2020-2021 University of Southern California (Keck)

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Does anyone know if they're still sending IIs? July complete, IS, haven't heard anything yet
 
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Is alternate list movement usually good here at Keck?

Also, can one be accepted from the alternate list before Apr. 30?
 
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Can anyone comment on the historical WL movement here? Was waitlisted after October interview. Thanks
 
I would also like to know this. I looked back at a couple of past year threads and it didn't look too substantial based purely on people posting about getting off of the WL. Does it say anything on MSAR?
 
I was waitlisted here on Jan. 14 after a Dec. 4 interview. I've since been accepted elsewhere at a good school with much cheaper tuition, but Keck is still an attractive option for me for a variety of reasons... IF they could offer me a partial tuition scholarship to bring the cost in line with (or cheaper than) this other school.

I guess my question is, do students taken off the waitlist ever get offered scholarships? When April 30th rolls around, how the heck do I handle writing an LOI in search of a seat when my interest is conditional? I like Keck a lot, but I just can't justify it over this other school unless the cost comes way down.
 
jakemainstreet said:
I was waitlisted here on Jan. 14 after a Dec. 4 interview. I've since been accepted elsewhere at a good school with much cheaper tuition, but Keck is still an attractive option for me for a variety of reasons... IF they could offer me a partial tuition scholarship to bring the cost in line with (or cheaper than) this other school.

I guess my question is, do students taken off the waitlist ever get offered scholarships? When April 30th rolls around, how the heck do I handle writing an LOI in search of a seat when my interest is conditional? I like Keck a lot, but I just can't justify it over this other school unless the cost comes way down.
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I would just get that acceptance first, and then try to negotiate tuition costs. I could be wrong, but I heard Keck is not so generous with tuition scholarships.

On another note, do you know if we are on the WL, if we could get pulled off, before April 30th?
 
Nvrgiveup01 said:
I would just get that acceptance first, and then try to negotiate tuition costs. I could be wrong, but I heard Keck is not so generous with tuition scholarships.

On another note, do you know if we are on the WL, if we could get pulled off, before April 30th?
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I've wondered that too. I looked at last year's thread and didn't see anyone get off until after April 30th, but I haven't checked other years.

The annoying thing with Keck is that they don't seem to do post-II rejections, at least not before April 30. So I have no idea if my WL means "we really like you but we don't have space YET, and/or we just need you to signal via LOI that you really want to come" or "eh, we're not that interested and you have practically zero chance of getting in."
 
Has anyone admitted received a merit scholarship, or know their timeline for offering them this year? USC is the dream, so I want to know if I can withdraw from my upcoming interviews or if I should hold on to them in case there's funding from other schools that I can't pass up.
 
I don't think anyone should 'expect' a merit scholarship at Keck. After I was accepted at Keck, I received a scholarship from another school. I talked to Dean at Keck about it and basically Keck only gives scholarships to matriculated students, IMO.
 
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drcat_2 said:
I don't think anyone should 'expect' a merit scholarship at Keck. After I was accepted at Keck, I received a scholarship from another school. I talked to Dean at Keck about it and basically Keck only gives scholarships to matriculated students, IMO.
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What does this mean? So like after your first year?
 
HumanAfterAll said:
What does this mean? So like after your first year?
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The post acceptance information packet they sent in the acceptance email has a page about financial aid. It says there are recruitment scholarships awarded prior to matriculation for which no additional application is necessary. There are also other scholarships that you can apply for after matriculation in either fall or spring that are more service/leadership-based or specialty specific.
 
I guess my original question was whether the merit scholarships have already been given out or if I can hold out hope (not expecting, just hopeful). Does anyone know?
 
csp234 said:
The post acceptance information packet they sent in the acceptance email has a page about financial aid. It says there are recruitment scholarships awarded prior to matriculation for which no additional application is necessary. There are also other scholarships that you can apply for after matriculation in either fall or spring that are more service/leadership-based or specialty specific.
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Agree with this. There was mention of recruitment scholarships in the packet. In my opinion from the conversation, it seems like the recruitment scholarships given out will not go to that many accepted students. It will probably be only a select few. But I haven't heard if they have gone out or not.
 
Does USC accept letters of interest from waitlisted applicants? I know they don't accept update letters, so wouldn't be surprised if they didn't
 
santanay27 said:
Has anyone heard back about financial aid post-A?
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Nope, but I don’t think they give much if any aid anyway besides some merit scholarships. They don’t require any parental info on FAFSA, so that’s a big hint there’s really no need based aid.
 
