<p>Hello! I need some parental advice, please. Im currently at community college and doing very well 4.0 (around a 3.8 after this semester). I am also volunteering for 4 nonprofit organizations and have an internship lined up for the summer. I was somewhat of a slacker in high school, but now that Im applying myself Im doing very well in the college arena. </p>
<p>My problem is that I have a very distinct set of schools I plan on applying to and my top school is University of Southern California. The other schools are Occidental, Barnard College, University of Chicago, etc. The way that I was choosing schools was finding good schools with good political science programs and who are in non profit friendly areas (Austin, LA, NY, Orlando, Seattle, Washington, etc), so that I can get good volunteer/internship opportunities while Im in school. I don't know why but my parents don't seem to fond of USC and the reason that they're giving me is because of the economic hardships California is going through that will somehow adversely affect me if I decide to go there. I don't understand it at all. </p>
<p>I was just wondering if there is some huge flaw in my thinking and how I can talk to my parents about seriously considering USC.</p>
<p>Both my kids attend USC and have been very happy there. Pretty much our entire country has been affected by the poor economy. Since USC is a private school, it really hasn’t been as affected by the poor CA & national economy as other places. As far as I’ve heard, they continue to offer generous merit & need-based aid to appropriate students.</p>
<p>Our D transferred from CC & is doing great at USC as well. Your logic and reasoning sound very good to me and USC does a lot of wonderful outreach & community service work. Because it is located near a blue collar community, you don’t have to travel far for the outreach, which is another plus. Many non-profits have branches in LA as well. Have not noticed much change from when my S started USC through now, even tho the economy has worsened. USC continues to improve its campus, increase attractive housing options, and strengthen its student body. It has a significant endowment and many loyal alums worldwide.</p>
<p>I’d suggest you just keep applying yourself and apply to multiple good schools as a transfer and see what options you end up with. Since Occidental is also in LA, I wonder why they singled out their concern for USC & didn’t generalize it to both LA school. Do they think USC is a state school? It is NOT part of the CA state school system but a private U that is quite well regarded.</p>
<p>Like much of the United States the California economy has suffered from the recession of 2008-2009. That said, the state has a diverse economy, and some segments are doing extremely well. The doom and gloom has not lessened the demand for higher education in California, and that’s especially the case at the selective private colleges. While much is said about the impact of the economy on the flagship state universities, such as UCB and UCLA, the pessimism is overstated, and these universities continue to thrive.</p>