<p>So, USC looks really appealing. I'm a successful student, not perfect, but above average with a few perks to my name.
I'm looking for a school that has a reputation... As in, whenever I apply for a job I won't have to explain why my school is good: they'll KNOW why my school was good.
Does USC have this kind of reputation? What IS it's academic reputation? Thanks.</p>
<p>Yes, it does have that kind of reputation (#30 and probably climbing on the U.S. News List), and I think the reputation will only improve over the next few years. Among other things, the stats to get in are getting tighter every year.</p>
<p>It will stand you in particularly good stead if you are looking for a job in California (and maybe Hawaii), but its reputation is national.</p>
<p>Good luck --</p>
<p>USC's reputation is one that is climbing very quickly right now. It used to be a school which was very easy to get into but had good connections, a lazy rich kid sort of school. But eventually people who weren't lazy caught on to the connections, and wanted them too, and drove the applicant pool up. It became much more competitive to get into, and they have made great strides in the quality of faculty hired (not that they were terrible to begin with- USC is a very attractive situation for a teacher), and the rankings and accolades have finally started to catch up with this trend. The USC alumni that I work with always tell me, "There's no way I would get admitted to USC now!" because they can tell that the school is getting better all the time. Beyond the University rankings, several schools within USC are in the top tier within their respective fields. The schools of business, medicine, dentistry, communications, architecture (esp. regionally), and I think also pharmacy, are all extremely well regarded. USC has really used it's situation (great location, large endowment, history, etc.) to advantage in attracting both great faculty and great students in recent years, and it looks like the value of a USC degree is only going to go further up in the future.</p>
<p>While the reputation of the school has been climbing, many people still associate USC with the "old" image of the university. After mentioning what college I attend, some older adults have retorted with the "University of Spoiled Children" clich</p>
<p>It's a shame that some want to denigrate another's choice by mentioning a derisive nickname...makes one wonder if there's any jealousy at work in those comments (grin!).</p>
<p>The reaction our daughter has received when announcing her college choice has generally been an impressed "Wow!" I've got to think that that kind of positive reaction is where the future is at. :)</p>
<p>If you want to live/work in LA, USC is the school for you... As for around the country, USC has a pretty good rep, but not as great as it should be... The school is definitely on its way up - 2000 Time Magazine College of the Year!</p>
<p>If you're going to one of the professional schools (engineering, business, cinema, etc) you won't have a problem at all. USC has plenty of name recognition in those fields as a top school especially on the west coast.</p>
<p>As for the rest of the programs they're steadily improving and the trend is positive as more and more people see the "new" USC. The public image of USC is something they take very seriously around here.</p>
<p>I honestly think USC has top 20 potential, no joke. The athletics, location, campus , and everything is SUCH a draw to kids all over the US. Plus, USC's financial aid is starting to get very good, which is where it all starts in terms of recruitng the best and the brightest.</p>
<p>I've always thought that the "Southern California" in the name makes the school seem a bit too relaxed/chilled out, and that surfing is more important to students than academics.</p>
<p>It's true, though, that a lot of people still hold on to the old USC image. Some of my friends even made comments like "It's where all the rich kids go," and I always had to explain to them that a LOT of people receive financial aid.</p>
<p>Generally if you're going into one of the professional schools like cinema, communications, engineering, business, etc. outsiders will be really respectful; unfortunately I haven't had the same experience as an incoming CLAS freshman. Then again, I literally can see Stanford from my house so there's unfortunately a fair amount of intellectual snobbery in my area. I've found that Berkekely, UCLA and even some of the Claremont Colleges-Pomona and Harvey Mudd in particular-get more respect than USC around the Silicon Valley area, which is a shame. Even still, I'd say that USC is in the top 6 schools in California, and when I tell people I'm a scholarship student they're more respectful. I don't really get the rich kids stereotype so much as the partying "jock" reputation.</p>
<p>When I tell people my daughter will be attending USC, I like to add, University of Smart Children. ;-)</p>
<p>We visited the engineering schools at Berkeley, Stanford, USC, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Penn, Duke, UVA and Cornell. Not that he got into many of these, but our son's top choice hands down was USC in any event for a host of reasons, including that he could major in computer science at Viterbi and minor in business at Marshall, two very highly ranked schools in their fields. and keep in mind that USC has now passed both</p>
<p>I don't know who else got this, but last spring I got something from USC that compared SAT scores for incoming freshman(all majors) for fall 05 to other universities.</p>
<p>Basically, they looked at the number of incoming freshman at another universities and their average SAT, and looked at the average SAT for the same number of students at the top of the incoming freshman USC class of '09.</p>
<p>The results were pretty astounding - when you consider only comparable class size, USC had higher average SAT than Caltech, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Brown, Emory, Georgetown, Rice, and a bunch of other schools. </p>
<p>Caltech was particularly interesting - they admitted ~200 incoming freshman last fall with average SAT of 1510 (out of 1600). USC, when considering the top 200 incoming freshman only, had an average SAT of 1526!</p>
<p>Or how about (for in-staters, at least) University of Superior Californians? (Grin!)</p>
<p>USC gets a lot of out of state students these days (I might add....ALOT more out of state students than UCLA will ever get, which I thinks makes the experience more interesting when not everyone is from California). In fact, Texas is the 2nd biggest feeder state of incoming freshmen to USC after California. I myself am from Washington State and we have the second largest number of living alumni after California. SC definitely has a good reputation here.</p>
<p>True. Though it's not really UCLA's fault - above everything else, they're a public university with a charter from the state of california to educate californians. So while they can accept out-of-state students the majority will always be californians.</p>
<p>Meanwhile USC has one of the largest international student populations :)</p>
<p>USC has a great reputation here in Hawaii. Many top students apply there and employers see it as a top school. Hawaii doesn't have a huge selection of places to go for university so a lot of students head for the west coast and USC is definitely many people's top choice.</p>
<p>We live on the East Coast, and the reputation here has been going up. When we say "USC", the usual response is "wow". Of course, sometimes its a response to the 3,000 distance ! But USC is definitely increasing its national student base, so I would imagine that the reputation will ratchet up also.</p>
<p>I like this thread. When my son started at USC in 2003, it was pretty lonely here on CC for USC defenders. TheDad, a UCSB grad whose lovely wife works for UCLA, was constantly on the attack. Times have changed. We are friends with TheDad, have been to his house, and my wife will meet up with him and his impressive daughter during her internship in DC. </p>
<p>My son has his complaints, but his generally very pleased with the experience. I am very happy with his growing self-assurance and his academic and intellectual achievements. </p>
<p>It's been well worth the money. And, as I have said before, make sure that your kid chooses a school where you want to visit. For us LA and USC fits the bill.</p>
<p>On the East coast USC = party school.</p>