<p>I just wanted to put my two cents in, and while I will get flamed for this I would like to give you my experiences meeting NU grads and USC grads. I live in New York and the USC grads I met are barely surviving, if they are on wall street they are the first ones to get axed. I currently live in beijing where there is a huge USC alumni base and its shameful to see how poorly employed they are. The NU students I know back home in NYC and here in Beijing are much more successful and intellectually stimulating. I worked with some graduate admissions at top universities in beijing to give talks to private school students and they all try to hold a chuckle when a USC rep talks about the strength of academics at USC. If you can afford it or they give you money definitely go to NU. NU has lots of programs because they are a BIG school but in general the strength of academics there from the alum I know and met are lacking imho.</p>