USC Pros & Cons - I got admitted into the Marshall School of Business. I really want to go but the costs are ridiculous and I don’t think my parents will be willing to pay. Is it easy to get extra grants/scholarships/aids while you are at the school? Thanks!
First of all congrats on your acceptance to a highly respected program at such a respected institution, you should
be very proud. I’ll start by saying that the pros and cons are subjective to the individual student so what I list as pro or con may not fall under the same category for you.
Pros:
Academics - USC is ranked as the 25th best college in the US by US news, which in my opinion is the authority on college rankings so that gives perspective on how good of a university it is. And in your case, the marshall school of business is a top 5 business school west of the Mississippi.
Network - USC is known for its alumni network. They have an Ivy League quality network that is present all over the country and has DEEP roots in southern California. I don’t know if you’re from southern california, or if you want to live and work in southern California, but if you do USC and the network it provides will give you that opportunity. This will also help you in creating your own network that will provide you with more opportunities because USC alumni are known for looking out for each other.
Pride - This sounds silly but hear me out, you won’t find a USC alum that won’t readily flaunt their colors. Sometimes this comes off as arrogant, but it is also admirable because it is so cool to see people be so proud of their alumnus. It makes you want to be a part of it.
Social Life - USC has excellent social life with the greek community, clubs, and their sports teams are always fun to watch.
Again, these are pros for certain people and for others they’re not really important.
Cons:
Cost: If I’m not mistaken, it costs about $60k for a year at SC without any financial aid/scholarships. I don’t know if you have any financial aid offers or scholarships. But here’s what I have to say about taking out full student loans: a lot of times its worth it. Lets be honest, you’re going to business school, you’re not majoring in english (With all due respect to english majors) so it is safe to say that when you graduate you’ll have a good paying job waiting for you and all that money becomes worth it because you’re paying for all the aforementioned pros. Also, if I’m not mistaken you generally have about 15 years to pay off student loans so if you’re going to take your degree and go into the corporate world, you’ll be just fine.
Location - Even though USC is in a great city, its in a shitty part of the city. There is a lot of poverty and violence in the immediate surrounding areas outside campus. But there are positives, campus police does a good job of securing the location and unless you stray from the campus too much you should be fine. The school itself is beautiful. You’re also 15 minutes from Santa Monica beach and about 5 minutes from the nicer parts of downtown LA. Also, in the shitty parts of south central you’ll find some of the best mexican food you could ever have.
Arrogance - There’s a stereotype that SC students are entitled and this is sometimes true. You will come across kids who are in a bubble and think they were born better than everyone else. But these types of kids exist at every school.
Hope this helped, good luck wherever you end up choosing!