Thoughts on USC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thinking about it for DD; only downside is that CA is so far away from DC! DD wants a mid-ish size school with school spirit but not totally absorbed in Greek culture, business/entrepreneurship/math/ or bio, near the beach (!). What is your experience with the school? Not going for an all out party vibe, but she would like to have fun. 4.0, 34 ACT, good ECs, unhooked.

Check out Loyola Marymount. It's actually mid-sized (5-10K undergrads) near Marina Del Rey and Silicon Beach for internships and a very happy campus with new buildings and great dorms. Check out the honors college too and they give merit for top stats.

[Anonymous]

The business school is good but it’s nowhere near the beach. UCSB and UCSD are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The business school is good but it’s nowhere near the beach. UCSB and UCSD are.

'SC is less than 15 miles to Santa Monica and you can get there on the Metro. Not walking distance but close by most people's standards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They take a large number of transfers from community college. This is different from most top 20s.

You must be confusing it with the UC system schools.

[Anonymous]

USC currently takes less than half of its students from CA. Whoever said it was mostly CA kids was wrong. Of course, that would be true of the UC schools, which are now at least 75percent in state.

[Anonymous]

I have no love for USC, but begrudgingly admire what they have done with the school. In two decades it has gone from an academic joke to being a very tough admit that provides top tier outcomes. All while meaningfully growing the size of the undergraduate population in service to their educational mission.

The film school is a modern studio lot and the engineering, comms, and b-school are all legitimate.

Still the campus is dense and not postcard beautiful, like UCLA. And it is expensive as heck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They take a large number of transfers from community college. This is different from most top 20s.

You must be confusing it with the UC system schools.

No USC does take a good number of transfer students from California community colleges. It’s actually a hard admit so kids will do a year or two of CC depending on how many APs or DE courses they have and transfer in.

It’s far less academically prestigious than the top 6 UCs or the Claremont schools but far more prestigious than Pepperdine, USD, SDSU etc. However it’s more desirable than some of the UCs to the students it attracts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a decent school, hardly a standout. Greek life tends to dominate the social scene. And I wouldn't consider it "midsize" at all; if anything, it feels impersonal and overwhelming.

Academically, it has its strengths, I suppose. I know they're big on entrepreneurship, so that may be a plus. The B-school is mid-dish, though, and they're not exactly known for math/STEM.

And of course, there's the exorbitant tuition and the high COL.

I'd consider more prestigious/respected schools with better reputations that meet such criteria, like Pepperdine, LMU, UCI, UCSB, Cal Poly SLO, obviously UCLA - the UCs are also large-size, but figure one can eventually find where they fit in in such a large pool. You might also think about Miami, W&M, and UF (UNCW's also right by the beach, but obviously doesn't have quite the school spirit/pride of CH).

This person clearly doesn’t know SoCal and I would take what they say with a huge grain of salt. There is absolutely no way that Pepperdine, LMU and CalPoly SLO are more prestigious/respected than USC. UC Irvine is debatable. Take this from someone who has their kid in one of the private schools in SoCal that sends a lot of kids to USC and other privates. Most of the upper class folks here would much prefer USC over the large publics, and likely over East Coast top LACs and even lower Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC loves it there. Not Greek nor are any of the friend group. Plenty of clubs and other activities. As an example ski club has like 500 kids in it. Great connections for internships and jobs. Very smart kids who know how to have fun.

The "spoiled children" moniker really does seem appropriate - a 500 member ski club in coastal California really does scream "daddy's money".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC loves it there. Not Greek nor are any of the friend group. Plenty of clubs and other activities. As an example ski club has like 500 kids in it. Great connections for internships and jobs. Very smart kids who know how to have fun.

The "spoiled children" moniker really does seem appropriate - a 500 member ski club in coastal California really does scream "daddy's money".

Lol 15 kids in an Airbnb sleeping on sofas and floors after piling people and gear into cars to drive up to big bear and half the crowd is on academic scholarship. But sure conjure up any biased image you want. Bet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC loves it there. Not Greek nor are any of the friend group. Plenty of clubs and other activities. As an example ski club has like 500 kids in it. Great connections for internships and jobs. Very smart kids who know how to have fun.

The "spoiled children" moniker really does seem appropriate - a 500 member ski club in coastal California really does scream "daddy's money".

Lol 15 kids in an Airbnb sleeping on sofas and floors after piling people and gear into cars to drive up to big bear and half the crowd is on academic scholarship. But sure conjure up any biased image you want. Bet.

They are renting an Airbnb in a ski area.
They own or rent ski gear.
They bought ski passes.

Yeah they have money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC loves it there. Not Greek nor are any of the friend group. Plenty of clubs and other activities. As an example ski club has like 500 kids in it. Great connections for internships and jobs. Very smart kids who know how to have fun.

The "spoiled children" moniker really does seem appropriate - a 500 member ski club in coastal California really does scream "daddy's money".

Lol 15 kids in an Airbnb sleeping on sofas and floors after piling people and gear into cars to drive up to big bear and half the crowd is on academic scholarship. But sure conjure up any biased image you want. Bet.

They are renting an Airbnb in a ski area.
They own or rent ski gear.
They bought ski passes.

Yeah they have money.

And yet it’s entirely different than jumping on daddy’s jet to Tahoe which is a different level of ‘having money’ amiright?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thinking about it for DD; only downside is that CA is so far away from DC! DD wants a mid-ish size school with school spirit but not totally absorbed in Greek culture, business/entrepreneurship/math/ or bio, near the beach (!). What is your experience with the school? Not going for an all out party vibe, but she would like to have fun. 4.0, 34 ACT, good ECs, unhooked.

Check out Loyola Marymount. It's actually mid-sized (5-10K undergrads) near Marina Del Rey and Silicon Beach for internships and a very happy campus with new buildings and great dorms. Check out the honors college too and they give merit for top stats.

If a kid is looking at USC then LMU is a safety. Come on be real. So is Pepperdine, cal poly and UCI to the person who said those schools.

[Anonymous]

In socks we called in the university if spoiled children. Lots of rich kids from Newport Beach and Palos verdeswhose parents are alumni. It’s in the literal hood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They take a large number of transfers from community college. This is different from most top 20s.

You must be confusing it with the UC system schools.

No USC does take a good number of transfer students from California community colleges. It’s actually a hard admit so kids will do a year or two of CC depending on how many APs or DE courses they have and transfer in.

It’s far less academically prestigious than the top 6 UCs or the Claremont schools but far more prestigious than Pepperdine, USD, SDSU etc. However it’s more desirable than some of the UCs to the students it attracts.

LOL ok