<p>I have been fortunately accepted to two excellent institutions in USC and William and Mary. I am, however, torn between the two institutions. The two universities give out such polarizing cultures in my opinion and I honestly don’t know which one will suit me best.
As of right now, I’m leaning towards attending USC because of its prime location, the fact that its a more diverse campus (being a Chinese that’s lived his whole life in a Asia, a more homogenous community still daunts me), and the Californian sunshine and whatnot. But, I am afraid, at USC I won’t be able to get the same attention and care from my professors as I will if I attend William & Mary.
I want to get into grad school, and from conversing with teachers and peers, they all emphasized the importance of professor recommendations. I don’t know if I’m able to build a good bond with my professors at USC.
I must admit that the social scene at USC is also much luring than the one at William & Mary.
Anyways, please help me out! Tell me why each school is better and why I should go there.
Thank you so much for taking your time!</p>
<p>In my experience at usc, the only thing you need to do in order to get to know your professors is raise your hand and speak up in class and then go visit them in office hours. If I like a professor, I make sure to do this and usually get to know them very quickly. This is possible because USC is a private school and the class sizes tend to be much smaller. The lower level general education courses can be large but once you get to your junior/senior level courses they tend to shrink quite a bit so it is easier for the professor to know your name right away.</p>
<p>I can’t speak on W&M but since it is a public school I imagine class sizes are a bit larger?</p>
<p>Not sure exactly why you think you will get so much more care from professors at W&M.</p>
<p>USC is a much larger school but they have many more professors; they actually have a 9:1 student faculty ratio, better than W&M at 12:1. USC’s average class size is 26. W&M doesn’t publish theirs but it looks to be similar. USC probably has more large lectures but there will be plenty of opportunities to get to know professors and get recommendations.</p>
<p>What it really comes down to is … you! The professors will be available at both USC & Wm & Mary. Profs love it when someone shows interest and comes to office hours. At USC, there are some smaller programs such as Freshman Science Honors and Thematic Option where you are in very small classes during freshman year. You can apply for these programs.
The locations are entirely opposite. Wm & Mary has a very small town feeling in a historic area. USC is a private university in the middle of urban sprawl. USC has the greatest number of international students in the USA. Wm & Mary is a state school with a majority of students from Virginia.
Good luck with your decision!</p>