<p>yea its a lame stadium too...Rose Bowl? is that what its called? lol
yea good point, but the beer buses to the game are pretty damn fun haha. </p>
<p>and yes OC and San Diego are nice. But Malibu isn't too shabby. </p>
<p>and yes the campus is small. I'm sure students wish the 20 min walk from dorms to north campus was longer. I just feel like I'm a place of greatness when I walk up Jan's steps and see Royce Hall and Powell overlooking the great parade of students.</p>
<p>UC Davis isn't as much of a cow-town as people make it out to be. Unless you live in the Tercero dorms which are adjacent to the dairy farm, you won't see or smell cow on a daily basis. I'd describe Davis as a biking community.. everyone owns a bike, bikes are everywhere & it's about the only transportation method that freshmen have (besides their feet or skateboards) because they aren't allowed to buy parking permits (& therefore can't have cars too easily).
I really like UCD. It has more of a small town/suburb feel which I think makes a great college town. A lot of the other UC's are smack dab in the middle of a much larger city.</p>
<p>vouching for UCLA....great school, great professors, great atmosphere</p>
<p>All the top UC's are about 40% asian</p>
<p>and pre-med courses it is about 99 percent...and then there is me haha. oh well it makes you stand out.</p>
<p>what do you guys think of USC?</p>
<p>top film school in the country. big on frats. big on football. a lot of kids who go there are from so cal to begin with, and they seem to have that spoiled heir about them. but im a fan. goooo trojans!</p>
<p>usc seems amazing</p>
<p>USC encompasses everything you need for the perfect college experience.</p>
<p>i go to USC, so i can attest to the above post...</p>
<p>weather...near perfect. i've lived in So Cal all my life, and i can't get tired of the sun. it also rains enough so that you don't get TOO much sun. in other words, weather will hardly ever ruin the plans you had in store, unless those plans were to ski or run naked in the rain <em>cough</em>UCSC<em>cough</em> :D</p>
<p>people...very attractive. true, there are shallow-spoiled people, but those are definitely in the minority and it doesn't really contribute to the air of the campus as a whole. in fact, most people are pretty friendly. and the other thing you'll notice is that many students at USC are VERY well rounded and extremely interesting...into the arts and academics, athletic and extremely smart, etc. it's easier to find multitalented students than singularly focused ones, even engineers ;) (i'm one, so i can say that haha).</p>
<p>the attitude is definitely work hard, play hard...party-people you thought couldn't add with their fingers are smarter than you think, and workaholic/geniuses really know how to let loose on the weekend. you soon learn that you can't easily attach stereotypes like: "partier that's on the edge of failing" or "antisocial nerd." true, both exist, but where don't they...</p>
<p>people generally seem happy to be at USC; that is, for most people USC was one of their top picks. granted, directly around campus there isn't anything too fun, but if you're willing to take the bus or have friends with cars, LA, Santa Monica, Hollywood, etc. are your stomping grounds, and that's an awesome thing. i've been to countless rock shows in Hollywood. it's a nice place for music fans...heck, USC a great place if you're a fan of ANY form of art. and if parties are your thing, we've got LOTS of those too haha. if not, you can still have tons of fun via the aforementioned.</p>
<p>academically, i'll go ahead and say first that if you plan to major in something in the College of Letters/Arts/Sciences (your English, Chemistry, etc), there are other stronger schools, though it shouldn't be a deterrent from choosing the school if it "fits" you. every other school is very well respected in academia, all they way from film to engineering. and even academically, the experience is very well rounded...they encourage a broad education with minors and double majors.</p>
<p>USC sounds impressive.</p>
<p>UCLA is everything phobos described about USC, except its half the price, in a far better and central location (Hollywood, santa monica, etc. are all much closer to UCLA, beverly hills is next door). Air quality is better as its closer to beach... better academics. Sports are just as good as the game showed 3 weeks ago...and basketball season so far.</p>
