<p>(sorry - bad pun)
Maybe this can be the thread for admitted students who declined USC.</p>
<p>Daughter has declined USC and accepted UCSD. Two main reasons:
(1) Campus & Neighborhood: Really loved the open campus at UCSD and the gentle transition from the edges of campus into a nice neighborhood.
(2) Financial: Regents at UCSD vs Presidential at USC. Overall, we will pay about $10K less per year at UCSD. She was originally considered for Trustee at USC - when she asked USC about the reasons for the downgrade, they were unable/unwilling to offer insight, which was a wee bit annoying.</p>
<p>well, if she was considered for trustees and was given presidential, she didn’t have a strong enough interview to get trustees. They can only offer about 100 kids teh trustees and 200 were interviewed.</p>
<p>I think this is a really big misconception of the area. Ask current students (oh hey, me!) if they’ve ever felt unsafe, and I’ll guarantee close to none say they did. It’s all about using common sense people. Don’t travel alone at night and utilize Campus Cruiser. Pretty much covers it.</p>
<p>Your financial consideration is a legitimate concern, however.</p>
<p>USC’s neighborhood is safe… I know, I live there.
However, Do not ignore the truth, KudosMyHero
The neighborhood around UCSD (La Jolla) is more attractive visually than West Adams/University/Exposition Park (USC’s neighborhood). La Jolla is also cleaner than West Adams. USC is gated away from the neighborhood as well, unlike UCSD which is not.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion necessarily that a student will decline attending USC because of the surrounding neighborhood solely because they think it might be unsafe or fear being around minorities. They might not actually like the neighborhood for the neighborhood itself, the way it is set up, the way it looks, whether it is too urban or too rural. And if that is something that is important to the student, it can weigh significance when making a decision to attend a school.</p>
Definitely understand that the interview probably lowered her scholarship standing. However, she just wanted to see if she could get some insight into the kinds of characteristics that were evaluated during the process, and the Admissions Person indicated that they could not offer any specifics, which, coming from an institution of learning, is a cop-out.
Re: Minorities scaring her - an interesting application of Pop Psych 101 on your part, but the simple explanation is what Ronris pointed out. Open spaces, no gates and fences, and there’s no denying that La Jolla is a pretty darn nice-looking town.</p>
<p>1.) I turned in my tax returns more than a month ago TWICE and both times were not processed and/or lost. Got fustrated since no FA package = no can do.
2.) UNC offered me 100% need met which means tuition was covered for by scholarship/small grant/work study. No loans period. It was quite an amazing FA package.
3.) Chapel Hill is gorgeous and I definately like the small college town feeling more than LA.
4.) I’m going to be a business major and was worried that USC’s trojan network will be much more regional than national.</p>
<p>Overall, two equally great schools but just felt like UNC was a better fit for me.</p>
<p>I had the decision between UCSD and USC…I loved both campuses, USC slightly more, and I want to go into Business and USC is much better for that. However, I am going to UCSD because of financial considerations. USC estimated for me that all expenses, including tuiton, room and board, books, personal expenses, would cost 49K a year; they offered me 5K a year in fin aid, bringing it down to 44K, which is too much…The total cost for UCSD for me is onlly 21K. They’re both excellent schools though.</p>
<p>For us, I just sent e-mails to all the admissions offices of the schools my S declined last year. I believe USC & many other schools give you a postcard you can return where you check the box which indicates you’re going to another school & a space to write in the U. In any case, that’s the info we put in our e-mails to the other Us. If there was a particular reason we declined the U, we wrote that as well, so they could discuss it with the appropriate folks as desired.</p>