Carleton College or The University of Southern California?

College Search & Selection
1

Hello, everyone.

May 1 is Friday and I still don’t know where I want to go to school. I’ve narrowed it down to Carleton College and USC, which I both like for very different reasons… and I have no idea what to do from here. Can you advise?

What I like about Carleton:

  • Friendly, warm, articulate, nerdy people - I went to the admitted students weekend and was really happy. I have never fit in with a group of people so well in my life. Everyone's different, but nothing felt oppressive. The party scene was really relaxed.
  • The Arb
  • Frisbees, adventurousness, cookie house
  • Great teaching, great academics, intriguing classes

Drawbacks:

  • not very diverse
  • small - after four years I worry that I would be itching to get out
  • not well known? (good if I plan to be applying to grad schools, bad if I want to work before grad school?)
  • access to internships? (I’d like to intern abroad… can Carleton get me there?)

What I like about USC (admitted to Dornsife Biochemistry, will likely switch around or add a major)

  • Not so WHITE - Carleton is really, really white… everyone seems to, for the most part, look and dress the same at Carleton - USC on the other hand has a huge international population, and a high population of Latino-American, Asian-American, and black students.
  • I'm impressed by the amount of access to research and internships. Maybe USC just does a great job of marketing it, but it seems like you can be doing those things from the moment you walk on campus, and that they've got tons of grant money that they're just begging you to apply for
  • Lively campus - the location and the amount going on there is energizing, not to mention that its location makes it easier to be engaging in the community/interning with companies while taking classes
  • I have been offered a Presidential (half-tuition) scholarship

Drawbacks:

  • The words "sorority" and "fraternity" currently make me want to hide - I'm not socially terrible, and I can be "on" when I need to be, but in general I'm a quieter person.
  • Teaching quality (?)
  • Not nearly as friendly as Carleton
  • No Arboretum

What I want to study: Everything (darn it…) - It will be Japanese, and something. I know I want to be fluent in Japanese when I graduate, and then beyond that I want to have a concrete skill that makes me worth hiring. Not sure whether that will be computer science or biochemistry or public health or diplomacy or something else entirely.

Sorry that this is so long. If you made it to the end, thank you. Any and all input is appreciated.

2

Hi congratulations on your acceptances! Both are really great and I think both would provide plenty of opportunities maybe USC does have more because of sheer size, but Carleton is a small college so I think it would easy to connect with a professor and research with him or her. I think the small size could be suffocating, but you could take study abroad to help with that into a bigger university in another country. Because of your scholarship, I am assuming that USC would be cheaper and if you are going to apply for graduate school, I think USC would be a great choice to save up money for it! Another reason is I feel like you would be able to find a nice niche in USC with the diversity and others, and the school does have great interning and research opportunities because of the location. Most importantly go with your gut feeling! I know that does not help exactly too much, but I bet you have a feel for each one and I think it comes down to where you will be the most comfortable, the most challenged, and the best student! Hope that helped! Please comment on my situation in my thread!

3

I think you have fairly laid out the strengths and potential weaknesses of both schools. There is no bad choice here, so know that.

Really, what it comes down to, is the education. This is the primary goal of college. So you need to ask yourself which will get me a better education? Do you value small classes, or will you do well in larger lectures? Do you want that education to be more personal, or do you prefer some degree of anonymity? If you focus on the education itself, I think you will figure this decision out…

Good luck!