corpuscallosum

I'm curious about the interview process in general. On the results page, several individuals have mentioned that their rejections were expected because they did not receive an invitation to interview. In a previous application cycle a few years ago, I was waitlisted without an interview at an institution that someone else had previously reported interviewing for. Based on what I've observed on the results page, it seems that interviews have become more common since then, so I'm wondering if the situation I was in several years ago still occurs. This year, has anyone received an acceptance or spot on a waitlist with no interview? More interestingly, has anyone received a waitlist/acceptance decision with no interview from an institution that other people have reported interviewing with? If not, it seems that they might as well just send out rejections with or immediately following the interview notifications, though I do understand wanting to keep a backup pool of applicants open in case.

Does anyone have any info about USC (Southern California, not South Carolina)? I haven't heard anything, and for the past few years on the results page the decision notifications (at least for the admitted students) seemed to come in during the last week of January or the first 1-2 days of February. I know they extended their application deadline by a few days due to technical issues, so maybe that pushed back the process a bit? I'd appreciate any info from other 2016 applicants, or from current USC Linguistics students. Thanks!