Thanks @astute12 and @jmek15. The Viterbi students at our explore session were all wearing VSA shirts, but I didn’t realize the program was related to foreign study. Will definitely keep it in mind.
@simba9, I’m not amazed at all by USC’s climb. It was a world class university when I attended, and it was clearly on the rise (literally and figuratively) everywhere one looked on campus. Since then, Troy has just continued to get better and better and better…
@kcheves it could have been for Viterbi Student Ambassador.
In my experience it boils down to the fact that California has so many excellent public universities that any private school that isn’t Stanford doesn’t enter the conversation and doesn’t get much respect. It’s the polar opposite of the East Coast that way, in that in the Northeast in particular the private schools are fantastic while the state schools are mediocre.
A lot of people can’t get past sticker price when it comes to looking at schools. I went to USC for the film school and am incredibly grateful for the opportunities that I had there. It truly was the opportunity of a lifetime. USC nowadays has the absolute best media and communications programs of any university in the world. But that success breeds jealousy and resentment on the part of a lot of people and that’s why I took my USC license plate frame off my car about 10 years ago… it’s such a double-edged sword that just isn’t worth dealing with. Whenever my boss introduces me socially, one of the very first things he always says is that I’m a USC grad. Then there are a few jokes, comments about how the place has changed, and people talk about the superstar kid in their neighborhood who’s going to school there or how they’d love for their kid to go there. By contrast, I never mention it outside of sports or wearing a USC baseball cap around town just becuase it is such a double-edged sword… I’ve worked with a ton of Harvard grads in Hollywood, and the joke with them is that whenever you ask them where they went to college, the answer is always “in Boston.” That doesn’t really narrow it down (Boston being home to seemingly half of all American colleges and universities) but it is a way of ducking the question and avoiding the conversation entirely.
USC is a great school with a LOT to offer students, and benefits from being in the right place at the right time, and despite the complaints I might have about the place - no institution is perfect - I absolutlely would go there again. When people ask me about my education nowadays, I just tell them that I worked hard in school and tried to find schools that were a good fit for what I wanted to do, and filled out reams and reams of financial aid paperwork along the way. And I’m sure that that describes 95% of the people on this website. I wish College Confidential was around when I was looking at schools!
@USCWolverine - While USC may not appear on some arbitrary list of top schools here on CC, I have not seen many (any) posters here hating on USC. It’s highly regarded by most people around here. I must’ve missed that other thread, 'cos I’ve never heard anything but positive things said about USC around here, and I admit that I never had occasion to look at the list of “top schools.”
It is the case that, once upon a very long time ago, it had a reputation as being the “University of Spoiled Children” but that has not been the case for a long time (that branding was probably begun by students at UCLA – its main rival in Southern California).
It is also the case that USC has had a meteoric rise in rankings, in part due to what one might call their “gaming” the ratings (e.g., accepting people with lower scores for January rather than fall admission). Other schools have been accused of doing that as well (e.g., UChicago) – it doesn’t mean that the schools aren’t highly regarded and don’t deserve their very high place in the rankings.
I have a lot of respect for USC. It’s a great school (even if it doesn’t have a Tree for a mascot 
)
Wow–It sounds like USC has really changed quite a bit over the years! I attended for one semester in 1990 for my “semester abroad.” I was at an east coast elite LAC and wanted to try southern California for a semester so I picked USC. What an experience! My roommate was extremely wealthy (family owned a shrimp company), she spent all her time at her sorority or hung out on the Sunset Strip and was as dumb as a box of rocks… as were a lot of the students in my classes. So many airheads. I did like my professors though. It was a total culture shock and the whole experience was an eye-opener–but I’m so glad I did it. LOL I wonder whether I would be able to get admitted there today…
@LoveTheBard, very much enjoy your posts on CC. Your thoughts are consistently balanced and your posts are very detailed. I’ll also add that you might have the best handle/handle picture combination on CC! (Although my favorite handle (alone) is probably @theloniusmonk).
