<p>What are the major distinct differences between University of California Berkley, UCLA, and USC? This isnt limited to anything it can include anything including college make-up (like I heard USC is all rich folks?</p>
<p>USC is far from all rich folks. They give our quite a bit in merit scholarships so it’s been ages since the appellation “University of Spoiled Children” applied.</p>
<p>I’m from California (I’m assuming you are too as you’re interested in the UCs?).</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard, USC is in a really sketch area of town. I’ve heard this both from people who go there and people who go to UCLA. I can’t vouch for this myself since I’ve never visited, but the concensus among people I know who’ve gone to USC or UCLA is that UCLA is in a much nicer area of town, and is a much better campus.</p>
<p>Also, USC has about 10,000 less students than UCLA, and several thousand less than Berkeley, so that can change the feel of the campus considerably.</p>
<p>Again, this is all just what I’ve heard and the general reputation among people I’ve known who’ve gone to these schools, so take it for what it’s worth.</p>
<p>The most “major distinct difference” between UCLA/UCB and USC is that the first two are public and USC is private.</p>
<p>No, USC is not all “rich folks.” More than 60% of USC students receive financial aid.</p>
<p>which 1 is best? and i hear they barely accept out of staters</p>
<p>
UC Berkeley and UCLA are state-funded schools, so they preferentially admit in-state residents. The stats at collegeboard indicate that only 9-10% of 1st-year students at these schools are out-of-staters. </p>
<p>USC is a private school and has more flexibility. The comparable stat for USC is 47%.</p>
<p>so 47% accept out of staters</p>
<p>It’s kind of hard to say which one is “best”. They are all highly ranked. Find the one that is strongest in your major and try to visit it. It’s hard to really tell about a place unless you visit it. And I would recommend looking into the other schools in the UC system. They are all fantastic.</p>
<p>
At USC, 47% of the enrolled first-year students came from out of state. I don’t know what the acceptance rate was. At USC, the acceptance rate for out-of-staters is probably equivalent to the acceptance rate for in-staters (just as the tuition is equivalent). Since USC is private, they have no need to favor in-state applicants.</p>
<p>At UC Berkeley or UCLA, only 9-10% of enrolled first-year students came from out of state. These schools probably discriminate against out-of-state applicants in admissions (just as they charge higher tuition to out-of-staters). Since they are state-funded, they favor in-state applicants.</p>
<p>It’s not that UCs discriminate. It’s just that their mandate is to first and foremost serve in-state students, and they stick to that. Some public universities aren’t as strict about this: University of Colorado comes to mind, where sometimes over 25% of the students are from out of state, usually California.</p>
<p>Berkeley’s admissions are very “strict” in general, but they tend to be lenient to in-state applicants who are high school honor graduates from the marginalized sector of the society, specifically in California.</p>
<p>Berkeley is trying to be accommodating to OOS and IS students, but with lesser scholarship grants available for them, the yield rates suffer. As a result, only students from the wealthy class (or rich families) from OOS and international students can actually enroll because some top private colleges rather ended up cheaper for them.</p>
<p>
They’re all great schools, but Berkeley is obviously in a notch more prestigious than UCLA and USC. Berkeley is strong across all major fields and for both undergrad and postgrad. </p>
<p>All three have diverse student bodies, as California residents by itself is quite diverse. </p>
<p>Berkeley has a significant lead over the two in engineering (across all fields of it), computer science and business. </p>
<p>Out of the three, only Berkeley can vigorously compete with the Ivy League schools and those top private schools in the East Coast in terms of academic standards and prestige.</p>