Deferred. Waiting for RD and hope to get associate scholarship otherwise too expensive for us.
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Unfortunately deferred students are no longer eligible for most of the big merit scholarships. It doesn’t specifically mention the Associates scholarship, so your student could call admissions to confirm. Good luck.
From the counselor letter I posted above:
Unfortunately those deferred are also notified will not move forward in the competition for most of our major merit scholarship programs, the Trustee (full tuition), Presidential (half tuition), and Leadership ($10,000 per year) awards.
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USC offers many scholarships. Some are big, others are small. There are four pages of scholarships listed here. There are many more awarded by departments and other sources. Full tuition at USC may be out of many people’s price range, but there is no harm in letting your application ride and see what you are offered if you are admitted.
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My son was admitted as EA so he was eligible for scholarships, and this particular one was given to him after Regular admissions were announced.
Perhaps some other scholarships are given at different times than the merit ones, even though this came with the same perks, like eligibility to live in McCarthy, etc.
With USC COA at $95k, it is important to have realistic expectations - both parents and students. If the big scholarships are needed to attend and your student didn’t get in EA, then accepting USC may be out of reach sooner than later can be a healthy thing to do. Of course if you qualify for financial aid, that is a different thing, but this is addressing those more in the middle expected to be full pay outside of merit. The associates is great to get, but is 20k and there are 10 or less of those, so odds pretty slim. There are more Deans for almost as much ($17,450) but 17k or 20k towards 95K, while helpful, may not be enough to really turn the tides.
Agree with @lkg4answers, you already paid for the app and did all the work, so no harm in letting it ride to see what happens. As these students are almost adults, they need to be treated as such with real conversations early on about what can and cannot be done financially. Have the frank conversation now rather than in May when there are emotional thunderclouds everywhere around college decisions.
1100-1200 (1/3) of the 3500 EA will be in contention for the bigger scholarships. The other 2/3 will know they are accepted - yay - and need to determine if they can attend without the big merit and try to understand if they will qualify for aid.
Keep in mind, the scholarship results come out about the same time as regular decisions (mid - late March) and the FA info doesn’t come out until 5-10 days after regular decisions. So buckle up, it’s a long ride until you have all the info you need - from USC and likely other schools - to make a decision.
Use the time to have honest conversations about what will work for your family, if you didn’t do this prior to applications. Good luck all!
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Just calling out in case people haven’t seen it — merit consideration notification for EA admits is Wednesday the 29th. (I just happened to see on USC website; no email was sent.)
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Does anyone know if the email on the 29th pertains to the top three scholarships or to all merit aid?
I believe it is just Trustee, Presidential and Deans because they need to arrange interviews.
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Yes, as @lkg4answers said, it’s just Trustee and Presidential focus. The Dean’s have gone at this time as well, with other Dean’s being added with results in March. They are always changing the delivery of Dean’s so not quite sure if they will notify on those the 29th or March or both. We’ll see! But letting people know they got something earlier is always better than later - to get them emotionally invested before another school lures them in - so I say, let those Dean’s roll!
Most of the others on the scholarship list come out in late March and April. Some have been added randomly to a persons portal just prior to May 1st. These are all the smaller scholarships on their scholarship list, the Trustee and Pres are the biggies and require a specific schedule by USC to get all the interviews in and results determined.
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Do mid year transcripts factor into decisions for merit aid?
My child got deferred to RD. ACT is 31, GPA 3.96 weighted / 4.4 UW, lots of APs, captain of varsity team, lot of other activities and leadership.
Question: is it possible to request at this point that they don’t consider her ACT? I think it may be hurting more than helping.
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For those families accepted to USC, there is now a Facebook group called “USC Class of 2029 - Parent” in case you want to join.
I believe USC specifically does not allow any changes from EA to RD. They are really strict on that. I wish her the best. I was deferred as well… Also, I believe you meant 3.96 unweighted, and 4.4 weighed not the other way around.
Please do not join that group. It is run by a third party that is not affiliated with USC or any university. Start a group of your own, but please don’t provide that group with any of your (or your student’s) personal information.
The official USC Facebook group is: USC Parents Group (University of Southern California) | Facebook
The administrator of the USC Parents Group is USC.
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Noted. I unfollowed. Thanks!
I wouldn’t request that and it likely won’t be a single factor that determines acceptance. Keep in mind close to 4000 students with a 4.0 and 99 percentile test scores are not accepted every year (or get a scholarship offer). The could fill a class with perfect scores but they choose not to in order to get a well rounded class full of diversity in many regards. They really look at overall application, seeking passion - for USC, their goals, and pursuits thus far. They look past the numbers and find something compelling, something that will enrich the USC community. They are looking for strong character and a willingness to engage in learning, an eagerness to dig deep into scholarship and impact their classes and peers at USC. They want sudents that have a unique perspective and whose presence will strengthen the university. A person with a “lower test score” or a slightly less than perfect gpa can certainly deliver that. One of mine that got the best offer from USC, didn’t have the highest stats of the siblings, but man oh man, she was interesting and passionate.
Early on with my kiddos, I simply had no understanding how hard it is to get the scholarship or even acceptance (except for the athlete). But there was one applicant that got a trustee’s and it helped me “get it.” He was fascinated with airplanes since childhood, an eagle scout with great scores all round…but what stood out was he got his pilots license at 16, formed a flight club at his school, and of course applied to study aeronautical engineering to learn to build some crazy flying something…to advance the technology. Not your run of the mill volunteering and good scores. Not that everyone meets those high standards of passion and scores, but there are kids like that out there that do in very different ways, and USC is on the lookout for them.
It’s just highly competitive and too many wonderful students are denied every year, it’s just the college system. But there are so many fabulous colleges out there, and it’s up to the student to get the most out of their education wherever they go. I always say if USC doesn’t come through, go to another school and show 'em it was their loss. 
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From our school they specifically don’t take high stats kids. They take kids who have no chance at UCB or UCLA. I am sure they have stats that maybe our demographic locally doesn’t matriculate into USC. Their sweet spot from our high school is a B+ test optional student. Mostly kids who did a lot of sports and were captains of their teams. They love those kids. Could be school specific.
I agree not to overthink these decisions.
My daughter has a 36 ACT and 11 AP’s with all 5’s. She was accepted. Came on here to say the admission package arrived in the mail today, so keep an eye out! It’s a box!
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My daughter is an A student, excellent EC’s and essays and she was accepted EA. I think we should refrain from making assumptions about students who were accepted. Believe it or not, not everyone wants to attend UCB or UCLA.
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Not assumptions about students, but assumptions on how schools approach different high schools. There is a pattern in our high school on how kids get sorted through some of these schools.