For a quick look-see at a few negative (IMO) posts about USC, take a look here for recent examples:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2076874-tufts-or-usc-p2.html
Basically USC is described as a party school that games the rankings. I don’t find such comments complimentary…
I’ve also learned via this thread that I’m not the only Trojan who feels this way, but it is what it is. I’m still learning a great deal from CC, and other Trojans (and Wolverines) seem to feel the same. It’s a fun ride! :)>-
@USCWolverine - I’m humbled by your kind words. Really.
(Truth be told, I thought that I had fallen out of your favor on that other thread in which I described why my daughter had NOT chosen USC. I’m glad to see that that is not the case.)
I would not necessarily describe USC as a party school (although I’m sure that there are some great parties there!)
To my mind, USC is a big school with some excellent programs in a variety of fields (academic, pre-professional, artistic). It has a lot of school spirit, a great sports scene, and a very strong alumni network. It’s probably a fabulous place to have a quintessentially southern Californian “rah-rah” type of college experience with something for everyone (well, almost everyone ) academically and socially.
My overall impression is that it’s highly regarded on CC, but I probably haven’t read as many USC-specific threads as you.
The old stereotype of USC as an inferior school for rich kids that couldn’t get into UCLA is a myth. One only has to look at a little history to understand myth vs reality when it comes to USC’s reputation.
USC was founded as a university to educate professionals Los Angeles needed when it was just a small frontier town. Los Angeles needed doctors, lawyers, business people, architects, dentists and USC was THE university that provided the leaders and professionals it needed. USC maintained this focus on educating professionals for Los Angeles, and Southern California into the late 60’s when it made a decision to become a nationally recognized research university.
The 70’s and part of the 80’s represented a time of major transition for USC. Raising money to build out its campus and attract nationally recognized faculty to transition from a very good, regional university focused on training professionals to a more traditionally academic focused research university. The students going to USC at this time were primarily focused on getting professional jobs (however there was a large percentage of students that contributed their time to social causes - volunteering in the community via the Joint Education Program which was formed in 1972 and is the oldest and largest service learning organization in the US).
This focus on jobs vs “scholarly pursuits” was a major factor in other local schools deriding them as inferior academically (yet the acceptance rate at UCLA in 1980 was 75.4% while USC’s was 69%). Further, there is no proof to back up the assertion that USC students were primarily from rich families, and yet USC was given the label “University of Spoiled Children”.
From the early 90’s on, USC made a concerted effort to integrate its very strong professional programs with a more academically focused and stronger college to provide a unique blend of professional education with more scholarly pursuits. Raising billions of dollars along the way helped continue its attracting top faculty, and students. Today, USC’s acceptance rate is <16%.
If you look at history, USC was never a bad college or a weak college, it was just focused on a different mission. Now, it would be very hard to argue that USC doesn’t meet the criteria for a top notch, nationally recognized research university.
Very well said and summarized. USC originally focused on the professional schools (health/medical, law, business, engineering, architect, etc.) and subsequently the past few decades on the research and building up its reputation in research areas (the physical sciences, math, social sciences, etc.).
That is hysterical, @adkjart. Must have been an interesting semester.
@USCWolverine , As someone who lives in Georgia but also lived in and grew up in both Southern and Northern CA, I can speak to some of the above comments and theories, especially re biases due to sports, politics, and perceived wealth. First, I can attest that there is an immature bias that people (not just on this forum) bring to discussions about universities, based in part on their love or disdain for the sports/football programs. I admit, for example, that there is a disdain for Bama football in GA (especially after last season) and it is also easy for people outside of the South to conflate old myths about racism or less educated backwards stereotypes about the student body in Alabama. Yet, anyone who has educated themselves knows about the tremendous progress that U Alabama has made to establish a strong Honors, pre med and STEM program which attracts bright students from around the country.
