Back from visiting USC and four UC schools

NewJeffCT
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 14:00:44 +0000

@lond0n - congrats on being accepted to both schools.

I felt UCLA had more green around campus - with grass, trees, bushes, etc. It had more of an East Coast feel with the greenery, just mostly palm trees instead of deciduous trees. The location is more residential than USC, even if the residents nearby are mostly students. From what I heard from both our tour guide and the young man that was a neighbor of ours, you do NOT need a car on campus and it’s generally discouraged. Beyond the core buildings, UCLA felt more like it grew as needed over time where USC has more of a planned consistency feel to it.

USC had less greenery and the buildings were mostly large, impressive brick structures. While the buildings looked like bigger versions of something you’d find at an Amherst College, the campus had a lot of clean, wide concrete walkways flanked by bushes and trees, but it had more of a planned feel than UCLA. USC is gated and closes the gates after 8pm at night because it is in more of an urban location than UCLA. The tour guide said that if you don’t have a car on campus, it’s a good idea to know somebody that does have one. However, USC does offer free Lyft/Uber rides within 3 miles of campus. (UCLA, I think, had a flat $5 fee within 5 miles)