<p>It seems that in terms of prestige and rankings, USC does not fair very well. For instance, take UCLA and USC. The two schools are very comparable, but UCLA seems to be more prestigious, well known, and higher ranked. Or even go to the homepage and click on CC Top Universities, USC is no where to be found. Or even as you read the countless threads on this site, USC is rarely mentioned with other top schools. It sucks seeing your school being under represented. Personally, i think USC deserves more acclamation.</p>
<p>well u gotta give usc some time .. rankings wise last year usc was like what 29th or something or 30th .. and ucla was 25th or 26th ... so thats a 4 or 5 place difference ... ucla has been 25th 26th for a long time now while usc has undergone rapid improvement.... just give it time, i think in 4 years usc will be def be ranked better then ucla ... touchwood</p>
<p>prestige wise ... well the reason ucla IS more prestigious is because it has maintained a good ranking for like a while now ... just give it some time and in some years as usc becomes more and more selective (as it has over the last 10 years .. i think average sat has gone up by 300 points) its prestige will rise as well ....</p>
<p>i have a friend at ucla ... he's a mathematics phd student .... he's be at ucla for like 10 years ... he always says at USC u'll get the better education, but UCLA has the better name ... and to me thats all that matters ... </p>
<p>but anyway, back to the point ... give it time ..</p>
<p>If you're talking about the entire college experience (which it should be IMO) I think USC is without question underrated. USC not only offers great academics and first rate faculty, but excellent alumni and networking support which translates into great career opportunities. You also have one of the most diverse student body in the nation, very strong greek system, and a dedication to excellence in sports which provides an excellent social experience. The school has the endowment to provide all the resources needed to students, and is very technologically advanced as a campus. </p>
<p>It's a very well rounded yet still rank behind a lot of one-dimensional schools. I don't know how that comes to be, but IMO SC should be top 25.</p>
<p>In case you don't read the College Life thread:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=70905%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=70905</a>.</p>
<p>Let's show 'em that we're more than they think ;)</p>
<p>I can't count how many times I've had to tell (argue with) people-- on CC, certainly outside of CC and in the real world-- how USC was actually not a a crappy school.</p>
<p>They always pull the same stuff on you, too. They bring up these things:</p>
<p>1) University of Spoiled Children: accusing all Trojans of being rich and and spoiled
2) University of South Central: laughing about how USC is in a bad part of Los Angeles, as if that were an accurate reflection of our quality, or as if it is in good manner to laugh about the "ghetto" and like areas affected by incredible poverty.
3) University of Stupid Children: accusing all Trojans of being incredibly stupid and rejects from "better" colleges. Just in case anyone doesn't know, many Trojans have turned down better-ranked colleges for USC instead-- including UCLA.
4) Dumb football/frat school: USC has good football and a powerful Greek system, but thinking every Trojan is some drunk, rich, idiot, football-obsessed frat boy or sorority girl is incredibly annoying and inaccurate.</p>
<p>We're VERY underrated. People love to sterotype us. I'm not saying USC is perfect, but it is certainly not appreciated to the extent of its quality of education and life.</p>
<p>put my 2 cents in over there</p>
<p>i recently heard this one. University of Special Chicanos.</p>
<p>The fact is, people are either jealous of USC or feel threatened. We get unprovoked thrashing on this board, and why? It just doesn't add up. They say we are situated in a horrible area, have overrated academics, and are rejects of other schools. Well if that's the case, then why even care about us?</p>
<p>It's funny how we are the most talked about school on this board. Sure seems odd for an "inferior" school doesn't it?</p>
