
1 Like
I wish I had a clue but sounds like the class rank may have been a factor I guess
Accepted into Darla, OOS with $43k, 1430 SAT, 3.8 GPA (4.0 scale), school does not rank, 8 APs, average ECs.
3 Likes
Did anyone hear of any actual denials? 13/15 students at my childās high school got deferred - none denied. I am wondering if they even sent out denials?
1 Like
Class rank is BS if you go to a highly competitive hs.
3 Likes
I wonder about this too. I wonder about this with all of these large state schools.
I wonder if it would have been better to go test optional
Absolutely agree. Going to a highly competitive school may end up reducing oneās chances for admission or scholarships because you get evaluated relative to your peersā¦even though you may have much better credentials than someone from a low ranked high school who happens to be higher ranked there.
1 Like
My child was TO and got deferred so who knows
OOS deferred for business. 3.8/4.0 GPA, 1450 SAT, 12 APs with, so far, all 4s and 5s. Somewhat surprised at the deferral since they peddled honors to him so aggressively (he did the work and applied). He really, really liked his visit but looks like itās time to move on. In at IU, Pitt and PSU so far, this is his first deferral/rejection.
2 Likes
Accepted to Darla Moore! OOS. 4.2w gpa/ 31 act.
2 Likes
Itās confusing to see kids getting deferred who had higher stats (and would receive merit) than kids who are getting accepted with merit with lower stats? Who knows! Itās literally become a lottery
2 Likes
I do sometimes think the HS you attend matters. I had a somewhat higher gpa and almost top 10% class rank, however I am the only one from my HS who applied. I think this helped my acceptance along with my intended major
Yeah itās a little heartbreaking. Having sent a tippy top kid to college for computer science three years ago, Iām all too familiar with the bloodbath of college admissions; itās not linear and you never know why. Congrats to those accepted!
1 Like
I think youāre into something! Ours got deferred with a 32 and 3.91. Come from a very competitive high school without grade inflation but a lot apply to USC since itās a hot school for the Midwest right now. Seems crazy that he got into Kelley biz school but not Darla!
2 Likes
Daughter accepted OOS. 3.97 UW, 31 ACT, 7 APs, good ECs. Very competitive high school, but likely the only USC applicant from her school.
No merit which I thought was interesting since with her stats Iād think she should have received at least one of the lower ones? (just couldnāt stomach another round of ACT tests!)
1 Like
Iām pretty sure no. Honors is super competitive so they donāt need to make exceptions for those who missed a deadline.