<p>Forget USC and UCLA. USC is not in a good neighborhood and it didn't feel like they had a good relationship with the outside community at all. UCLA is in a great neighborhood but the size of the school was overwhelming to me. The Claremont Colleges (Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, Scripps and Harvey Mudd) are excellent. Dorms are like palaces, food is great and the people are amazing. Individually much smaller than USC/UCLA, when you account for the entire consortium, it feels university-like. Pomona and Harvey Mudd were just named "New Ivys." 35 miles east of LA with great liberal arts academics, beautiful campuses and dorms, I'd strongly recommend them.</p>
<p>namaste...honestly, i very seriously considered both schools, researching and touring both, and have been around people who went to UCLA my entire life...i can't say i entirely agree with that.</p>
<p>the admissions priorities of the two schools definitely changes their populations, regardless of a person's subjective experiences. UCLA is obligated to admit and matriculate in-state students. UCLA has only 10% of students from out-of-state, while 50% of USC's students come from out-of-state, with 10% of those out of the country...you could argue all you want, but that invariably leads to people bringing vastly different experiences and interests to the table. also, i think the admissions requirements are different at USC since it's private--it can place more priority on things like how interesting a person etc over statistics.</p>
<p>yes, USC costs an exorbitant amount to attend, but they also offer more need-based aid than UCLA could hope to offer, greatly due to it's huge private endowment. with the aid USC gave me, my tuition would have been lower than at UCLA. and that's not including scholarships...i'm not saying that UCLA doesn't give them (they gave me a "Regents' Considered" scholarship), but they don't have nearly as many.</p>
<p>location...i won't argue it's nice around UCLA...but i've checked the maps numerous times and UCLA and USC are about the same distance from Hollywood proper. and Santa Monica's still far enough from UCLA where you can't just walk. USC is quite a bit farther, the difference in distance is really just sitting in a car/bus for a little longer. but i'll admit, Westwood is one of the only things i feel i've missed in choosing USC. but turning down/not applying to USC solely because of the neighborhood is a poor reason.</p>
<p>academics...that entirely depends on what you're planning on studying. in the USC CLAS, UCLA probably has the upper hand in most of those majors (which is quite a few)...now consider the professional schools (film, architecture, music, etc.) and USC is often at least as good, if not better, than UCLA in many of them. for me, the academic consideration came down to which school had a Music Recording minor, and which school made it easier to study outside your major. and in that respect, i'd say USC was better...they made it clear that they wanted students at the very least to minor if possible. in fact, the Renaissance Scholar program gives out grad school scholarships to seniors who studied in two disparate fields.</p>
<p>sports...i dont know about everyone else, but a barely-winning record and inconsistent play doesn't seem "just as good" as a 9-2 record, regardless of a UCLA win...</p>
<p>really in the end though, i love both schools. my decision pretty much came down to these two schools (i didn't turn in my intent to enroll until the week before they were due!). i'm sure i would have been happy with whichever school i chose, but i couldn't be happier with the choice i'd made.</p>
<p>i agree about the claremonts if you want a smaller LAC school in so cal. BUT they are very expensive and do not offer much aid like, say, usc does. also, the environment there is heavily rich white private school kid. which if thats ur thing, then by all means.</p>
<p>fair enough assessment of usc. they do give aid to strong applicants. for the mostpart, UCLA is still cheaper.</p>
<p>Pomona College and CMC are known for giving out lots of aid. Those two schools have more financial resources per student than both USC and UCLA. If you can get in and you can demonstrate financial need, money will not be a problem at those two Claremonts. This coming from a USC student.</p>
<p>"USC is not in a good neighborhood"</p>
<p>you got that right. the campus may be nice, but its in a ****ty area.</p>
<p>I'd say USC and UCLA have much more of a "rich white private school kid" feel than the Claremonts. That's my experience at least as a non-white student who has visited USC and UCLA and goes to Pomona...</p>