<p>I live on the eastcoast, and before I really started looking closely at colleges, I had a few inaccurate views about USC, that I'm sure a lot of others share. I thought USC was a decent school, but nothing special. All I knew is they had great sports teams (I'm a big football and baseball fan), and I knew they were known for partying and having a big greek scene. Only after I really started looking into colleges did I find out that USC was actually a very academic oriented school, with tough admissions and high SAT scores, which surprised me from the stereotype I had before. When I visited USC, I must agree that there are some really bad neighborhoods around it, but the campus itself is very very nice and self contained. The students at USC seemed very smart and serious about their school. I'm sure there are plenty of partiers and frat boys/sorority girls, but the majority of the population tended to be very focused on school, and I wouldn't say that they are all rich. I'm sure there are plenty of rich kids, but also a lot of very very poor kids that got a lot of fin aid and scholarships.</p>
<p>So when I tell my friends I'm applying to USC, most hardly know how hard USC (or UCLA for that matter) is to get into. They know these schools more for sports and the "California" lifestyle. It is kind of a shame more people on the eastcoast don't recognize these schools the way they recognize the Ivies, NYU, Georgetown, etc.</p>
<p>What's funny is that USC is considerably harder to get into that NYU (except Stern, Tisch).</p>
<p>except it isn't.</p>
<p>Great rebuttal. I especially appreciate the time it took to craft that well thought out counter-argument. I'll save you the effort and post some stats.</p>
<p>% Admitted:
USC - 27%
NYU - 35%
(This statistic is all the more revealing when you consider NYU is the most applied to private school in the nation; theoretically, if it were in the same admissions ballpark as USC, because it's so popular, it should have a drmatically lower admit percentage than USC... and yet it has a significantly higher one).</p>
<p>Avg. SAT:
USC - 1350
NYU - 1318</p>
<p>Avg. GPA:
USC - 4.0
NYU - 3.6</p>
<p>% of students in top 10% of graduating class:
USC - 84%
NYU - 63%</p>
<p>source: <a href="http://www.review.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.review.com</a></p>
<p>Go back to wallowing in your East Coast bias.</p>
<p>I know a lot of kids that go to NYU, and you are absolutely correct that USC is harder to get into (except for Stern and Tisch). I know people that go to NYU CAS and Steinhardt that didn't break 1200 on the SATs, and had mediocre grades and SAT scores. Stern pulls up NYU's SAT scores significantly. I think Stern's average is somewhere mid 1400s. Anyway, I'm applying to Stern and USC. Stern will probably be more difficult, but anywhere else in NYU other than Tisch which is more focused on portfolio work, I'd feel very confident. </p>
<p>USC's film school can sort of be compared to Tisch, and the film school seems harder to get into than Tisch.</p>
<p>The median income for UCLA students is higher than those at USC. However the % of VERY rich people at USC is higher than those at UCLA. There are plenty of people on financial aid at USC. It is hardly the university of spoiled children.</p>
<p>I also strongly agree with the fact that people are threatened about USC so they must make excuses for themselves. Selective perception is used heavily when people think of USC.</p>
<p>USC & Tisch have the top cinema schools. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I heard through the parent grapevine that Tisch accepts 250 freshmen and the USC cinema school accepts a little less than 125 each year. So yes, USC is more selective.</p>
<p>" Stern will probably be more difficult,"</p>
<p>more like definetely.</p>
<p>Such a difficult school, I do not think, admits people who don't even know how to correct spell "definetely."</p>
<p>l o l .. hahahaha</p>
<p>"people who don't even know how to <em>correctly</em> spell" </p>
<p>My fault. Silly typo.</p>
<p>yayaya: "l o l .. hahahaha"</p>
<p>I agree. :)</p>
<p>USC is IMO most certainly a school on the rise in terms of its rep. Nationally, people do tend to only know it because of football and Tommy Trojan riding the horse lol.</p>
<p>Once known as the University of Second Choice, etc. etc. it is now exceedingly hard to get into and dramatically improved in all academic respects. Without doubt it will soon give Stanford a run for its money in all respects in terms of west coast clout. </p>
<p>USC general ed/liberal arts may still not be the greatest, but its Business, Pharmacy, Architecture and Eng. programs (undergrad and grad) are very well respected. The film school, IMO, is second to none. As far as graduate/professional schools, USC is very well respected in terms of its Law, medical, dental, film, architecture and many other programs.</p>
<p>Bottom line with this prestige garbage unless it's an Ivy, you're gonna find IMO that many schools are not really (accurately) known to everyone and I'm willing to bet that the average person couldn't tell you who is in the Ivy league, what it means etc.</p>