<p>Got into both. No money so the price is about equal. I’m from SoCal but don’t really know where I’ll end up long-run. Intrigued by the idea of going to school in Boston and experiencing that whole East Coast vibe. I’m planning to go pre-med, but that could change.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>BC has great premed advising and a lot fewer gunners. Boston is a wonderful college town and would get you into a different element. OTOH, the Trojan Family is huge in SoCal, so if you plan on setting locally…</p>
<p>Similar schools in many ways, despite being on opposite coasts. USC has a medical school and medical center which is advantageous for premeds and provides an edge for its undergrads in getting in to their med school.</p>
<p>My D is in a similar situation, but she wants to major in Intenational relations and we are in Nor. Ca.</p>
<p>bark::</p>
<p>If it’s not the big 3 for IR (Tufts, Hopkins & Georgetown), it really doesn’t much matter which college one attends. IR typically requires a grad degree and overseas experience. It might be easier to obtain an internship in IR from the east coast, where much of the policy occurs. But that is just my guess.</p>
<p>You really need to go park yourself at the campuses and decide. USC, as amazing as it is academically, is in the middle of Watts–not an attractive area by any stretch of the imagination and in between terrible freeways with constant traffic. Glag. Years back, they were offered the property where Pepperdine University is in Malibu (overlooking the ocean on the bluff!) and turned it down because it was “too far away.” Ha. BC is in a beautiful area and just minutes from Boston and all the action. That said, Boston’s got “weathah” and Southern California has got, well, principally beach weather and palm trees. But all of this is just geography. You must spend time with the professors and students to truly ascertain the fit for you. Think about where you want to be another four years out, too. I know you’ve got to make a decision about the next four years, but graduate school or the real world of work happens faster than you can say Class of 2016. Good luck!</p>
<p>BTW, my son, whose high school bio classes have met on the beach for the past four years (really!) is noodling over UCSD (on another beach, La Jolla) but is likely to go for Boston College and the weathah. I think it’s about time he left the good life of living next to the Pacific Ocean and got a real job. ;)</p>
<p>Hi, I just got into both these schools, and I was wondering, which has a better economics department?</p>
<p>small nit, but USC is not in Watts. It is in South-Central Los Angeles. </p>
<p>For Econ, 'SC is ranked about ~30, and BC is ~40, so not a noticeable difference. Either will get you where you want to go.</p>
<p>is it just me or did every student entering college next year, applied to BC and USC.</p>
<p>AND got into BOTH?</p>
<p>I attended BC years ago (not long after light had been invented, though heat was still years away). Today I write inordinately large checks to USC for S2’s education. My impressions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Statistically the profile of attending students is nearly identical, so you’ll be swimming with equally accomplished fish. Med school admissions are all about GPA and MCAT scores. Both schools will push you and you will be working very hard to get the grades you need.</p></li>
<li><p>Diversity. BC’s student profile mimics that of the general US population; depending on where in SoCal you’re from it may feel “very white”. Conversely USC is one of the most diverse campuses in the country. </p></li>
<li><p>Weather. Boston has four true seasons, in the dead of winter global warming will seem like a good idea and the ocean is on the right hand side on the street though you’ll only get to use it June through August and maybe a little in September. Los Angeles suffers from relentless sunshine and temperatures fluctuating widely between 65 and 85 degrees. Of course the beach is on the other side of the road as well.</p></li>
<li><p>Cities. Boston is the quintessential college city. With so many schools in and around the city there are countless opportunities for entertainment and exploration. LA is a huge city where USC is merely a resident, so while Boston may feel likes it’s set up for college students, LA will feel like a place made for “grown-ups”.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>5 Neighborhoods. BC sits in Chestnut Hill, an upper middle class/upper class area of Boston bordering on the wealthy suburbs of Newton and Brookline. You aren’t in the city. USC is not in Watts, it’s in South Central LA, a working class area of the city. We heard all the stories about USC being in the ghetto before my son went out there. It’s the ghetto if your idea of gritty urban life is a non-gated subdivision. USC has done a great job buying and rehabbing buildings around campus creating an increasingly safer (if more homogeneous) enclave for campus. Frankly I lived in a far worse area when I attended Penn for a couple of years (but again that was back when Mastodons roamed the Earth).</p>
<p>Both schools are tremendous institutions. Both offer you a great educational experience so it comes down to the “vibe” you want. BC is definitely East Coast gruff (though not as bad as Manhattan) while USC is certainly “LA-Baby”. Frankly, even though I’m alum of BC, it’s hard to see a bad choice.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Closer to the latter today – shorts and flip flops are the ‘uniform’ of choice. :D</p>
<p>Dear vinceh and bluebayou : To some extent, I am taken back on the CC-board this admissions season with the number of Boston College vs. USC questions. The number of questions and students willing to make the East/West Coast transfer seems higher than in past years. Interesting in that USC has never been one of the BC cohort schools when you look at the Fact Book.</p>
<p>scottj,</p>
<p>My guess, and its only a guess, is that colleges like BC are arguing with themselves in their approach geographic diversity. Sure, 50+% of students who attend BC are a short drive away (~5 hours). But eastern Catholic schools in particular have a geo challenge, since every additional student they matriculate from west of the Rockies, means one less easterner, one less prep school kid. (And that has ramifications beyond just geographic diversity.)</p>
<p>But i do concur with your observation. Besides the Catholic high schools in SoCal which tend to feed 'SC, and also look toward Georgetown, ND, and a growing number to BC, I don’t haven’t seen much overlap between BC and 'SC’s secular application pool.</p>
<p>Over time it could change the campus feel. For example, the College has announced all kinds of celebratory activities for its 150th next year, and, like many BC activities, are open to alums and parents. Yet, as more and more parents live farther away, attendance as such activities will decline (which is a shame, IMO).</p>
<p>As a Southern CA mum, I will be on the plane in a heartbeat to be at BC for events. You fly out of LAX in the early morning and arrive at Logan around 5:30 p.m., in time for a civilized dinner hour. 
My son has spent nearly every summer of his life on the East Coast and has that sensibility, so although he is a California Boy, many of the relatives are New Englanders, so he is happy to give up the sunshine and the California universities for real seasons and for an incredible school: BC.</p>
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<p>Wealth certainly has its privileges…but it also negates the economic diversity that BC is trying to cultivate.</p>
<p>Of all the forms of diversity, economic is the hardest to attain, especially when your students have to pay $60,000 per year to attend.</p>
<p>Sorry, if getting on a plane made it seem we are economically privileged. I travel a lot for work and use miles to go to and fro. My son will need FA to attend BC.</p>