@googlimoogli Why don’t you email USC and ask same question so you have the email as well? It’s not like they are going to take your admission away.
But I will come back to the question - do you not want USC so much as to wait till January? Or Emory so much that you can just let USC go? Make a decision - you have to at some point. If someone was admitted to Harvard, but only if they started in January, I would think virtually all would say, “So what? I’ll wait!” Not comparing USC to Harvard, but I am comparing the enthusiasm it is good to have toward one of the schools. Or at least hoping you really like one of them. Not sure about dragging this all out…you seem to be creating a boatload of stress for an inevitable decision. I guess the direct question is, if you don’t want to wait for USC until January, do you really want to go there at all? It is a school most are really passionate about attending (a lot of schools are, but just sayin’).