<p>“Stanford EA full freight vs. a potential Trustee at USC.”</p>
<p>Based on last year’s threads, I remember it was going 50:50 for HYPS vs trustee with a sample size of 2. One chose trustee and the other Harvard.</p>
<p>If going to Stanford would be a strain on your parent pocketbook- relieve them and yourself of the burden!! As a Trustee Scholar at USC, you can go any where and do anything that a Stanford grad can do, and if grad school [ LAW, MD or Business] is next, you will be better able to afford it!
DS graduated last year as a Trustee scholar- he was accepted at every grad school he applied to, including Stanford, and is now at the top program in the nation in his field at Cal Tech. His roommates - both Presidential scholars, are now at MIT and Oxford. The valedictorian of the graduating class is at Harvard Med School.
As a Trustee scholar- you will be treated like gold and have the opportunity to take Honors Science and Humanities classes and work with top professors doing research.
USC has more NMFs’ than Stanford or even Harvard. Believe me when I say you will be able to meet lots of very smart kids like yourself at USC. And the peace of mind , financially, you will bring your parents by going to USC, will be beyond measure…</p>
<p>Stanford vs. USC? Stanford is way ahead, but USC is at least visible in the rear view mirror, steadily closing the gap.</p>
<p>A couple of weeks ago, I was on the USC campus for the first time in about 10 years. It really feels different. Much more energy than when I attended in the late 80’s, or even when I last visited. I used to work at Stanford, and have taken about a dozen classes there. When you walk around Stanford, you know you’re at a special place. For the first time, I got that same feeling walking around the USC campus.</p>
<p>very exciting times for USC, no question</p>
<p>I believe in Max</p>
<p>desertscholar… just wondering… what are your stats?</p>
<p>Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been here. Actually felt kind of nostalgic, since we’re graduating this semester I remembered this site and wanted to stop by. I hope to make a post in a few weeks with some reflections, but suffice to say the past four years here has categorically been the greatest time in my life. If I started to go on about the experiences, work, internships, etc. I’d be here all night gushing and still wouldn’t be done. But I do want to add something for desert as I realize this is a pretty important decision for you right now.</p>
<p>I think that it’s easy at the time to get really caught up in rankings and number when you are applying for undergrad. I remember it like it was yesterday (damn I’m old saying phrases like that …), and one of the best resources I had was CC. It was also one of the worse. Ironically enough a friend of mine and I still sometimes laugh at how neurotic people could get up here. It’s extraordinarily true though, people will genuinely have you believe that a ranking will determine your course into the future if you listen to the advice up here.</p>
<p>I’m not saying to disregard it all, but considering the fact that when I was applying, people at the time laughed at the idea of SC approaching the likes of UCLA, Duke, Vandy, Cornell, etc. in rankings. Now that we’ve ascended I’ve heard some of these same parties (forum dwellers, websites, etc.) go on about how rankings aren’t everything. They’re right too, but it’s funny how time can change opinions, no? With our endowment increasing and construction going on EVERYWHERE here (I swear in the four years I’ve been here we’ve rebuilt half of LA) expect this trend only to continue.</p>
<p>That out of the way, I can only give you a bit of insight into my experience here, but if you are going to college to succeed (and I’m hoping you are, otherwise you should probably reconsider this whole life thing), I think USC can offer just as many, if not greater opportunities than Stanford for someone in your position. First, I can’t stress enough how strong our network really is. I know its cliche when you hear about our school, but I’ve had interviews go from average, normal interviews, to:
“So where did you hear about us?”
“Well through connectSC I was using…”</p>
<p>“OH YOU GO TO SC! OH HAI WELCOME!”</p>
<p>Assuming you learn to present yourself well and maintain strong grades, an SC education legitimately comes with the backing of a built in hiring network in almost any field now (engineering, acting, media, business, law, etc.). And this isn’t just here. For instance, I can’t get into details now since I’m on the run, but while interning in Geneva doing some work for the UN, a few others in my major were interning for the EU in Brusells and ended up routinely chilling at an SC diplomat-esque alum’s house where they constantly met various European diplomats and politicians. These types of experiences, and others like eating with the Secretary of the Air force have become the norm over four years for me, and I know of so many others with similar experiences in their major. A huge advantage SC has in my opinion is that a lot of your professors aren’t just going to be academics, but those who have experienced the things they are teaching you in a real world setting.</p>
<p>The money on the other hand will allow you to take advantage of so many opportunities that you may not get a chance to having to pay sticker at Stanford. I could have never have gone to Geneva had it not been for my grant from SC covering most of my tuition and help paying for the trip. Similarly, with a Trustee scholarship you may be able to minimize or even avoid working during the year, allowing for more time to socialize and do things (and also do that studying business) rather than having to stress over finances. Trust me, I still have to pay for many of my bills and it’s not enjoyable; I couldn’t imagine also knowing I’d be graduating with hundreds of thousands in debt on top of that. </p>
<p>And on that note, depending on your career path in the future, that debt can be crippling. I’ll be attending law school in the fall having been blessed and fortunate enough to have gotten into a great T-14, something I accredit in part to my SC education. I mention this though, because if you have a similar goal (I didn’t upon entering certainly but had an inkling) or decide to go to med school, you’re now looking at nearly half a million in debt after graduating that. Even making $160k a year, you’ll be leaving like a miser or paying that back for 15+ years.</p>