Do you guys know the preferred length of the LOI. The office stated "very brief" and I asked them to specify if that would mean 1 to 2 sentences and they literally just said "very brief" again lol. I'm asking because my advisor is telling me that she helped people get off the USC waitlist by writing like half-page/full page LOIs. But Dr. Arias seemed to be the kind of person to just want a yes or no on the LOI, not a monologue about how great USC is. During your interviews, did she really specify how long the LOI should be - might have missed it when I interviewed. Thanks!
 
cloningmonkey said:
Do you guys know the preferred length of the LOI. The office stated "very brief" and I asked them to specify if that would mean 1 to 2 sentences and they literally just said "very brief" again lol. I'm asking because my advisor is telling me that she helped people get off the USC waitlist by writing like half-page/full page LOIs. But Dr. Arias seemed to be the kind of person to just want a yes or no on the LOI, not a monologue about how great USC is. During your interviews, did she really specify how long the LOI should be - might have missed it when I interviewed. Thanks!
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From what everyone on here has been saying, and what I remember in the interview, is that they just want a sentence about if you are going to commit if accepted off the WL. They don't want a life story or the reason why you want to go to Keck, just that you will if accepted.
 
Nvrgiveup01 said:
From what everyone on here has been saying, and what I remember in the interview, is that they just want a sentence about if you are going to commit if accepted off the WL. They don't want a life story or the reason why you want to go to Keck, just that you will if accepted.
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Okay that's what I thought. Hmmm, I'm leaning much more towards doing that instead of writing a life story lol. Does anyone have any idea though how they select people off their "unranked" waitlist? I'm pretty sure they have some people in mind that they would really like to pick off the waitlist if they LOI.
 
cloningmonkey said:
Okay that's what I thought. Hmmm, I'm leaning much more towards doing that instead of writing a life story lol. Does anyone have any idea though how they select people off their "unranked" waitlist? I'm pretty sure they have some people in mind that they would really like to pick off the waitlist if they LOI.
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Probably depends on who they lose among the accepted applicants. I imagine they already selected what they thought was a balanced class. As they lose people from the class, they will try to pull from the waitlist to fill those gaps in carefully balanced criteria (e.g. gender, URM status, high stats, research focus, community focus). So it will be unpredictable, but flexibility is one of the benefits (for the adcoms) of an unranked waitlist. You might be right that the adcom people have some "favorites," but there's no way of knowing who they are.
 
The WL email says only to send a brief LOI if you have other acceptances.
If you do not, then do you not send anything? I already picked "Yes interested in being on the alternate list" on the portal back in January. Would Keck just assume I am still interested if I have no other acceptances by 4/30 and do not send a LOI? (I am currently waitlisted at 2 other schools)
 
starryfish said:
The WL email says only to send a brief LOI if you have other acceptances.
If you do not, then do you not send anything? I already picked "Yes interested in being on the alternate list" on the portal back in January. Would Keck just assume I am still interested if I have no other acceptances by 4/30 and do not send a LOI? (I am currently waitlisted at 2 other schools)
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Yes, Keck would assume you are still interested if you hold no other acceptances. From how I understand it, they want "commitment" from people with acceptances at other schools. If you do not yet have acceptances, they already know you'd choose them.
 
Nvrgiveup01 said:
Yes, Keck would assume you are still interested if you hold no other acceptances. From how I understand it, they want "commitment" from people with acceptances at other schools. If you do not yet have acceptances, they already know you'd choose them.
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Thank you 🙂
 
Nvrgiveup01 said:
Yes, Keck would assume you are still interested if you hold no other acceptances. From how I understand it, they want "commitment" from people with acceptances at other schools. If you do not yet have acceptances, they already know you'd choose them.
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so then would we not send a LOI after the 30th?
 
GrayArea said:
Has keck really still not provided financial aid info? Lol that is ridiculous. And dr arias expects us not to make any "rash" decisions. Ha.
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Just imagine how long the people that will be accepted off of the WL will have to wait until financial aid info is given lol
 
have any accepted students received a financial aid package yet? don't know if I missed it or what haha
 
A couple of questions:

1) In our letter of intent, is it preferred that our letter be brief, simply stating we would accept our offer to Keck if provided the opportunity? Or, would they also prefer a little additional info explaining why we would choose Keck over other schools/our fit for Keck?

2) To clarify, we can send our LOI on April 30th? The applicant portal says after April 30th, but the email from USC indicates on or after April 30th.

Thanks guys!
 
doktorplz said:
A couple of questions:

1) In our letter of intent, is it preferred that our letter be brief, simply stating we would accept our offer to Keck if provided the opportunity? Or, would they also prefer a little additional info explaining why we would choose Keck over other schools/our fit for Keck?

2) To clarify, we can send our LOI on April 30th? The applicant portal says after April 30th, but the email from USC indicates on or after April 30th.

Thanks guys!
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1) 1 sentence saying you'd accept an offer
2) I am going by the email, on or after the 30th
 
^they told me there would be no second looks, only the info sessions they have been putting on!! I wish they would tho
 
Just email the finaid office, they said they have "no tentative date" for when financial aid offers will be available 🙃
 
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