<p>Right now I am stuck, very stuck between UCLA and USC. It's hard to get many people's opinions who I can trust: mostly everyone's biased, or has no idea about the other campus, or don't even go to any of these two schools so have no idea what they're truly like. Two people I spoke to recently, one attending USC, the other UCLA, each have said that they would go to the other school if they had the choice.
What's your opinion? Preferably from students who go here and are at least familiar with the other (rival) campus. :) Though all are welcome to answer.
P.S. USC I have to pay roughly $38-39000 with parent + student loans (down from around $56000 - they gave me some grants and scholarships)
UCLA - around $30000 to be paid. No gift aid at all.
P.P.S. Yes I will be posting this in the other forum!
P.P.P.S. I know everyone says to "go where I will be happy", but there are definitely good points about both that appeal to me and kind of weigh each other out. Plus I don't want to just base this on a couple of visits where they put their best faces on, however much I enjoyed them.
The SIR deadline looms near and I'm definitely feeling the pressure.</p>
<p>Have you been to both campuses?</p>
<p>I was adamant on UCLA before I visited USC. And by the time my acceptance came I was ready to commit to USC that second.</p>
<p>I don’t really want to say anything negative about UCLA students… but so far I feel more comfortable around Trojans.</p>
<p>Not to mention it would take 5-6 years to graduate from UCLA, where USC guarantees 4. So if money is any issue, keep in mind you’ll be paying UCLA for a longer time.</p>
<p>Either decision you make you’re going to a great college, and I don’t think you’ll be unhappy at either. Good luck!</p>
<p>P.S. I’m having no second thoughts about committing to USC, which I did over a month ago.</p>
<p>^There’s something in place to get students to graduate in 4 years. It won’t take you 5-6 years to graduate from UCLA unless you are double majoring or change your major really late. (and perhaps some other individual reasons)</p>
<p>Now I wasn’t admitted to UCLA (OOS), but if I had been accepted, I guarantee you I would have gone.</p>
<p>If you had asked me my semester into college, I probably would have also told you that I’d want to go there over USC. But now, finishing up my second year, I can’t imagine myself anywhere else. I think the thing that truly made it click was that I finally started taking advantage of everything USC has to offer. There are so many activities and people around that you’re never bored. And when people talk about the Trojan family, they’re serious. When I fly home in my USC sweaters, I ALWAYS have people telling me to Fight On, even on the east coast!</p>
<p>Regardless, I’m sure you’ll be happy at any school, it just depends on if you make the most out of it. But at this point, I can’t say that I would choose UCLA over USC anymore.</p>
<p>nope, would still have chosen USC 100%</p>
<p>also, people need to stop exaggerating the 5-6 year graduation at the UCs. many will graduate on time, and the rest will only require an extra quarter or two.</p>
<p>Why do you need extra years at UCLA with the quarters system?? The only good thing about the quarters system is that it should help you graduate on time and ever faster.</p>
<p>jayjiggle,</p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>@Wheaty I’m thinking of double majoring in Communications and Humanities, with folklore/mythology as a minor. This (most likely) will change though once I get to college.</p>
<p>I agree with jose that people tend to exaggerate the graduation time at the UCs right now. While there certainly are budget cuts and class reductions, the UCs are very generous with AP credit - and the kids with the academic profile typical on college confidential often enter with over a year of credit, much of it direct general education course credit. There is talk now of expanding AP credit even further at the UCs to make it possible to graduate in three years.</p>
<p>jayjiggle, you have great options! They key will be that whatever you decide, don’t look back. Don’t be like the students you talked to who imagine things would have been perfect if they made a different choice. Your college years will be what YOU make of them. Once you make the commitment deposit, dive in and grab every opportunity and don’t waste any time thinking about what it would have been like at the other school. (And you can always do one for undergrad and the other for grad and get the best of both.)</p>
<p>Good luck with the decision!</p>
<p>I think the OP will make his or her own decision just fine. So instead of chiming in with which school is better mantra, I will post my own personal observations about these schools.</p>
<p>FACT: USC is actually more diverse than UCLA in terms of socioeconomic distribution of the student body.</p>
<p>While USC is known for strong academic advising and alumni connection, UCLA is pretty much “swim or sink” oriented.</p>
<p>If you are not proactive and determined enough, you will be drowned in the sea of overwhelming crowd. You will be disappointed if you are not the kind of person who can personally navigate your own path at UCLA.</p>
<p>But for me, I was not like that in my first year, and I ended up spending entire freshman year sitting alone in my dorm room, even on Fridays. I absolutely hated myself. However, after taking a year off and doing my own business for a year, I finally got a heathy perspective, realizing that it had to be none other than myself who needed to push myself to accept many different social climates and perspectives at UCLA.</p>
