<p>^ Yes, like I said it’s strong in California. My grandfather was an electrical engineer who worked at the Lockheed Skunk Works when they were based in Burbank…he got his masters degree from USC while working.</p>
<p>"USC has built a stellar aerospace program due to the space and defense programs.</p>
<p>“Yes, like I said it’s strong in California”</p>
<p>Gosh, UCBChemEGrad, I didn’t know California had its own aerospace and defense programs. What is California defending against? Maybe transparent biased posters on cc?</p>
<p>Neil Armstrong got his masters from USC too.</p>
<p>UCBChemEGrad, </p>
<p>I do want to emphasize you were openly acknowledging of USC’s Journalism programs, but do seem overly critical of the engineering area and USC in general.</p>
<p>doc and Seattle are saying USC is widely known for its engineering programs. I’m saying it’s known to Southern California based aerospace and defense contractors, and people who happen to be affiliated with So Cal defense industries.</p>
<p>USC engineering is not as widely known, or renowned, as its film and journalism schools. That is my point. I posted engineering rankings to look objectively at the claims being made.</p>
<p>The same can be said about Cal engineering on the East Coast where I’m from…</p>
<p>But in fairness to California and West Coast schools generally, I’d be interested in what our government thinks of engineering departments; i.e., what’s the level of sponsored research in engineering at select schools? I believe Harvard’s share is small, for example.</p>
<p>^ Do you include the Berkeley-run national labs (i.e. LBNL, LLNL and LANL)?</p>
<p>UCB, language may be failing us. Aerospace and defense are multinational industries. As such, USC Engineering would seem to have to have a reputation in these industries and academics in related areas beyond Southern California.</p>
<p>This thread, rather, raises the question, “Is USC on the rise academically”. Given that you cite history from SoCal and have provided over 8,000 posts in the past 7 years, I wonder if you might venture an opinion on the question Hope4USC raised.</p>
<p>UCB, yes, separated if possible, and JPL should be included.</p>
<p>
Answer in Post #36.</p>
<p>
But looking at academic opinion nationwide, they don’t collectively rate USC within the Top 10 for aerospace engineering. USNWR graduate and undergraduate engineering specialty rankings are entirely based on academic opinion.</p>
<p>[Best</a> Aerospace Engineering Programs | Top Aerospace Engineering Schools | US News](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/aerospace-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/aerospace-rankings)
[Aerospace</a> / Aeronautical / Astronautical | Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-aerospace-aeronautical-astronautical]Aerospace”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-aerospace-aeronautical-astronautical)</p>
<p>UCBChem,</p>
<p>I reviewed #36. The only caveat is that the majority on cc likely are interested in a college academic and overall experience, not graduate level. The focus on “prestige” for a research-oriented graduate faculty driven by grants, publications and more recently $$$$ from start-ups, differs from the teaching quality and access to professors for undergraduates. I appreciate the distinction blurs for some in STEM, but my bias is college in a unique opportunity for broadening intellectual horizons and being inspired by ample faculty contact, rather than TA contact. USC seems to have an especially vibrant academic environment for undergraduates. I am not aware of the perspective of graduate students in various disciplines.</p>
<p>USC has over a dozen astronaut alumni, including James Lovell, '61. General Norm Schwarzkopf got his MSME in 1964.</p>
<p>USC does have Nobel Laureate and physics professor Murray Gell-Mann, who did research at CERN in the early 70s. He recently spoke about Higgs boson. I’m certain there are other USC faculty who have spent time at CERN and/or worked on HB. I suspect they include participants of the Caltech-USC Center for Theoretical Physics.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The academic atmosphere at the graduate level is even more intimate than the undergradate level and that holds pretty much true at every large research university. As a grad student, you are actually contributing to the academic system; you are teaching, you are working with a professor(s), you are taking classes, etc. etc. </p>
<p>Socially, the sense of pride among grad students to be at USC is just as great. We don’t get involved with greek life and are not fixated on high school admissions statistics, but ultimately we get the same benefits: Trojan Alumni network, facility access, sports, clubs, living in LA, etc. </p>
