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Nowhere does it even imply that financial need is considered when deciding who does or doesn’t receive a Trustee , or other merit scholarships. Since an interview with a member of the faculty is required, maybe students who don’t interview well are eliminated? Maybe they did not have outstanding letters of recommendation from someone other than a teacher? Maybe the scholarships are divvied up between USC schools and a particular schools’ quota was already reached? [I can envision this happening among those applying for Vertibi] Who knows? All I can say, as a mother of a Trustee scholar, I don’t think the need for FA has anything to do with receiving a Merit Scholarship at USC. If it did, then students would need to fill out FAFSA applications as well, in order to be considered, and to my knowledge that is not required. Making assumptions about why a student was not offered a Trustee scholarship is like making assumptions about why one student was accepted at HYP and another equally impressive student was not, IMHO.
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<p>Your son was admitted 4-5 years ago, things might be changing now. As for the trustee scholarship interview, who decides who gets to be invited for interview? I think it’s adcom. Then the faculty gets to do interview.</p>