<p>I’d like to go on and be more organized and share some more experiences with you as I don’t think that going to Stanford would be a bad idea at all. To be honest, I love Stanford as a school and I think I would have loved to attend undergrad there. If you can get a strong need based aid package, go for it and don’t look back man. SC is a great school and I’m obviously biased now since I’ve gone here, but I won’t deny that Stanford is still one of the greatest institutes in the world and will continue to be. Hell, those Trees even have some decent football to keep you entertained between study sessions up there ;)</p>
<p>That being said, having experienced four years at SC, if someone offered me a chance to go back and redo it to potentially “boost” my station in life, I wouldn’t. I have had incredible experiences, career opportunities and met so many dope people here that have contributed such value to my life and become an extended family to the point that I couldn’t imagine NEEDING a better start to my “adult” life. With the money from a trustee scholarship, you can be graduating even better than I can (and I’m sure you will have better grades than I did, and I didn’t do half bad if I could say so myself ). You’ll be in an incredible position, have access to damn near unlimited job resources on the west coast, be debt free, on top of your class, and have the choice to continue schooling without burdening your parents, or start working and helping them out. </p>
<p>Good luck either way man, this ran way longer than I intended, I’ve gotta run. Hopefully I can make a post before decisions are made this year and sway a few of yew to the Cardinal and Gold side. Later</p>
<p>Edit: Also, it’s cool to see all the parents still up here. Just want to give a shout out to all those that helped me, get to where I am. Thanks again, glad to see you all are still helping new undergrads here.</p>
<p>Steven Sample started it and Nikias is making it a reality. </p>
<p>I’m truly proud to be a Trojan and recently I was talking with a woman who was telling me about waiting for her daughter’s admission letters. She was going on and on about UCI and UCLA. However when I started talking about USC. She was saying that her daughter is very nervous about not getting in and that it is her first choice. The woman was so interested in my experience and we talked for hours about what USC has to offer. </p>
<p>This is a true sign that the transformation is taking place from a good university to a great one. </p>
<p>Mark my words. Eventually, USC will be on par with the elite “non ivies” ie Chicago and Duke</p>
<p>It just gets funnier and weirder and sillier that USC is not on cc’s “top colleges” list, doesn’t it?</p>
<p>GREAT post, hyakku! Thank you for coming back and filling us in on your four years - it is USC students like you that are making USC what it has become!</p>
<p>Hey hyakku,
It has been a while! Thank you for coming back and posting about your experience at USC. I remember your long and equally eloquent post when you were accepted! I’m so glad that being at USC was as great an experience for you as it was for my DS. Good luck wherever you go, though I doubt you’ll need it! The [Trojan] force will be with you, always.</p>
<p>"Eventually, USC will be on par with the elite “non ivies” ie Chicago and Duke "</p>
<p>USC will be on par with Duke within 2 years.
Chicago will take quite a bit longer.</p>
<p>I think it’ll take a bit more than 2 years for USC to be on par with Duke. Universities don’t rise that fast, with respect to both prestige and academic quality. It’ll take 5 years at the very least, but in my mind, USC doesn’t catch up to Duke in the near future.</p>
<p>And Chicago? USC will likely never be able to compete with Chicago.</p>
<p>At this point, USC still lags behind schools like WashU and Northwestern in reputation and academic quality. So I don’t see how you can start setting your sights on Duke/Chicago without first surpassing those schools first.</p>
<p>And Chicago? USC will likely never be able to compete with Chicago.</p>
<p>Well, i know you are a huge defender of Chicago and it is well worth defending, but I think never may be a bit too strong a choice of wording. That said, I think The College at U of Chicago and USC will end up attracting different types of UG students for different reasons.</p>
<p>Just stumbled upon this thread. USC now has a sub 20% acceptance rate. Unreal.</p>
<p>phuriku,</p>
<p>If you go by USNWR ranking, Northwest is higher for sure. If you look at acceptance rates, USC is much tougher. Northwestern is a backup to USC for both my sons. Also, USC has been a Princeton Review top 10 dream school for at least 3 years. Northwestern isn’t on the list. Don’t think Chicago or Wash U are either.</p>
<p>LegacyMom:</p>
<p>If your sons would prefer USC to NU, then good for them. But to say that USC is harder to get into is really pretty laughable, and I don’t know why you think that USC has a lower acceptance rate, because it doesn’t. Northwestern’s acceptance rate (18%) is lower than USC’s (23%), and their SATs are substantially higher. You’d have to really love sports to pick USC over Northwestern, because the latter is quite clearly academically superior.</p>
<p>phuriku,</p>
<p>Fair enough. I suppose it depends on what source you use for acceptance rate, because college board and US News have varied numbers. Anyway, I remember when S1 applied 2 years ago, NU had higher test score average than USC but I’m certain that USC had the tighter acceptance rate when I researched. And this year, USC looks to be about 19 percent. For the record, S2 doesn’t care aboiut sports in the slightest. Didb’t even consider USC at first. But SC is the best school for his major. S1 admittedly loves SC football, but SC was also the best school for his major.</p>
<p>45000 applicants for over 150 majors ! which school accepts highest number of applicants?
There must be fixed number of seats available for freshman in every major ;</p>
<p>^^Chicago or Wash U</p>
<p>Chicago, as we all know, was a 40% acceptance school only a few years ago. It has advanced on the basis of some very good marketing and, admittedly, very good faculty in the social sciences and economics. USNews loves this school.</p>
<p>WashU. USNews also loves this school, for reasons most readers can’t really fathom. It has a well-recognized medical school, but after that it is just plain, plain, plain.</p>
<p>USNews doesn’t like Duke, Brown, or Cornell. </p>
<p>As good as NU may be, it is essentially a midwestern institution with virtually no national reputation. </p>
<p>USC will overtake both Duke, Chicago, and NU within the next 15 years if (a) Nikias raises the $6.0 billion he is working to raise; (b) great professors continue to be hired and great research is done; and (c) student selectivity continues to increase and USC starts to claw, with scholarships, California students away from Stanford. These “ifs” are not that problematic – USC is well on the way.</p>