Thanks, I meant the presidential scholarship. We are aware of her NMSF status.
Good to know.
When did your NMF daughter notify NMSC that USC was her first choice? If it was recent, it may take a couple of weeks to show up on FAST.
Financial aid is going to be swamped on Monday. If you call, be prepared to wait on hold for a long time. Once you get through, they are extremely helpful.
You asked multiple times if semi-finalists qualify. They do not.
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Yes, you can switch into Viterbi but not into CS as of Feb 2024. Unlike other switches, it is not simply done prior to enrolling or by going to your advisor’s office and requesting it. Both Viterbi and Marshall have requirements that have to be met to switch into them if you were admitted to another school (like Dornsife). This includes certain classes be taken and a solid GPA. So it can’t be done immediately, it will take a couple semesters (and correct classes) to make the change.
Your current advisor (in the major you are currently enrolled in) would play the point person and help you come up with a plan to do this. You need to submit a pre-engineering interest form through the Orientation Blackboard as a starting point. This would be part of your Welcome Trojans Course Registration process which you will receive an invite for.
And yes, the USC Trojan Family is an incredible network.
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@zenmaster0
So he is getting spring admission and taking that semester off? Or backpacking in the fall, sorry, I can’t figure that out…
Regardless, I would not put housing as a concern. He either gets McCarthy or lives in one of the other great options at USC. A lot of students like McCarthy, but just as many don’t - bottom line is - kids adapt to the housing. They aren’t cramming people in rooms like some schools, any situation will work out. And they room mate match pretty well even for students coming in other than fall.
Mine used Exceptional Funding and AAA to carry 21 credits a couple semesters as a double CS and Math major and another major/minor student. And they used it for a summer class. Both those programs are gone now, they were so valuable to those that wanted to carry 18-21 credits! But it doesn’t change the scholarship. You didn’t need a scholarship to get AAA (Academic Achievement) just a certain gpa, and you could take extra credits up to 21 for free. Anyway, they are no longer, so technically it will cost more if your student would have utilized those. But scholarship is worth the same.
Mine did double majors in the usual 4 years in two different schools (ton of requirements with two dif schools). But that did take summers and heavy load semesters. imo, it can be very easy to graduate in 3.5 with a single major. Especially with 18 credit semesters and maybe a summer or two or Maymester. Summers are sometimes useful to knock out a pre-req that needs to get done to not slow down the train.
But is there really a reason to rush through college? Is the race to finish fast, save money or both? So many kids change course when they get to college - and that’s why we chose USC, so they could change easily if they decided to. And mine took great advantage of double majors, minor and changing majors. So many students (and/or their parents) seem to have these plans all set when they go in - and the great majority of them will change those plans when they get to college.
What USC will give you is ability to get the courses you need when you need them and the ease of flexibility to be/do what the student decides in their studies.
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You can still switch into Viterbi, but not Computer Science related majors. This is brand new. I went to find the link for what he would need to do to switch to CS and I saw that you no longer can.
From the Viterbi page:
As of Monday, February 5th, 2024, Viterbi is currently no longer accepting CS Pre-Engineering applications for the following majors until further notice:
- Computer Science (CSCI)
- Computer Science Business Administration (CSBA)
- Computer Engineering and Computer Science (CECS)
- Computer Science Games (CSGA)
Since this is brand new, I don’t know all the logistics behind it (ie, can you switch to a different Viterbi major and then do a Viterbi switch to CS or can you add CS as a double?)
@AcademicPea Take a look at Dornsife’s cybersecurity major. My daughter has friends in it and they are interning at a major tech company the summer of their Freshman year which has been pretty unheard of in CS this year.
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Wow, I did not see that, and answered that poster before reading down (still catching up from DMs!) They still have info up for the pre-engineering so they need to pull down some page if CS is not included.
Frankly, it doesn’t surprise me, it seems so many were catching on to playing the “apply for one and switch to another” after accepted game, particularly with CS. They were prob overwhelmed. CS is like 410 freshman students yet EVERYBODY wants it.
