<p>Obviously I am a USC student so things I say should be taken with a grain of salt, but I really think that USC is one of the most tragically underrated schools in the country. </p>
<p>Its hard not to think so when I can imagine about 50% of the people snorted audibly when reading my last sentance. A huge chunk of people still think of it as the school it was ten, even five years ago-- namely a decent but not overwhelmingly competative (and arguably overpriced) institution-cum-Republican factory.</p>
<p>Even I thought as much when I was applied-- I chose to go because they have a interesting but very small program which lets high school juniors in a year early as an honors (Thematic Option) student with a huge merit scholarship, and arrange for you to graduate from HS after freshman year. I was at a girls’ boarding school which I liked very much but was desperate not to face another Farmington winter (and the 5 APs I was all set to take senior year) so I jumped ship.</p>
<p>Now, in my final year at USC on route to Harvard Law next year, I cant believe how much this school has to offer to its best students. While the average SAT scores of each entering class have already surpassed (bewilderingly) Berkeley and UCLA, I find it is even more indicative of the huge leap in USC’s quality to look at what the school offers for their most accomplished students. To be a top student here is to be incredibly spoiled. Few schools have resources on the level that USC does in the first place, and among those who do it can be a lot harder to stand out from the crowd (at least from what I gather from my best friend’s experiences at UCLA and my brother’s at Brown).
Students in the the film school, the Bac/MD program, the Marshall Business honors program, T.O., Resident Honors, and other distinguished course of study are given amazing access tremendous support from the school, ranging from access to the very best professors, terrific research and fellowship opportunities, and a myriad of opportunities to distinguish oneself and gain recognition. Professors here do everything they can to help their top students achieve the best internships and graduate school placements. The fact the school produces so many distinguished grant and award winners each year (you can’t keep track of the Fullbrights) is no coincidence. I personally have USC’s placement center to thank for my fellowship to work at the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales) last summer, for example, and I know countless other students have been helped find placements at places like the Brookings Institution, Miramax, RAND, and (if this is your cup of tea) Fox News by helpful professors and administrators. Anyway, this is definetly too long a post already, but the point is that USC has really come a long way in a very short period in terms of the quality of the undergraduate experience as well as in regards to the academic acheivement of its student body. The challange is to get the rest of the country to take the school seriously off the football field.</p>