Engineering - General Questions/Chances

Colleges & Universities University of Southern California
1

<p>1) How is the Engineering School at USC, from the Rankings it seems quite high?
2) How is the workload? profs? quality of life?
3) How viable is it to get a job after either a BS or MS in Engineering (I am thinking Civil or Industrial)?
4) What are the chances for an international Student (I am from Toronto, Canada)?</p>

<p>My Credentials:

  • mid income family
  • south asian (bengali)
    -Canadian Student in Toronto
    -High School was the Best Public School Program in Canada for Math and Sci - TOPS
    -Very,very competitive only 60 kids per grade</p>

<p>H.S. GPA: 90% Average
RANK: Although not given, top 10% of 450
Courses: AP Calc BC, AP Phys C (only 6 others in canada), and AP English, along with all other tops courses (special enriched courses)
SAT (2006): Math 2: 740, Math 1: 720, Chem: 610 (yeah its horrible)
reasoning 1: 680 (M), 610 (R), 600 (W)
reasoning 2 (2006): 700 (m), 610 (R) 700 ( W)</p>

<p>ECS: Worked at International Organization FTC - 400-500 Hours: Chapter Director, Volunteer at Head Office, Participated in Leadership Academy
BCCS - Bangladeshi Community Service - 200 Hours: youth reach administrator
Neighbourhood Srvice - 60 hours: workn with seniors in local low income school community
SAAJ Performing Arts, East york soccer club, humanity club - treasurer, and quiz league team captain</p>

<p>Awards:
Grade 9: - Honour Roll - Honourable Award, BP208 Global Impact Contest by CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) - video on Child Labour - Silver Medal, Fryer Canadian Mathematics Competition - held by University of Waterloo - Da Vinci Engineering Enrichment Program @ University of Toronto (Medical Breathroughs and Engineering, Regenerative Medicine: Stem Cells, Gene Therapy, and Biomechanics)
Grade 10: - Honour Roll - Top 25% in Canada, Cayley Mathematics Competition - held by University of Waterloo - Silver at Toronto Regional Sci-Fair (Walk the Walk - Prosthetic Gait Analysis) - MDS International Award for Science Project</p>

<p>Grade 11: - Honour Roll - Honourable Award, DX Competition (Design Competition for Portable Relief Housing) - Gold Medal at Toronto Sci-tech Fair + CWSF Participation trip @ Saguenay, Quebec (CFD Analysis of Coronary Artery Bifurcation) - Finalist at Canada Wide Science Fair - Summa Cum Laude in Canada Virtual Science Fair (different from CWSF) + monetary award by Piping Fluid Systems Inc. - 5th Place at Sanofi Aventis Biotech Challenge - University of Toronto Scholarship - Bronze Medal at Hypatia Math Contest by University of Waterloo</p>

<p>And a bunch more in Gr.12 just too lazy to write them all.</p>

<p>Work: Self-Employed, Self-Run Business, TUTORING worked for 4 years around 100 students tutored in total,
Research: CFD, Heart Attacks etc. at University of Ryerson with Professor Naylor on worked with Roi Engineering Firm etc.</p>

<p>5) How are the living costs? I can afford most public universities in the States, but private ones seem to be in a different league…is it worth it?
6) As an aside…How is the social life for Engineering students?</p>

2

<p>Which question would you most like to have answered?</p>

3

<p>Costs of attending USC are high–about $50,000+/year with tuition, fees, living expenses. They do offer aid & have a lot of students from many countries. You might do better to inquire with their financial aid office about what aid they offer international students.</p>

<p>Only the student & family can decide whether it is “worth it” for the particular student–obviously the 33,000+/year attending USC think it is.</p>

<p>How hard any school is for any individual depends on the preparation & motivation of the student. Those who are well-prepared & motivated do not seem to find it overly difficult to graduate in engineering in 4 years; others find it too challenging & switch majors/fields/schools. Like everywhere else, there are some outstanding profs & some less so. There are opportunities to do research & interact with profs for those who want to do so, but it takes effort. </p>

<p>USC does have a placement & internship program in the school of engineering, where they help students find jobs and internships, but like everything, much depends on the individual and his initiative.</p>

<p>With the current economy, it’s tough to know about job openings in the short term, but it is projected that we will long need the skills of engineers, especially those willing to relocate as needed.</p>

<p>Sorry, can’t be more specific as you’ve posed quite a lot of questions & raised many issues.</p>

4

<p>5) How are the living costs? I can afford most public universities in the States, but private ones seem to be in a different league…is it worth it?</p>

<p>The UCs for non-residents are as expensive as USC.</p>

<p>6) As an aside…How is the social life for Engineering students?
*** This is a major that you have to spend time to do some work unless you are fall in that category of born genius.***</p>

5

<p>Actually, USC does try to encourage engineers to have some social life & even has a formal ball for them, as well as some social activities, funded by a generous USC engineering alum. Haven’t heard any feedback from any of the engineering students about whether they’ve actually participated in any of the activities tho.</p>

<p>Even the students work hard, they do also have some time to play, yes,even the engineers.</p>

<p>You are right that for out-of-staters, UCs were higher cost than USC, which is why my S didn’t even apply to UCs & is happily attending USC with significant merit aid.</p>

