<p>“He’s leaning towards USC mostly because he got a better “vibe” while visiting USC. The laid back atmosphere of the students and campus, the facilities and city setting are more attractive to him at USC .”
And thats important. He should listen to his gut. Don’t worry about the distance mom, its not a big deal to take a plane ride cross country, especially for young people. You can ask him to Skype you so you can “see” him more often.
I predict that in the next 4 years USC will continue to climb the rankings, and you DS will have no problem with name recognition there by the time he graduates.
I don’t have any knowledge about RAing. But I will tell you that USC offers many opportunities to earn extra money doing research both during the school year and during summer through the SURF and SOAR programs. The TO program is worth coming to USC by itself- the best Humanities profs teach it, and you get the chance to meet other really smart kids in those small classes. When you get to upper division classes all class sizes are small.
When is he going to do orientation? Don’t let him wait until Aug.when he comes out for classes. The TO classes will be filled by then. FYI ,He really needs to do it earlier, which means a flight to LA in June or July.</p>