It’s my son’s top choice. Deferrals for UT Austin and Clemson and those are the others rounding out his top 3. We are attending the first accepted students day so hoping to have more information to solidify our decision after that. He has a 4.59 W average according to the SC Uniform grading scale, TO as well. So we shall see. I’m keeping our fingers and toes crossed.
Has anyone had any experience with final merit offers coming out before mid-march?
From my assessment from last years thread merit will likely be communicated on Friday March 7th- wish it was sooner
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Same. Just hope it’s before RD comes out.
When is that?
Mid-March
Has anyone tried to get exempt from the honors housing requirement? Are they lenient or is there a form? Also when should honors second round come out
Does anybody know how accessible a full ride to USC is without being a Top Scholar and trying to do it by getting other institutional scholarships?
I think this may be the first year they are requiring students to live in the Honors Residence (if what I’ve read here and other forums is correct). Last year honors students were encouraged to live in the Honors Residence but were also given the option to join an LLC (such as Galen Health Fellows) and living with them. Others chose to try for another dorm.
I will say that they are changing rules for upperclassmen as well for next year. Now honors students who wish to stay on campus must live with other honors students after the first year as well in order to have the benefit of living in 650 Lincoln. Previously, you could have the honors students with the highest lottery # bring in other students for the apartment both from honors and not.
Both of these changes are likely a response to the tightening of housing options on campus. Last year enough Honors students chose not to live in the Honors Residence that they opened up rooms to the general freshman population. Because a lot of the programming in the Honors Residence is geared toward the honors students, it likely made for some awkwardness for those living there who were not in Honors.
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Anyone have experience with the March letter coming in higher than the ‘at least’ amount stated in the Acceptance letter?
Hoping ours is higher since we got guaranteed nothing 
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Same
Last year that was a nope
I saw several people on FB that got merit even though there was nothing in the acceptance letter. Small amounts but something.
Yes, there are non-Honors students living in the Honors Residence this year, largely on the upper floors.
Our daughter is a freshman in Honors Residence and she/we really like it. Dining hall right in the dorm (along with coffee shop that now takes swipes for some breakfast items), game room, lots of room downstairs to gather and hang out. Her floor is very social and the kids largely hang out together, so not sure I see the appeal of other dorms as a freshman. Some of them are loud, kind of gross with activity all night which for kids in tougher majors (and Honors), may not be as appealing as they seem.
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My daughter was deferred in December. Her counselor was somewhat confident she would get in EA. Now that she has been deferred she said she doesn’t think acceptance is likely. She was told 38% of those deferred last year were accepted. It’s my daughters first choice so I haven’t shared this info with her yet. OOS is so hard this year. 4.3GPA, TO, captain of varsity swim team, state swim team 4 years, student council, roles in multiple school plays, lifeguard, swim coach, volunteer etc. The next 6 weeks are going to be sooo long.
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The admitted student shirt came today. (Massachusetts)
Right there with you crocodile. Trying to stay positive. I am trying to be glass half full. My daughter is deferred, OOS, 4.3 GPA, 32 ACT and top 20%. Looking at last year stats, it would really need to be a seismic shift up in all categories for her to fall out of range. Heck we were hoping Capstone and up, nevermind acceptance. Trying to be glass half full, the nature of the EA notification email of how they handled it seemed suggestive to me that it was a lean EA (i.e. very high stat only), which I would like to think would be more favorable then the 38% deferral acceptance last year (granted more apps this year). But my gosh it would have to really shift for your daughter and mine to be on the outside looking in. In the meantime, it is hard to stay positive!
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Ours has not yet 
Same here. My daughter was also deferred, OOS, 4.1 GPA (~4.8 on SC scale), 1350 SAT and top 15%, Darla Moore. We regret now not going TO but can’t change it at this point. It’s her top choice since we visited in August and I’m trying to stay positive for her but also preparing her for plan B. She was accepted into Penn State UP Smeal which is also a great option, but she really fell in love with USC. Hoping for good news for all of us in March!