<p>Anyone here can shed some light about their experiences as a USC undergrad in the CSE department.......Son is tied between USC and WashU-STL for Engineering, having a tough time deciding.</p>
<p>Mainly what is worrying son about USC is the size. On the other hand I feel that USC CSE will be better than WashU's CSE. </p>
<p>We are paying full freight both places, so no issue about the cost differential ( I think both are roughly about the same).</p>
<p>Son is confident that he wants to do CSE, a little bit laid back but can perform under pressure. Believes more in learning than getting good grades. Would learn to intern in the bay area and says that WashU will have the same opportunities for the students.</p>
<p>Size should not be a concern at all. Every major class is small. You can check the on-line class schedule. </p>
<p>I am not sure about the exact number, but I feel Viterbi enrolls 20% undergrads, 15% Ph.Ds, and more than 60% Masters students. So there are not many undergrad students at all here. As for CECS major, I think USC may enroll more students than WUSTL, but the difference won’t be significant. IMO, engineering majors are different from some other majors, in that you need some more people to really have a sense of engineering learning. Look at all good engineering schools, most are large except for CalTech. </p>
<p>If money is no difference, I think you definitely should choose USC. Great program, fantastic weather, abundant job/intern opportunities, don’t even mention one of the best college lifes in the country, and in the middle of a major international city. WUSTL has good CS-related majors, but USC is just that much better as a whole package.</p>
<p>I think if he does pick USC over WashU, he will be glad he did, don’t you think? But I cannot push my decision on him…he has to feel it himself and I was hoping the college visit would do the trick but it didn’t. He came away really liking the campus vibe at WashU much more than USC. He liked the college looking buildings at WashU more than USC (I tend to disagree there).</p>
<p>Regarding the specific major What should he investigate and how?</p>
<p>@pixeljig: I had a similar issue. Perhaps I could share some experience. This fall, I will be going to USC over my other engineering acceptances - Berkeley, UCLA, WashU (My apologies in advance, I can’t say much for WashU as it never was my top choice school). As for the UC’s, in this shaky time with the economy, I can’t help but have more faith in private institutes. For class size, with about 400 freshmen in Viterbi, and 10 majors, I’m expecting my classes for Electrical Engineering to be capped around 40-60; which, at the university level is pretty small for engineering. Moreover, I do wish to double degree - at the UC’s, it’s very difficult, especially with business (at UCLA/Berkeley, you can’t get into their business school till end of Soph/begin Junior) schools. At USC, I would be able to start taking classes in Marshall in freshmen year. </p>
<p>In addition to the academics, I really love the campus. It’s small enough to walk through, but large enough to keep me interested - I’ve visited on several occasions. The vibe’s definitely there for me. I actually think USC has a really nice ‘campus’ - it’s not a traditional one, but it’s a pretty well integrated campus in a urban setting. I did visit WashU - personal preference, I guess (wasn’t mine!). The vibe, the weather, the people…perfect.</p>
<p>If he’s into CSE, there’s a CSE and CSCE (Comp Sci & Comp Engin) program at USC that I thought was very interesting. In addition, there’s a joint program with the business school, I think it’s Computer Science/ Business Administration. </p>
<p>USC just gave me a very good impression. Regardless, you can’t get wrong with either institutes! Hope my little experience helps :)</p>
<p>Thank you Mhutch! I do tend to see your points. Somehow my son has to focus on the pros and cons of both and make a list and also check out the course desc at both places.</p>
<p>I do feel that internship opportunities at USC will be more interesting than WashU, but research at WashU will be easier for son to find since he is not a pushy kid. He might get roped in by profs if they know him.</p>
<p>WashU is a great institution overall. USC is a great experience overall.</p>
<p>I’m currently a freshman at USC in Viterbi and I’m extremely happy with my choice. I can’t speak much for WashU, but my other choices were UCLA, Berkeley and a few others. USC was my first choice. All of my classes are extremely small which means that you get to know your professors pretty well. One of my professors already offered me a paid internship for the summer. It works out great because you get to know everyone in your major really well, as well as everyone in your dorm and any other group you chose to join.</p>
<p>Sorry to bump an old thread, but how strong is USC’s Computer Science? What other top schools in CS can USC be compared to? (eg. not as strong as MIT, but around the same strength as Brown, stronger than UPenn, etc).</p>
<p>Use the search function to find numerous posts about the engineering school at USC. </p>
<pre><code>This is my opinion, but here are some strengths of USC’s engineering:
New facilities, labs, computers and classrooms.
Tremendous alumni financial support
Smaller classes than many engineering schools
Academic support including tutors, mentors and engineering organizations
Close to 1/3 of the students are women
Excellent opportunites for research
The CS/Games and game pipe lab are considered the best in the country according to Princeton Review and Tech magazine
Strong ties to Lockheed, Northrup and other companies for internships
CS/Games majors collaborate with CSA interactive entertainment students
</code></pre>
<ol>
<li>Career and job placement support</li>
<li> Retention of students is well over 90%</li>
<li> Viterbi is the home of two NSF engineering centers</li>
<li> The school was selected for the DOE Energy Frontier Reseach Center</li>
<li> Alumni include Andrew Viterbi, Simon Ramo, Ming Hsieh, Mark Stevens, John Mork and Ken Norris, among many.</li>
</ol>
<p>Larry,
The chairman of the CS Department is the distinguished theoretical computer scientist, Dr. Shang-hua Teng. Professor Teng received his master’s from SC and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon, both in Computer Science.</p>
<p>He is not only a noted researcher, but also an inventor (more than 10 patents) and editor. Dr. Teng served as editor for the Journal of Combinatorial Optimization and book editor for Algorithms and Computation. He has taught at Univ. of Illinois, MIT and Tsinghua University.</p>
<p>His most distinguished research has involved the smoothed analysis of algorithms, mesh generation and computational geometry. He has also done research in spectral graph theory and graph partitioning.</p>
<p>Dr. Teng has received many awards including NSF Career Award, Sloan Fellowship, the Godel Prize as well as the Fulkerson Prize.</p>
<p>I work as a programmer in the Bay Area. Resumes sent in from places like Stanford, MIT, Carnegie-Mellon or Caltech would be considered top-tier. Resumes from Berkeley, USC, UCLA, Penn or Brown would be rated slightly below that, but are still very well regarded.</p>
<p>That said, what matters most is your experience and what you know. Your alma mater doesn’t really matter that much in the computer/engineering industry.</p>
<p>I’m interested in any thoughts and experiences people may have about a east coast kid to study at USC. Can current students or parents of USC Computer Science / Viterbi share some more updated information? It’s time to make a decision. Any input is appreciated.</p>
Just saw your question, nearly a year latter, jj5788. What school did your student choose? I have a son who’s from Maine and who is now a sophomore in Viterbi. The first year away was harder than he expected, but he seems quite content with his choice now. I’m sad that he’s so far from home, but have enjoyed making several trips to L.A. to visit him!