<p>bessie>>but having a school like USC, UCLA, or Cal on your degree will get you in the door for an interview at most places in So. Cal.</p>
<p>Ah, so now you are resorting to name dropping. Well, USC is no Cal or UCLA either. Yes, it will open the door for an interview at most places in So. Cal. because it IS a University of Southern California. It is NOT a nationally/internationally prestigious university relative to its peer group of similarly ranked US news schools (achieved by selectivity, SAT manipulation games). So for while OP who is looking for a career in LA, it should be fine. ElizaB, you should check around its reputation in Boston before wasting 50k+ per year.</p>
<p>For landing a top-tier job on the West Coast, a USC diploma will open the door for an interview. That being said, once you have the interview you’re alma mater won’t matter (whether it’s USC, Cal, or HYP). You’re achievements at school, personal attitude and aptitude are what will propel you into your career.</p>
<p>As a recent grad, I went from USC to an investment banking job and have seen a lot of young professionals succeed, some fail and many more get laid off. I can attest that the degree to which each succeeded in their first 2-5 years out of college wasn’t determined by the relative prestige of their school.</p>
<p>To My2Cents^: You’re giving far too much credit to USC’s “peer group of similarly ranked US news schools”. Whether in regards to landing a first job or second, no school outside of the top 5 would provide enough of a prestige boost over USC to help your prospects.</p>
<p>My2Cents–citing no data at all you assert that USC is not prestigious. In your house? On your block? </p>
<p>There is a lot of jealousy out there when universities rise quickly in the USN&WR rankings, but selectivity and SAT averages are among the guidelines used in those rankings so why the dig? </p>
<p>The leadership and administration at USC is exceptional. The professors and quality of teaching is also exceptional. Look at the percentage of students who graduate the school (as opposed to UCLA and Cal, for example) and a number of other indicators of quality institutions and stop blowing smoke. I’m not amused by those new to cc posting unsubstantiated negative slurs on forums of schools they don’t attend and know little about (notwithstanding their alleged grandma’s opinions).</p>
<p>madbean, yes, to all of them. USC is not very prestigious in my house, in my block, and in my country. I am even less sure internationally. </p>
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<p>You hit your head on the nail perfectly. You are responding to USC prestige in terms of recent us news ranking. But the question OP and others asked about was on the prospects for grads. Anyone could have looked up the selectivity etc. on the net. Out of California, a top employer is less likely to go look up recent us news rankings and decide who to pick from where. Prestige gets built over years and decades of imparting great education and producing leader who have impacted the society. USC is not there yet. </p>
<p>I do have a lot of respect for USC management to take its school in the right direction in a calculated way.</p>
<p>USC ranks in the top 10 institutions of producing billionaires if money is one yardstick.
Look at all the people that found the following companies: Kinkos, Traders Joe, Myspace, etc… are all USC grads.</p>
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It’s not calculated. USC is hard. Most of my daughter’s friends said the courses that they are enrolling this semester are hard. Yes some of them have SAT in the top 1%. GPA varies from high school to high school so that is discounted.</p>
<p>Columbia_student>>Impact in what way, like those graduates from HYP that ruin the world economy and that everybody needs to bail them out.</p>
<p>Now this is something I have to agree w/ you on Columbia_student even tho’ it is a digression. Rather than HYP, do you think collegeboard is responsible for it? Teaching all those young and impressible mind in the high school how to cheat the system and learn “SAT” scoring strategies. All those who figure out manipulation and test taking strategies and get top scores, get into the top colleges. And then upon graduation they apply that in real life to IB, banking, … </p>
<p>Anyway, if USC is equally “prestigious”, their students won’t be immune to messing up economy either. Will they?</p>
<p>I know these are just opinions and I appreciate your concern. However this recession is bigger than any we’ve had in decades and the job market could be affected in arcane ways that no one can predict Thus substantiated data will be hard to come by, and the best that I can hope for will be personal experiences from people in the know like current USC students, alumni or parents.</p>
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<p>I hope to work in SoCal upon graduation, but understand that the situation has changed with the economic crisis and it is way tougher to secure jobs now than when I first considered studying in the US back in early 2007. However I’m keeping in mind that things should improve markedly when I graduate in 2013. Nevertheless, there is a real possibility of US jobs for foreign workers becoming scarcer in the foreseeable future and this has made me reconsider my initial plan to work in the the US. Sorry not to have mentioned this earlier but I’m an international and recently I have started to accept that I may have to return home to work when I graduate. This has made me question the value/recognition of a USC degree here in Asia (Singapore to be precise).</p>
