"USC doesn’t take many of the NMF’s, but will kids with high ACTs. So, I think they’re trying to limit the merit aid. "
They are not. in fact USC accepts about 50% of NMF’s according to the Dean of Admissions.That’s FAR higher than their overall acceptance rate.
But as WWWard said above , USC DOES want students to demonstrate GENUINE interest in attending USC. Just saying you want to go to USC and being a hi scoring applicant won’t cut it these days.