<p>I'm totally conflicted on choosing between UCLA or USC for Neuroscience. Since UCLA is not offering any financial aid, I am beginning to think about other options. I know I have to decide soon. I really like Westwood but I'm more concerned about getting the education foundation that I need to get into medical school. Can someone provide insight? I heard that the UC schools are struggling with budget cuts. Will this turn around soon? My in state university doesn't have a neuroscience program.</p>
<p>I’m guessing USC offered you some aid? Please tell me that’s the case…</p>
<p>For comparison:
Without scholarships, USC’s cost of tuition for 2011 - 2012: $42,162</p>
<p>UCLA’s out of state tuition for 2011 - 2012: $34,497</p>
<p>UCLA offered $4,500 for tuition (out of state) and room/board. USC offered much more in financial aid.</p>
<p>If USC is the cheaper school, I’d take it. Both schools are highly respected. I’m not exactly sure of the rankings, but I seriously doubt the difference is enough to justify paying more at UCLA. You’ll just be propping up CA’s budget woes and get the same result, anyway.</p>
<p>Hey, I had the same dilemma as well. If you want to go pre-med, I think USC would be the better choice. Not only are they giving you more money, but the class sizes are smaller, giving you the opportunity to let your professor get to know you, and to find some awesome research opportunities. Also, medical school focuses on your GPA and MCAT scores. At USC, you will have to compete against less people for a better GPA, and thus might have a higher one as opposed to your GPA if you attended UCLA. I ended up choosing USC, mostly because I got into the Bacc/MD program.</p>
<p>Congrats on the BACC/MD program. I was admitted to the Neuroscience programs at both schools. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn’t a large advantage of choosing one over the other. I had heard about the budget cuts and was concerned, since some threads had talked about the UCs having to cut classes and making it hard to graduate in 4 years. I’m not into the whole neighborhood thing because I will be happy to be in LA. I know the areas of both schools and although Westwood is nice, I’m fine if I’m in South LA just as well.
Thanks for the info about the class sizes at USC as well.</p>