<p>Good thinking, ycang. Do a quick scan of posts by cc411 and you will find that he posts mostly (it could even be exclusively) for USC and only in a positive way. It would not surprise me he/she is a USC rep/affiliated with USC, and just not stating so openly. (USC plays that game well). It is hard to get quantitative data about prestige. 2cents is right that prestige is about perception built over years. Also, even if you start a job in LA/California, in this economy and as always, companies do restructure. You may get relocated to other parts of the country, and get laid off there. So is USC equally reputable there? Finally, you have not stated what your other options are. USC could be great option relative to a lot of other places.</p>
<p>I guess I’m flattered that I’m seen as representing USC in a positive way.</p>
<p>If I’m affiliated with USC, then username-deleted and My2CentsRwrthMor are the same person. Oh wait, the latter actually seems likely!</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with opinions. That’s what CC is all about. But most regulars here whose opinions are highly valued do not drop bombs within their first few posts without cited data. And the bottom line is- all OPs obviously need to compare opinions with their own substantiated research.</p>
<p>Atlanta, GA is certainly not southern California. However, it is the headquarters of Coca Cola, the IBM Marketing Center, UPS Headquarters, Care Headquarters, CNN Center and the Center for Disease Control among others. The USC Trojan Club here has about 400 members. These people meet for social events as well as networking. We also provide three partial scholarships for incoming freshmen. Many of these alumni hold high positions in business, broadcasting, academia or other fields. I am writing this because the poster seems to imagine the Trojan family is only active in California.</p>
<p>As someone who has personally me CC411, I know that she is just a normal mom of a student, nothing more. I work for USC as a student, but certainly have no duty in any way to talk about it at USC. </p>
<p>I truthfully am not sure what the prospects are for a graduate. I think it varies wildly by field. It is relatively well known by other countries in Asia- Steve Sample recently gave a speech about this.</p>
<p>username-deleted, if you do not have something constructive to post, please do not. Signing up a new account to only accuse a poster and USC of being deceitful is not constructive.</p>
<p>My2CentsRwrthMor, you contradict yourself. You claim USC is not a “top” university, then jump all over anyone who attempts to use any 3rd party’s criteria or numbers (US news ranking, SAT scores, admission selectivity). If you want to say one university is “better” then another you have to use some criteria to make that judgement.</p>
<p>And towards the OP, I do not really know anything about Business job placement, except that I have heard many times your university’s reputation is not so important after you have built your resume with work experience (and especially if you have gone back for an MBA later). If you intend on working in LA, then the USC degree may help get your first job.</p>
<p>Since you are from Singapore, you would know best if your country likes kids who graduate from a university in Singapore or if it is better to be educated in the U.S. I honestly don’t know the answer. I think USC has a great relationship with Singapore university (name?) because I recall Viterbi Engineering having a program to study abroad at a university in Singapore and get credit transferred back to USC. Also, I notice that a good number of elective required classes for the category classes study various areas of Asian culture. My son has met students from Asia at Viterbi (I don’t know if they are from Singapore). Since you live in Singapore, you would know which universities are well liked in your area. No one really knows where they finally end up after graduation unless they go in the family business. People usually go where the best opportunity comes up.</p>
<p>The USC Alumni Association has a network of more than 120 alumni organizations. Here are the ones in Asia as of summer of 2008.
China…
Beijing
Hong Kong
Hsinchu
Kaohsiung
Pearl River Delta
Shanghai</p>
<p>Just my observations: My daughter graduated last May with a degree in Critical Studies. On the day the stock market first fell she got a job, in her field. She interviewed for three jobs, got 2 offers. (She only looked for a job for two weeks, total). Progress: I am at a party and start talking to a young woman. She works for a network. Mentioned (Hey, I’ll do networking too.) that my daughter is in the business. Found out that they young woman is an SC grad: She called my daughter and invited her to lunch. </p>
<p>Daughter has a few other things going in terms of shows. Registered the idea, then ran it by another SC grad. The idea has been pitched because of the SC connection. First show and it is being pitched to network. Not bad.</p>
<p>My H has a business associate in HI–he’s a SC grad, met his wife at SC, has hired many SC grads to work in his HI company and takes his 3 kids to SC every summer & takes their picture there in front of Tommy Trojan. </p>
<p>SC has an alumni club in HI as well. So far, it hasn’t netted my S any job offers or internships in EE that he’s interested it as a junior, but we will see.</p>
Thus substantiated data will be hard to come by, and the best that I can hope for will be personal experiences from people in the know like current USC students, alumni or parents.</p>