<p>On the admissions side, grad school in many ways is harder to get into than undergrad in that having relevant experience and a strong college GPA is harder to produce. Fully funded doctorate programs are the most competitive with acceptance rates typically between 4-10%. What levels the playing field, however, is that there are a far fewer people applying for grad programs than undergrad (hundreds vs tens of thousands).</p>
<p>And finally not to be presumptuous, <em>knock on wood</em> but if you think USC undergrads who finish make a lot of money then consider the potential $$$$ for USC graduate students after they finish.</p>
<p>Hey grabbit,</p>
<p>Thank you for your very useful perspective as a graduate student. It does seem to parallel that of undergraduates who seem overwhelming happy to be at USC. Career earnings is an important measure of education outcome, so is career satisfaction and meaningful contribution to society. Ideally, there would be undergraduate and graduate outcome measures for these and other relevant variable for prospective students to consider; more detailed, but along the lines of the “Dream school” measure, which I believe places USC at #10.</p>
<p>I used to work at Boeing in Seattle, and having a USC engineering degree was a big deal up there. USC’s engineering reputation isn’t limited to California.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No problem.</p>
<p>To add to the comparison between USC grad and undergrad, I think graduate students choose USC for the same reason undergrads do: Many students I talked to admitted that there are “better” programs than USC for X intended program (as we’ve clearly pointed out in this thread), but they chose USC over other prestigious institutions because USC offered a better balance between school/life. Now you might think, well you really should choose the best program in your field and that anything less is just underachieving…While that may be true, is it any different among undergrads? Why did high school seniors choose USC? If they’re not majoring in film or journalism, why bother? Shouldn’t undergrads always choose the best school for their major? The answer is generally no. They chose a college based on where they thought they’d feel comfortable and a place they’d be proud to attend, and that’s the same sentiment among graduate students.</p>
<p>You make an excellent point. “Best” is defined narrowly. It can be argued for USNWR “best” is what is best for faculty, but not students. With regard to undergraduate intellectual potential, if you look at the SAT scores of USC students at any quartile, they do not differ substantially from Ivy/Ivy wannabe schools. A number of factors I will not go into could well explain the difference. If you consider student satisfaction in the overall environment (anecdotal is all I am aware of) USC students are extremely happy–the basis for an ideal learning environment. </p>
<p>When my daughter visited USC again after admit weekends at an Ivy and west coast Ivy wannabe, an excellent student a year above in high school spontaneously lamented, “I don’t want to go home for the summer, I am going to miss USC”. I was shocked, but her comment was in keeping with what I saw and heard from current students and graduates. My daughter did not find this sense of deep satisfaction at other schools and this figured considerably in her choice of USC. It seems USC very carefully assesses for personal qualities in a meaningful way when selecting applicants and it shows. Similarly, applicants self-select such an environment. Unfortunately, not all students are able to immerse themselves in the environment of each school they are accepted to before making their choice.</p>
<p>USC is very much so a power player in engineering and computer science. </p>
<p>One of Cal students’ favorite rankings is AWRU where they rank off of world rep, citations, research, ect - typically Berkeley is in the top 5. </p>
<p>Well, this beloved ranking also puts USC Engineering (including CS) at #12 and Computer Science department -by itself- at #9 in the WORLD. </p>
<p>Not too bad for a regional university? Clearly USC is not regional, but a global university. Especially in Engineering. </p>
<p>[Academic</a> Ranking of World Universities in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences - 2011| 2011 Top 100 Universities in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences |ARWU-FIELD 2011](<a href=“http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldENG2011.html]Academic”>http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldENG2011.html)</p>
<p>[Academic</a> Ranking of World Universities in Computer Science - 2011 | 2011 Top 100 Universities in Computer Science | ARWU-SUBJECT 2011](<a href=“http://www.shanghairanking.com/SubjectCS2011.html]Academic”>http://www.shanghairanking.com/SubjectCS2011.html)</p>