<p>just wondering.. thanks!</p>
<p>(Northern)Virginia Trojan here, and simply put -</p>
<p>Yes. </p>
<p>More descriptively put - </p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>Just kidding. But really, whenever I mention to people around here that I go to USC, they get all googly-eyed and jealous. I think going to USC impresses people more than going to UVA (maybe cuz it’s private?)… and then I mention I’m in SCA and anyone who knows anything goes ape****. Besides, I think having a degree from a school outside where you plan on living helps you stand out a bit, because not everybody and their pet chihuahua would’ve gone to said school.</p>
<p>USC has an admissions information workshop/reception in Atlanta each fall. It is held at a major hotel in a large reception room. Two years ago the room was filled with prospective students and their parents. This is in a state where honor students may enroll in the Univ. of Georgia on the Hope Scholarship. Last fall there was fine attendance, but did not match the year before. The Churchill Scholar from SC is from Peachtree City, south of Atlanta. </p>
<p>Our alumni club here has 460 members. There are attorneys, IBM administrators, doctors, UPS officers, CNN executives and many who are associated with Coca Cola. One alumnus is the national director of UCB Pharmaceuticals-Federal Accounts. </p>
<p>The New York City alumni club is very large. They are so strong the club is able to stage the “Tommy Awards” on Broadway. New York City sends many students to SC, one of the major feeder cities. SC has established an office there just this year.</p>
<p>SC now draws students from the most selective prep schools in the nation. These students and those from certain public and charter schools have many college choices. </p>
<p>Students abroad have growing interest in USC. President Nikias recently visited India. He met with the Prime Minister of that country and also was escorted by one of the wealthiest and most influential Indian businessmen and philanthropists.</p>
<p>It’s a top 25 school – so I would hope more people than just native Californians know about it!</p>
<p>The school is a “dream school” for a lot of kids on the East Coast, especially those interested in the arts.</p>
<p>Nobody asks whether Harvard or Stanford are prestigious. You’ll know USC is prestigious when people stop asking whether it is or not.</p>
<p>USC is very prestigious in Southern California, and it’s getting that way here in Northern California. Once you get out of California, it’s still mostly known for football, but that seems to be changing quickly. Whatever you think of them, the US News ratings are having a big impact.</p>
<p>sucks that some countries still think we have like nothing on Cal and the like. time lag and all.</p>
<p>So much focus on prestige (whatever that means) on CC. I hope it’s not at the expense of searching for a school that’s a good fit and has the programs you seek. When S2 was looking at colleges, he paid very close attention to the classes he’d get to take and what the school had to offer in the way of a college experience, and he chose his top schools accordingly. (I don’t think he looked at USNWR rankings at all!) Lucky for us all, he ended up at USC :)</p>
<p>It’s gaining ground on the East Coast, but still has a while to go. Most people know it as a football school, although with the #23 rankings, people are starting to take notice. I still have morons that see my USC shirt and ask me how I like it down in South Carolina though. Makes me want to wrangle them to ever associate me with a school like that.</p>
<p>I’m in Asia, and I met a couple from Spain who knew that USC was a good school, not much more though.</p>
<p>I’m Washington state, people congratulate me when I tell them I’m going to USC and I know it’s a dream school for a lot of people here. I think USC is fairly prestigious in the western states. Don’t know about the rest of the country.</p>
<p>unfortunately, most of the prestige/name recognition usc has generated is through the football program. it’s not an academic powerhouse (other than for its film school), not even within the state of ca. reputations like that will take a long time to build, and usc may be on its way. but not there yet.</p>
<p>Prestige is a very abstract concept and has very different meaning depending on the individual. In academic circles, prestige has a more rigorous and concrete meaning that generally is reflected by the contributions of the faculty to scholarly journals. In this area, USC has made tremendous gains and is considered to be an up and comer in academia. </p>
<p>The general public however, refer to prestige mostly from their opinion of a schools reputation formed by many factors. For this population, I think desirability is a better gauge as it reflects their propensity to either attend or send their children to the school - a decision that weighs many factors including their opinion on the value the school has in helping them become educated and successful in life. </p>
