Hello there,
I am trying to decide between these three schools. I intend on becoming an Electrical Engineer and I am very fascinated with Virtual Reality and Flexible Electronics. I am looking for the school that will give me the greatest opportunities to do research in these areas and also ones that focus some on entrepreneurship inside engineering as well.
As of now, I feel USC fits the criteria. However, I met with a recruiter from Alabama and they made me absolutely fall in love with the school, especially the CBH program. UCLA is well… UCLA (an amazing, prestigious University). So, finances all aside, which university are you taking?
Net price at each?
You are in the EE major at each?
Have you checked the offerings (within EE and outside of EE) to see how well they match your interests?
@ucbalumnus ,
Yes I have. Net prices are… USC: 16k UA: 5k (scores qualified) UCLA: 20k. In terms of the offerings, it seems USC offers more based off of multimedia, but UCLA is ranked high for research as well. Alabama would allow me to do my own research at an undergraduate level, which is HUGE for me. I would say I want to go out to LA since I have relatives out there, but the UA program grabbed my attention so much. The CBH program is quite prestigious too from what I hear but not sure.
Thanks for your response!
I received an internship this summer at Virtual Reality company here in Missouri, so I will be able to meet some people in the workforce and ask them. I will also be going to VRLA soon, so I can always ask companies their take as well!
USC will allow you to do research as an UG.
In fact, they encourage it. And will help pay for it.
https://research.usc.edu/students/
http://undergrad.usc.edu/experience/research/
https://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/research/
check out this link!! its just what you’'re looking for!
http://viterbiundergrad.usc.edu/fab-lab/#
Thank you @menloparkmom ! Great resources! I absolutely love USC but I just want to make sure it will be the right fit for me.
Adding to this thread, I am still waiting on Stanford right now. However, I don’t exactly feel that Stanford is a fit right now. Thoughts?
@lukebenoit4 Are you a sr who has already received your FA packages? Were you accepted into CBH? What scholarship did you receive as an OOS student at UCLA that brought your total cost of attendance down to $20,000? That would be an extremely rare OOS cost.
Are you a NMF? Are your costs for UA based on their NM package combined with their engineering scholarship? Did you already receive notification of getting the full tuition from USC?
Clarification will help you receive better answers.
^^ sounds like the OP has been offered a Trustee [ full tuition] scholarship at USC, based on what he said he would have to pay, which is essentially only R&B.
The Trustee scholarships are only offered to exceptional students.
OP, IF you are offered a Trustee Scholarship - and Stanford’s tuition ends up costing you a LOT more each year-
TAKE the trustee scholarship!
USC treats their trustee scholars like gold.
Luke, listen to Menloparkmom. As usual, she’s correct.
My daughter is a software engineer at a household name Calif. tech company. She has been involved with VR and Oculas. I can almost guarantee that she too will agree with Menloparkmom.
Also, should you become interested in game design, USC is preeminent for their programs in game design and development.
Enjoy the VRLA expo. 
@Mom2aphysicsgeek ,
I would be more than willing to clarify for you. The answer is yes to all your questions. Alabama is offering a NMF scholarship. USC is also allowing a trustee because of grades and connections. I am not sure about Stanford right now, but I come from a very low income family that, for their financial aid coverage, would cover full tuition (possibly?). Both USC and Stanford say they cover “100 percent of financial need”. Hope this helps.
@lukebenoit4 If you are a very low income, are you able to afford $16,000/yr? Do you know exactly how you will finance that amt? What are your housing options for all 4 yrs at USC? Is housing guaranteed ? If not, what is the cost of housing off campus?
Were you accepted to CBH? Did you receive a CBH scholarship? (Some CBHers do, and some don’t. I don’t remember when they let the kids know.) Bama does not guarantee housing for all 4 yrs. Our ds has found off-campus housing significantly cheaper than on-campus.
For our family, costs drive decisions. Our ds at Bama had similar options and chose Bama and CBH (which has been awesome for him). Our 12th grader has similar options as well and will be attending the other USC(arolina) on full scholarship.
Stanford might be very low cost. Only you can determine if it is the type of environment you want.
Just make sure you have a plan in place now for meeting costs every yr.
Stanford need-based financial aid is usually better than that of USC, but Stanford does not offer merit scholarships, unlike USC.
If you are really curious, you can check Stanford’s net price calculator for an estimate:
https://financialaid.stanford.edu/undergrad/how/calculator/
the OP hasnt’ heard from Stanford yet.
so there is time for him to do research regarding all the “what if” scenarios.
The new USC university village, I believe, offers new students the option of living there all 4 years.
@ucbalumnus thanks for the website! So I did the price calculator for Stanford and the projection for what I would contribute is 2.2k! What a great price! I have decided, based on the responses and long thought, to drop out UCLA and Alabama, as it doesn’t seem like the right fit. Now it all comes down to Stanford and USC. For those who might contribute to this answer, please let me answer what I am looking for. Between USC and Stanford, I want the best one for Electrical Engineering, but it doesn’t have to be the highest ranked. See, they are very close in ranking, but I want to go to the program that allows me to do the best research, collaborate with companies and partners, and really big for me, make my own projects. If I can have the resources to build, that would be awesome! The areas I am interested in pertain to Virtual Reality and Flexible Electronics. I would love to do some research in those areas. Lastly, I want a college that is a blast. I want to be able to go to sporting events (huge sports fan btw), hang out with some great, social people, and really find a home where I am at. My family is from Louisiana, so I would love to have the LSU Tigers fun to it but with amazing academics
UPDATE: USC has dropped to approximately 4k.
@lukebenoit4 That is putting the cart before the horse. You need to be accepted to Stanford before you start trying to decide between the 2. Wait for a week and then if it is an option, ask people to help you discern.
You didn’t answer the question about the $11,000 gap. Do you have a plan for paying that?
ETA: saw your update. Did you receive an updated FA package with $4000 total cost with no loans?
@Mom2aphysicsgeek my apologies. I just want to prepare for if I am accepted which one should I go with. My family and I do have a plan in order to afford SC if it comes down to it. My brother is willing to work with me and we are going to communicate about pricing.
@menloparkmom I haven’t seen that about new students living in USC Village all 4 years. Can you confirm that info? Their website only shows a 2 year guarantee in the general housing section.
@lukebenoit4 Since you are eliminating Bama as a choice, would you mind sharing what you thought of it when you visited campus? It might help other students facing similar decisions if you could share what you did and didn’t like about the school when you saw it in person.