<p>bmanbs2 is actually quite wrong</p>
<p>When you apply to USC by Dec. 1 you qualify for scholarship review. The process involves a lot of things, each school has their own criteria but numbers almost always take precedence. I actually saw a list once that showed candidates USC had screened from different schools (using National Merit info). A lot of them didn’t even apply to USC but were put down as Presidential candidates. These scholarships are recruiting tools so keep that in mind. </p>
<p>The schools have an allotted set of scholarships and they will notify if you were selected as a candidate sometime around January or February. You are invited to an Explore USC session that involves an interview. There are separate days for both Trustee (100%) and Presidential (50%) and you are made aware of the scholarship you are competing for. I’ve heard numbers are around 2:1 as far as interviewees and scholarships but it is very subjective. You are NOT competing with the other people in your group. Grups vary a lot in size and are separated by school (My group only had 2 people in it). Everyone in my group was given a scholarship so I can’t imagine that we were competing with each other. The schools probably have a limited number of scholarships though, so you are competing with the whole pool. </p>
<p>The scholarship is merit based and the interview is very important. It will usually have a faculty member, an admissions officer, and a student. The questions are very much tailored to your major and the interview is pretty easy going (however I’ve heard some horror stories of Viterbi interviews). </p>
<p>If you do not get the scholarship, there is a chance you will get bumped down to a lesser one (Trustee to Presidential, Presidential to Dean’s). However you could also get nothing. There are also cases of people being bumped up (like my other group member and myself) from Presidential to Trustee. It all really depends on the school and I am pretty sure recruiting is a big factor. Your major will really dictate how important GPA/SAT scores will be. </p>
<p>Good luck</p>