6

<p>I agree it’s not UCB, but my daughter’s friend studied more than played even the first few weeks at USC. Same with my daughter, who barely had time to sleep and she is not even an engineer major.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the replies. I am just getting a sense if I should apply there. I have applied to mostly East Coast universities, but I guess I will apply here and see how it turns out.
I know that engineering has a very high workload. I was just wondering if the workload at USC is as high as say UCB (which I guess was answered) or other good engineering schools (Texas A&M). I don’t want to go somewhere where I will be awake every night to study for hard exams and the prof gives hard questions and everyone fails/gets low (i.e. Cornell or something)…
Is the Coop/Internship as good as Drexel or something?
Can anyone comment on my chances?</p>

8

<p>Last year, Viterbi Engineering had 4,000 applicants for 400 spots. On the application, you are asked which area of Engineering you are applying to (I think there was also a box for undecided). I heard that the Canadian universities are significantly cheaper than in the U.S. I also heard that USC does not give financial aid to internationals, but I don’t know that for a fact. Each of the schools you mentioned are all very different. UCB has a reputation for being very LIBERAL. I don’t know anything about Texas A&M. Drexel is in Philadelphia-very urban area. Viterbi Engineering is new and beautiful with outstanding facilities. There are many international students at USC, although I don’t know how many are from Canada. I think you are going to find Engineering a lot of work at all universities. The Engineering schools with the most intense work load are probably MIT and Cal Tech.</p>

9

<p>MIT has pass/fail for freshman so it’s not as bad, at least for the first year. UCB practically fails 25% of the engineering students there by design(at least that is what I read from the UCB forum). It’s scary that I saw one students with stats 2300+ and 4.5 UCGPA( for high school)had to withdraw because of the possibility of getting 2 Ds on 2 science subjects.
USC is not a cut throat place.</p>

10

<p>Admission to USC engineering is indeed competitive; I believe it’s one of the most competiitve schools within USC to enter, at least that’s what we’ve been told at orientation by the engineering deans.</p>

<p>They do encourage engineering & all students to collaborate & form study groups. The engineering students I have met do not seem overly stressed IF they are well-prepared from their HSs. My S & his room mate are both engineering majors. Both do not seem overly stressed by the workload to my untutored eyes (when we visited during Parents Weekend in October of their junior year – S is studying EE & his room mate is studying game design). </p>

<p>My S has not yet complained about the workload but one of his friends who went to a different HS found it “boring” & was not getting the grades he expected so he switched to psychology instead.</p>

11

<p>If it matters, I agree with HImom, viterbi and the university as a whole are getting more competitive. I wouldn’t necessarily agree if that in of itself is a measure of the university’s quality. It’s not exactly something you can quantify. I’d encourage you to come and visit to see if the school is right for you.</p>

<p>As an engineering student (and one who is in TO and has a poly sci minor), I can say that the workload isn’t too demanding. In fact, as much as I’d love to complain otherwise, it’s the same amount of work I was used to in high school. Sure it get’s busy come midterm and the last week of classes, but it only becomes impossibly difficult with all nighters if you’re irresponsible, or a procrastinator (like me), and leave it all to the last second. This semester I’ve manage to save myself from the worse of the crunches, and I know plenty of friends in other majors who seem to have more work than I do.</p>

<p>I also like to think I have a good social life. Regardless, I’m also in the marching band and I definitely have enough time to make that and my academic responsibilities work. I also have several friends who are also engineering and they have plenty of times on their hands to do whatever they want (play video games usually, but they get around town when they want to).</p>

<p>So moral of the story, I guess, is that your social life will depend on how much you’re willing to get out of your dorm room, rather than your course of study.</p>

<p>As for professors, there’s a mix of good professors, really good professors, mediocre professors, and bad professors, just like you’d find anywhere else. Quality of life, it’s LA with one of the best football teams in the nation, and up and coming basket ball team, and I’m sure more stuff if you’re not sports inclined, well unfortunately for you, the latter is enough for me, but I’m sure there’s stuff someone else can comment.</p>

<p>Also, on the subject of financial aid, mdcissp is incorrect. As an international student, you would be ineligible for certain types of financial aid, but that hardly means that USC won’t give consider you for anything. Check this website out for more info ([USC</a> Financial Aid - Applying & Receiving Financial Aid - International Students](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/international/]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/international/))</p>

12

<p>Thank you for correcting me about financial aid for international students. Also, how many credits are comfortable for you given your situation at USC? Do you feel you could take more than 18 credits or would that be too stressful?</p>

13

<p>thanks arcticdragon that was the sort of answer I was looking for. Now the only problem is distance…since Cali is so far from Toronto.
The weather will at least be far better than here :P.</p>

<p>Anyone commenting on my chances?</p>

14

<p>Sorry I make a point of not commenting on chances. I don’t feel I’m qualified in the slightest to make any conclusions about that.</p>

<p>But I just wanted to add another thing to mdcissp’s comment. I’d heavily discourage taking more than 18 units. One is financial. Go above 18 units and you’re paying above the flat tuition rate (for 16 to 18 units per semester). Also it’s tough to have that many units. I’m sure you’ll find 18 units challenging enough.</p>

<p>With that said, I’m taking 20 units next semester. Fortunately, my trustee’s exceptional funding is paying for the extra 2 units. I’m certainly not looking forward to the extra course load, but it’s the only way I can have a minor with my engineering degree.</p>

<p>What I’d say is that if you wanted to take the dive, don’t do it your first year. Figure out how you work and if you can truly be successful with the demanding amount of work. There’s no point in taking more classes if you work in every one of them will suffer.</p>

<p>For example, since I’m in the band, I know the fall semester would not work well for me if I took 2 more units. The spring, however, is much easier since I don’t have football season to worry about and there’s more university holidays and breaks to give me a chance to recuperate.</p>

<p>But that’s just my thoughts, opinionated as they are …</p>