@christinayaki My best friend’s D transferred from big east coast public (great school but she felt like a fish out of water in east coast/southern school setting having come from CA) to LMU for health and human sciences and she just passed her tests for certification to become a Physician’s Assistant. What a grind that was! But she really got what she needed from LMU - the right cirriculum and contacts for the experience she needed to get to get into PA school, etc. So while it doesn’t have all the pizzaz of a USC, and may be too small for your liking, the location is great and it may be worth looking into? Not sure if you are looking private v. public and what your budget is, but a couple other socal privates are Chapman, USD. USC is a rare bird in being a large private, there aren’t that many of those actually.
You may want to stay in the 4 year college world throughout, but there’s also the entire UC system, not sure if you are willing to move to a JC route for a year to then move to one of those as a junior…I am not as familiar with their transfer process, but I know some/most only take junior transfers (not sophomores). And remember, if you do that, even transfer app deadline is Nov. 30 for the next fall - super early compared to other deadlines!
You may want to start a thread in the College Search and Selection forum to get more varied responses and input, we are glad to help in terms of USC over here, but others in the other forum may have some good ideas too. They redesigned this site and it can be challenging to move around in it nowadays, but this might be a good place to go. Those that post on here tend to have experience and are sincerely interested in helping (versus the snarky and judgemental internet types, ha). Good luck, always glad to help with anything USC!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/