There is definitely a strong sports rivalry and disdain towards USC as well, as others mentioned (UCLA in particular but in the recent decade with Stanford and always been some but less with Cal). These sports rivalries do not die easily and students and their parents will propagate those old stories about “rich” vs. “poor” and jump on the band wagon about Reggie Bush and paying athletes, “buying their way into championships”… Similarly, people sometimes mix up politics with impressions of university academics.Hard not to be aware that the state of Alabama has been right/red leaning or Cal left leaning for decades and this can fuel some hostility from some on forums with opposite political views.
In terms of USC, I agree that there are both old and incorrect stereotypes that perpetuate (if not “spoiled children”, then USC seems to be a school that others can label as one where international and transfer students can buy their way into sophomore year) or for some elite East coast folks, it’s liberal California, not a “serious place” to go to school or work, other than in Hollywood… As far as politics, always thought USC was more balanced politically since many students come from more conservative Orange County as well as other less liberal areas of CA, many in business or families own businesses, international students may be more conservative as well. Also, since USC does a great job of drawing from all fifty states, the student body is likely more balanced politically, whereas UCs are mostly matriculating students from California. Compared to CAL, UCSC and UCLA, I believe USC is more balanced politically, but that is just my impression from being involved with USC since the seventies.
I agree that USC deserves its place in being considered a top research university and there are specific majors such as SCA and Engineering that are top notch. The Business school is strong, but other programs in CA are more recognized nationally such as Haas and I would give the edge to UCLA (just my opinion). Anecdotally, I sat in on the USC Marshall Business school orientation last year and it was unimpressive compared to most of the others we observed, but that is another discussion. The Marshall Business school is strong and there is a lot of Rah Rah about the Trojan Family network (please don’t take this personally) but the business school is stronger regionally in Southern Cal, not quite the national powerhouse that it aspires to be for business. It may get there some day, and I have many friends who have sons/daughters there, as well as friends who are faculty. I would choose Kelley at Indiana for business majors despite the overall lower ranking of Indiana and that view would not be “USC bashing”.
Finally a word about cost, as I have direct recent experience with this. USC must be one of the most expensive universities to attend in the country. S applied and was one of the lucky 13% to be admitted this year for Class of 2022, and he was one of the fortunate 4% to be offered a merit award. When I first saw the estimated $75,000 COA and crunched the numbers, I was initially puzzled. For example, they estimated $500 in transportation costs when coming OOS, it would have cost thousands just for move in week. I estimated that before scholarships, the COA would be close to $80,000 for year one. Even with a generous merit award of half tuition, year one would have been close to $50k which some would call a bargain for a T25 university. We could make the numbers work and due to decades of involvement with USC, I would have loved for S to attend. There is no “bitterness” about “not being able to afford” attendance because we can and encouraged it. In the end, S could not justify what was being offered in his major vs. other offers which came with greater resources and opportunities. And being pragmatic, he chose to put away the $45k a year for other future endeavors. I can, however, see how many families could have some resentment when seeing the real costs and having to give up their dream to attend, not by choice like my S, but for lack of affordability, or not being admitted in the first place.
All of the above are very real factors that continue to foster some dislike towards the University of Southern California, but is not unique to it. Plenty of other schools are disliked for similar or other reasons. I have read that CC as an organization may have some East Coast bias, but I have not been around CC long enough to offer an opinion, and it appears it would be against the rules anyway :-).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_American_Universities
Add to this discussion to dispel many misconceptions regarding USC. USC has been a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) since 1969, years before notable schools like UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, Rice, Emory were admitted membership. The AAU is a prestigious organization of leading research instituitions devoting and promoting a strong system of academic research and education. Membership to the AAU is by invitation only. Even back in the era when USC was labelled the “University of Spoiled Children” or a “college for the rich white kids”, USC was already a member of the prestigious AAU. Note that members consist of notable universities like the Ivies (except Dartmouth), Univ. of Chicago, Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, some state flagship schools such as UC Berkeley, Michigan, etc. See the above link and scroll down.