<p>Using desirability vs prestige as the gauge - the Princeton Review’s national survey of the top 10 “dream colleges” provides a good insight into the most desirable colleges - in 2010 USC was ranked 9th by both Parents and Students. Clearly a national sample of parents and students think highly of USC and place it among the very best colleges in the nation.</p>
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<p>This is hardly true. As a lifelong California resident, I can tell you that when kids in my high school class got into and went to USC, it was a big deal. Of the ones who went were some of the smartest kids in my graduating class and (with the exception of me) they all enrolled in USC’s more rigorous programs – Viterbi, the architecture school, Marshall. Not once have I ever heard from a CA resident that USC isn’t strong in the academic department.</p>
<p>Besides Stanford and Cal, what California schools have better academics than USC? I’ll actually venture to say that Cal only has USC beat in the science/math department; USC’s music, art, journalism and CLAS programs are much better than the cash-strapped versions at Cal. When I was in HS, you were perceived as more intelligent if you were going to USC over schools like UCSD, UCLA and UC Davis.</p>
<p>Direct quote from my brother (who’s getting his PHD and going into academia): “USC used to be a $#!+ school.” As disparaging as this quote might seem prima facie, what he was essentially saying is that the reputation of the school has increased dramatically in recent years.</p>
<p>There are many prestigious schools on the west coast (the majority of them in California) but, not including the claremonts, USC is definitely on the list, and the public is more and more starting to take notice of it.</p>
<p>USC is probably the #3 private uni. in California (behind Caltech and Stanford) Including UCLA and Cal, it’s hard to know where to put it since all three schools are so close to each other in quality.</p>
<p>I’ve said this many times: Prestige takes a LONG time to gain. But it certainly looks as if USC is on its way there. I still don’t regret going to UCLA (at all) but just because UCLA is good doesn’t have to mean USC is bad.</p>
<p>The honest truth (or at least in my eyes) is that USC in about a decade will be renown internationally as I personally think it seriously has the highest average yearly growth rate of student quality, research, faculty hiring, and commercializing. To say it’s flourishing is an understatement so if you want an informed opinion (since I always care and keep up to the times with college happenings) I say go to USC if you want to look better and better as time goes one. </p>
<p>However, USC doesn’t really have much on Cal, Caltech, or Stanford today (besides SCA or some specialized programs) so I don’t think you’re really going to get extreme "ooooh"s and "awwww"s by broadcasting your USC attendance. I don’t really know where the previous posters lived that got ogled because they were a trojan but good for them. Some die hard trojan fans will get extremely offended by this, but really, it’s reality. I would guess USC will catch close to Cal (even in sciences) in a decade’s time and probably surpass UCLA at the rate the UC regents are letting the UC system rot, but right now USC has work to do and it is doing it fast. </p>
<p>And I’m not being bias, I’m just giving my 2 cents. I don’t think UCLA is better than USC, I specifically made no mention of that so I don’t get bombarded. </p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>The arrogance, naivety, and insecurity of some of these UC boosters is absolutely disgusting. To be arguing that one university is better than another is just childish. USC is just as good as any university and if not better. Your post ooze insecurity and who can blame you when the top public system is crumbling right before your eyes.</p>
<p>To add to ModernMan’s post, while the UC system crumbles, USC received something like $600-700 million dollars in donations in this past year. I literally get an email every month about some new bigass donation to USC. It’s pretty awesome.</p>
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<p>i take it you’re not a fan of rankings where one university is ranked better than another?</p>
<p>as far as your figure goes, UCLA alone has been given like half of that, which is pretty impressive considering that it’s a public school. And even if the system crumbles, there’s no doubting that the powerhouses – Cal, UCSF, UCLA, and maybe UCSD – will still survive.</p>
<p>Beyphy, stop trying to one up. Honestly, it is embarrassing. The UCs are excellent universitie no one is disputing that. So why must you post a rebuttal when there is no debate. Please just leave this forum with you dignity and start posting your “I love UCs” on their own threads. </p>
<p>Am I wasting my time? Is beyphy a ■■■■■?</p>
<p>NYJets19, I actually think that announcing a major donation every month was planned. I am still waiting for the July donation to be announced. </p>
<p>Nikias was quoted some where that he believes that we are going to reach the 1 billion mark before the end of september. If that was to happen, we should be hearing 150mm donations every month. I have a feeling Marshall is going to get a new building and SPPD will get named. It is truly an exciting time to be a Trojan.</p>