<p>Please help me. I seriously LOVEEE both USC and CAL. I really can't decide!!</p>
<p>Here is my situation:</p>
<p>USC is offering me half-ride plus financial aid, so I will pay around $7,000 per year to attend USC. On the other hand, CAL will cost me around $11,000 with scholarships. </p>
<p>Location-wise, I live in SoCal, so USC is much closer to home than CAL is. </p>
<p>If I attend USC, I want to study Communications and IR. At CAL, I would go into business. What majors do you think will have more opportunities for me after graduation? </p>
<p>I also would like to know about the work-load, difficulty of earning good grades, social scenes, environment, prestige and anything else that might help me decide on which one to choose.</p>
<p>Both schools will offer you opportunities after graduation. The cost difference really isn't that much, so I'd make my decision based on fit and comfort level. I suppose Berkeley has more prestige than USC, but not enough to make much of a difference in the real world, so that shouldn't play into your choice. The social scenes at these two schools are incredibly different. USC is a more preppy, frat-boy type of school, while Berkeley's probably a little more laid back on the school spirit type of stuff. There's ton's to do at both schools, but remeber that USC located in the heart of a horrible neighborhood and Cal is located in the heart of a less horrible neighborhood. Really, I don't think you can go wrong with either one.</p>
<p>I'm almost entirely in the same situation - I also live in So. Cal. and am getting a half-tuition scholarship from USC.</p>
<p>I'm considering USC because if I went there, I would be in their (quite prestigious) print journalism program, whereas Cal doesn't have an undergrad j-program. It's also a little smaller. On the other hand, I'm not at all preppy and I don't like sports, so Cal might be a better fit.</p>
<p>Where are you getting your class size information, futureholds? Because, oddly enough, it doesn't look like USC publishes that data. Either way, USC is a HUGE private school and I'd be surprised if there was much of a difference in class size between Cal and USC. Futureholds, produce your data or admit that you have no idea what you're talking about.</p>
<p>USC has just as many 300 person classes as Cal... and no classes at Cal are taught by "TA's." Check the ratio's on US News... Cal and USC have similar size classes... very similar!</p>
<p>Percentage of classes with fifty or more students:</p>
<p>Brown=12 percent</p>
<p>Harvard=13 percent</p>
<p>Berkeley=15 percent</p>
<p>Percentage of classes with fewer than twenty students:</p>
<p>Brown=65 percent</p>
<p>Rice=60</p>
<p>MIT=61</p>
<p>Berkeley=58 percent</p>
<p>I'd be curious to see USC's numbers, but they don't make them available. Seems a little fishy to me. If futurholds is right then they should be bragging about what small classes they have.</p>
<p>Visit both and consider your options at both.</p>
<p>By the way, you don't "have to" study any particular thing at either school. Don't pigeonhole yourself. There are plenty of IR study opportunities at Cal as well.</p>
<p>If those statistics are true then why does Berkeley or UCLA have an infamous reputation for huge class sizes when in fact their classes aren't much different from Ivies or other top tier schools?</p>
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If those statistics are true then why does Berkeley or UCLA have an infamous reputation for huge class sizes when in fact their classes aren't much different from Ivies or other top tier schools?
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<p>At most schools, there are students that complain about large and impersonal classes. I think even MIT and Harvard students complain about large and impersonal classes. However, students at top tier universities tend to be more capable and self sufficient so it doesn't bother them as much and they are not as vocal about it.</p>
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Wait...so are you arguing that UCLA and Cal don't have top-tier students?
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<p>No, but in general MIT and Harvard tend to have more capable students.
The average MIT/Harvard student is more capable than the average UCLA/Cal student.
A good UCLA/Cal student is much more capable than a bad MIT/Harvard student.
The best UCLA/Cal students are just as capable as the best MIT/Harvard students.</p>
<p>Of course, but I don't think that your explanation is necessarily true.</p>
<p>Based on my experiences both as a student and as a TA, I know plenty of really good students who complain about big classes, and plenty of bad ones who like them (easy to remain uninterested and not pay attention.)</p>
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However, students at top tier universities tend to be more capable and self sufficient so it doesn't bother them as much and they are not as vocal about it.
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<p>LMAO. Self-sufficiency?</p>
<p>My theory is this is about culture. If you think you are at the pinnacle school and you are paying through the nose to be there, you'll accept that there are just certain ways they do things more readily. At Berkeley, there is a culture of complaint sometimes and people tend to think the grass must be greener on the other side.</p>