I’ve been here for four years, and I only read this post because I wanted to see why the OP thinks people hate USC. All colleges have their fans and naysayers. Just read the “Colleges that you unexpectedly didn’t like” thread.
FWIW, I hate NYU. No idea why anyone wants to go there. I also don’t like UCLA, but only because my parents went to USC. Fight on!
USC offers merit scholarships to a LOT more students than just 4%.
the following is from a pdf for the enrolled student profile from last year.
“About 22% of the 2017 entering first-year class
received a merit-based scholarship from USC. Over
60% received some form of financial assistance.”
Both you and my son applied to USC early and were among the 4% of the early applicants chosen to recieve big merit scholarships. But USC offers many more merit scholarships , both big [ 1/2 tuition NMF] and smaller- Deans- to students who did not apply early. Just so you know.
@menloparkmom, I stand corrected. Just as we were grateful for the half tuition offered, no doubt others are for some of the smaller ones you mentioned. However, when you are starting at close to $80k a year (when factoring in realistic annual transportation costs for OOS families), many middle to upper middle class families find even half that amount to be untenable. When a car dealer posts an MSRP of $50k for a new car, most buyers understand that they would never pay the inflated asking price on a new car at a dealership and expect to pay far less. Some may be able to negotiate a deal that they are comfortable with, others may not…
My point was that some families even with awards of $15,000 to $28,000 off of an exploding COA of more than $75,000 cannot or choose not to pay the difference. USC, to be sure, is not the only private university that has exploded their fees in the past five years or so. Tulane, another school that S was offered substantial merit, has a COA of about $72,000. No doubt there are many private universities that exceed $70k. My point was not to single out USC, only to agree with some others who posted that some folks who “do not like USC” may in part feel that way because of costs, or inability to pay to attend, assuming their student was admitted.
On the topic of USC sports rivalries, I want to add that not only are there instate rivalries with UCLA and Stanford that were previously mentioned, but many others within the PAC 12 have gotten stronger such as with Utah or Washington recently, plus the long standing one with Notre Dame, and a renewed rivalry with the Texas Longhorns since last fall’s rematch, and dating back to the title game in 2006. Of course Texas has a huge fan base as does Notre Dame, so you may find some naysayers who do not like USC from those schools as well.
I thought I’d mention that , in the 70’s, I USED to “HATE” USC, but that was based on the sports rivalry between Stanford , where my hubby went to college, and USC. Boy did I change my tune when I first visited the campus! And really changed it when he was awarded a Trustee scholarship.
When my DS was applying to colleges in 2006,[ back when the USC acceptance rate was 40%], we threw in USC as his “safely”, only because we knew he qualified for their NM 1/2 tuition scholarship].
the reaction of others up here in N Cal when they were told he was NOT going to go to one of the more prestigious top 20 colleges where he was accepted, but instead to USC , was “he’s gong WHERE???”
Now a days, kids from this area would kill to be able to go to USC.
times have certainly changed…
I had no idea about USC’s increasing “prestige” in Southern California until about a 15 years ago, when my wife and I were down in LA (we live near SF,) sitting around a table with my cousin, his wife, and their son. The son had recently been accepted to several schools for architecture, including USC, and they were discussing which school he should go to.
I was stunned at the way they talked about USC. They couldn’t believe he’d been accepted, and were making it sound like he’d gotten into Harvard or Stanford. I kept thinking to myself, “USC? Are they talking about USC?”
He ended up going to Cal Poly Pomona because of cost.
When I was in high school in the early 80’s, USC was not as highly regarded as it is now. However, it’s meteoric ride seems completely deserved! Great school and clearly one of the best in the US. But these threads about USC do seem to demonstrate a mild inferiority complex that might make a few people smirk.
Yeah, we’ll know USC has arrived when people don’t feel the need to justify its reputation or ranking. I pretty much never see this kind of thing in the Stanford forum, where people know their school is good and don’t feel the need to go around telling everyone that’s the case.