USC - East Coast Student Experience?
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Anonymous
| USC is a very good school - supremely wealthy and using its money and alumni connections to improve the academic offerings, not just sports. Their academic strengths are in creative/literary/film areas, but they're really expanding science/tech areas. It used to be known mostly as a party school, but they are actively trying to change that image. There is a huge cultural difference between East and West coast (I've lived and studied and worked in both, I happen to prefer California). That's a big factor - if you love East Coast culture, and want something similar, don't do it. If you don't like prep life in DC and want to experience something different, check it out. It is in a bad neighborhood, and I don't mean transitional/gentrifying. I lived in LA and worked at USC, and I would often hear of students who were victims of violence and theft. Part of that is because crime happens when you're out at 3 am, and at USC, you're out at 3 am in a bad neighborhood. If you want to live in a better/safer part of town, it's a nightmarish commute and very expensive elsewhere. So that's a big factor in quality of life issues. I went to an Ivy League school, and would've been happy to send my kids to USC (I would've forced them had I still been on staff there - free tuition!) - but I would've done a lesson on being streetwise and prudent. You should definitely spend a little time in LA before deciding to go there - it's vastly different from the East Coast, and many people hate it (I don't - I love love love it). |
Anonymous
would you send your child to USC over UCLA if you were an OOS parent or would it be program dependent? |
Anonymous
| You crazy PP? Both schools are similarly ranked for most of their programs and have similarly extensive alumni networks. But UCLA is in Westwood, beautiful, SAFE Westwood. And you can apply for in-state tuition I believe in the second or third year. USC is in a dangerous neighborhood with private school tuition. |
Anonymous
not crazy, just wanted the opinion of a poster who seemed to be knowledgeable. i know usc had the stigma of being the place where rich dumb kids who couldn't get into ucla matriculate to, but that seems to have changed in the last 15 years so i was curious what the situation 'on the ground' was like. |
Anonymous
Do you really think that out of state students can apply for instate tuition after the first year? Explain how that works? UCLA has a beautiful campus in a suburban setting. USC has a beautiful campus in an urban setting. UCLA is a bit stronger in STEM subjects; USC is stronger in film and business. USC has smaller class size; UCLA is less expensive. Both schools are incredibly diverse. |
Anonymous
| Because USC is in the midst of a $6 Billion campaign and UCLA is still being squeezed, there is little doubt that USC will move ahead of UCLA (and probably Cal) in the next decade. A decade ago UCLA was a notch above and they are tied now. |
Anonymous
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Grew up in SoCal. Went to Harvard, wouldn't have considered USC. Fast-forward 30 years. Friend who administers NIH grants sets up a visit to one of the labs at USC. Mind-blowing resources, great PI doing interesting work (NoCal guy my age who had the same impression of USC growing up, but loves it now). Plenty of research opportunities for an interested undergrad.
And there was so much construction going on in the midst of a recession. Reminded me of how money seemed to rapidly transform UT Austin a few decades back. |
Anonymous
It is much easier to get in to USC than UCLA - I'd prefer UCLA, but it's nearly impossible to get in (that's coming from California, I have a feeling it may be easier if you are out of state, because you pay much much more tuition - something every school likes, public or private). Both campuses are beautiful, both schools will offer a first rate education. |
Anonymous
I agree with this, born and bred in California, went to college there and taught at USC's law school. It was not considered a serious school at all when I graduated from high school. Far below the ones listed below. The joke was that the USC kids in convocation line compared dates when UCLA rejected them. It's in a horrid area of Los Angeles. The Greek scene is serious and ridiculously silly. A niece of mine completed two years at a community college and then transfered in - she said that she was going to rush but the moment she really saw it she was appalled. She did graduate (took 3 more years) and is now in debt. It's called the University of Spoiled Children because it is expensive; if you are a legacy, you are in; and the kids really do dress and drive flashy cars. I would never spent the money to send my kids there. It's superficiality at its worst. I'm actually stunned to see it mentioned here as a "good" or "top" school. The Law School places only in firms with graduates (lots) in Los Angeles. But not nationally. It does, however, have a great film school. |
Anonymous
Hell no. Are you thinking of UCLA? The Chinese really want to attend the U.Cal schools and will pay anything to get in. |
Anonymous
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/14/local/la-me-1114-foreign-students-20111114 Excerpt: For the 10th year in a row, USC held on to a championship that has nothing to do with sports: The Los Angeles campus once again enrolled the most foreign students of any college or university in the United States, according to a new study. UCLA had the sixth-highest international enrollment, up from seventh place the year before. http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/43920/usc-leads-nation-in-international-students/ Excerpt: Chinese students represented the largest segment of USC’s enrolled international population with 2,515 people, a record enrollment for the university. Students from India were the second largest group with 1,265. - See more at: http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/43920/usc-leads-nation-in-international-students/ Google is your friend |
Anonymous
Some think it is easy to qualify for in state tuition. Not so. The financial independence requirement makes it extremely difficult for most undergraduates who do not have a parent living in California to qualify for classification as a resident at a UC campus. http://students.ucsd.edu/finances/fees/residence/criteria.html |
Anonymous
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There was a time when UCLA was ranked higher than USC. Recently the schools have been ranked as equals (or USC slightly ahead). In the next decade or so USC is likely to move past UCLA because they are going to be in a much better financial position.
There is an open question, however, as to what matters most to a prospective student: past prestige or future prestige. The prestige of the school that you graduate form matters most when you are looking for that first job or applying to grad school. Once you are in a job or in grad school, no amount of undergrad prestige will offset (or undermine) performance. The people who decide upon job offers or graduate school admissions may not be up to speed on the most recent rankings. You can tell from some of the posts on this thread that some people still cling to the beliefs that they had a decade (or more) ago. So, I would argue that past prestige is more important than future prestige. |
Anonymous
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Re hiring -- depends on whose doing it, where, and in what field.
Re grad school, I think the claim that past rep matters more than current/future rep is just flat-out wrong. Grades/scores/recommendations (and for PhD programs, recommenders) matter much more than some generalized sense of the prestige of the school. And it's probably easier to stand out (and to get profs to check the "once every 5-10 years" or "only a couple of times in my entire career" box on the part of the form that asks how often you've encountered a student this good) in a school where massive infusions of funding have brought in great faculty before bringing in great students. So the transitional moment could be a really good opportunity -- again, depending on field. |
Anonymous
It can be done with financial aid, a job during the school year and summer and living in the area during the summer (ie, become a FT resident of CA and not moveback home to live with mom and dad during the summer). |