It has always been really fluid to move between engineering majors, I wonder if this will dam up some of that as well. hmmmm, gonna have to check this out more! I was on campus all weekend, I wish I would have known this before I went! Thanks for being on it!
I adjusted my answer above to mention yes to Viterbi, but no to CS to be clear.
Yeah, it doesn’t surprise me either, but still kind of a bummer. My daughter was going to try to add CS or BA as a double. She did decide on BA, but I’m glad her hand wasn’t forced! I think Berkeley also just made it mostly impossible for new students to transfer to CS. Like you said, applicants were seeing a way to increase their odds by applying with a different major and then switching.
Thank you and @lkg4answers for your detailed answers.
The tentative plan is to take a semester off without taking classes at a community college.
The concern is that Spring admits will get whatever housing available (e.g. vacated by students taking studying aboard). and there’s the possibility that he get assigned to a dorm with higher class students, not being able to match a roommate, etc.
Regarding the graduation, a few scenarios can happen:
- Keep a normal pace and graduate in four years in Spring 2029. There will be fewer job fairs and less on-campus recruitment activities. If he want to go to graduate school, most schools have Fall entry.
- In order to avoid the misalignment, he either needs to hurry up to finish the study in 3.5 years, or extend it to 4.5 years. Neither is preferred.
We appreciate the opportunity offered to him. I’m sure he will do fine adjusting to those circumstances if he decides to matriculate.
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Has your son considered studying abroad in the fall with one of the schools USC has an agreement with? My daughter was accepted as spring admit last year. She studied in London with about 40 other USC spring admits. The semester abroad was a fantastic experience. She was able to knock out some GE credits and traveled all over the place. Knowing other spring admits made the transition so much easier this past January.
As for spring housing–you are right, they get whatever is available, but USC does at least try and accommodate roommate requests. My daughter requested to room with another student in her London program. USC put them in the same apartment in the village.
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Spring admits have an amazing orientation and they tend to house them together or nearby where possible. They get they are new and really aid in the process. I have only seen positive comments on the spring admit experience. Once in USC, people don’t know or care if you have 5 credits or 50 credits as a freshman. He won’t feel behind or out of step at all. Everybody just vibing on their own path.
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There doesn’t seem to be any off-campus events posted. The link to register just takes us back inside his application portal. Are we missing something?
You register through your application portal so that only accepted students can register. It looks like we got the email to sign up for the events on the Monday following acceptance last year. I don’t know if it was in my daughter’s portal ahead of the email.
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Have they notified all the intended merit scholarship recipients by now? In other words, if we haven’t received the email, should we assume we won’t get merit?
Are you national merit finalist? If so, you need to make USC your first choice and then you will receive the scholarship. If not, then all of the big scholarships have already been given out. I know SCA distributes some smaller ones for SCA students (not sure about the other colleges), but last year those came out past May 1.
It’s interesting that they would give out all the big scholarships before the regular decision round. Music and other audition/ portfolio majors cannot apply EA so this means they are essentially ineligible for merit money?
Oh I don’t know actually. I asked that question last year and no one knew the answer. My daughter was a portfolio applicant, but also NM, so we knew she was getting it. They said they would still consider the majors that couldn’t EA but gave no guidance on when they would receive it. You might actually want to contact USC because as far as I’ve seen, they have not answered that clearly.
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Majors that require an audition or portfolio cannot apply EA but are eligible for university scholarships. I would presume that they would be notified at the time of admissions.
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Thornton absolutely gives out merit scholarships. I the past, they have been on their own timetable for scholarships, sometimes before and sometimes after. Thornton sends them versus coming out in mass from admissions. I would call Thornton directly (you mentioned music) and ask them all of their scholarships have gone out.
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MY D24 was accepted for Art at Roski and is hoping for a merit scholarship. Otherwise, it might be UCLA for her. But, she hasn’t heard anything yet. For reference, my friend’s son was accepted last year for Film and received a merit scholarship sometime after his initial acceptance (maybe a few weeks later). I think it’s a fluid process.
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Are there other merit scholarships I can apply to as a Dornslife student or is it too late to be considered for scholarships through USC?