<p>Many proud UCLA alumni who have publicly demonstrated their allegiance to UCLA often fall in the category of strong-willed, perseverant, socially active, and culturally tolerant people.</p>
<p>In essence, USC is a safer choice for many, whereas UCLA is kinda of “high risk and high reward” type of institution. In self-acknowledged extremity, UCLA is either a bust or life-changing for students.</p>
<p>If you are interested in staying in Cali, you cannot go with either one of them. Both universities will give you the similar caliber and number of opportunities, with or without business major. I have worked and interned at several financial firms (some super major and some boutique), and the distribution of USC and UCLA background people is virtually same.</p>
<p>On another note, UCLA still fares better in international scene, especially in Asian region. While UCLA is considered a top tier school, USC is considered still a up-and-coming school.I do not necessarily agree with this perceived reputation of USC, and I personally think that USC is way better than even NYU. </p>
<p>Personally, this is an unfair stigma, I believe, for USC. I would rate USC and UCLA in the same bracket of educational institutions in many aspects - socially, culturally, job prospect wise, and so forth.</p>
<p>While many of the posters here and at the UCLA board are fiercely competitive over the Top Dog status in LA, I am rather baffled by the fact that NYU gets talked about more often that USC does. From many students I have worked with, USC and NYU should never be compared - not even. The level of personal diversity factors and academic profile of USC students just blows away that of NYU students (with the exception of NYU Stern students). The East Coast bias defintely is in work here, and I absolutely dont agree with it.</p>
<p>OP, just follow your heart. I know that you know that we all know that your heart is already set on one of the schools. You just wont accept it, and it seems to me that you are looking for some justifiably “logical” and “rational” answers. Often, those who makes very personal decisions independent of logical and rational factors are the ones who make the most out of their decisions. While I am a very business-oriented person who is often very obsessed with each and every factor, both anticipated and unfathomable, I really dont think that you should approach to this decision-making moment with the cerebral mindset of business issue. Just follow your heart, as cliche as this may sound.</p>
<p>For your information, I picked UCLA over UC Berkeley, fully knowing that UCB is considered far more superior to UCLA academically. Still, truthfully, I have not regretted even one bit at all. Granted, there were many moments when I pictured myself studying at UC Berkeley, but my ponderance was not out of regret, for sure.</p>
<p>You cannot go with either school, and I really dont think that you will reget on the choice you will make. </p>
<p>I think you would strongly consider UCLA (I have no reason besides the fact that I went to UCLA :), but even if you are choosing USC over UCLA, no one, even those UCLA posters, will make any objection about your decision.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>while considering UC, I applied UCB, which rejected me
while considering LA , I applied USC, which admitted me
in another word, I have never ever thought about attending UCLA</p>
<p>In the interest of full disclosure and to avoid future disappointment, I want to be sure you know that your subsidized loan totals will increase over the years. This will not effect your cost at UCLA because you are paying full cost there (but fees are exepcted to increase a bit at the UCs).</p>
<p>Freshman year, you were probably awarded $3,500 subs and $2,000 unsubs Stafford.</p>
<p>Sophomore year, it will be $4,500 subs and $2,000 unsubs.</p>
<p>Junior year $5,500 subs and $2,000 unsusbs</p>
<p>Senior $5,500 subs and $2,000 unsubs.</p>
<p>The grant portion of your package will be reduced somewhat as those loan amounts increase (and of course, if your financial information changes year-to-year, your aid will be adjusted accordingly).</p>
<p>I LOVE USC, but it appears to me that if money is a consideration, UCLA would be the more affordable choice. If money isn’t a consideration, disregard the above!</p>
<p>My son was in your position last year. He only applied to USC to see how much merit money he could get. We still had the “University of Spoiled Children” mindset. Several visits to each later, it was still assumed he would go to UCLA. But we were extremely impressed with USC, especially Marshall. He did a pro/con decision matrix and the two schools came out dead even. The tipping point was that he felt USC was a better fit for his goals and personality. Fast forward to the end of freshman year – he couldn’t be happier. He’s had amazing academic & social experiences. Says he can’t imagine being anywhere else. </p>
<p>He does have many HS friends at UCLA and they are all happy with their decision too. The few I’ve talked to said they haven’t had any problems getting the classes they wanted. Rivalry aside, they often visit each other and are all enjoying exploring Los Angeles.</p>
<p>BruinLifer’s right: follow your heart.</p>
<p>Nope. I didn’t apply to UCLA, never wanted to go there. I did however pick USC over Stanford and never regretted it. If you can swing either school financially, go with your gut/heart. As much as it pains me to say it, you can’t go wrong with either school.</p>
<p>Jay,
There was an article in Variety written by Brian Lowry, a graduate of UCLA, on April 28, 2010. The title is, “UCLA Focuses on Showbiz 101”. </p>
<p>In the article he writes mainly about the new head of the the UCLA cinema program, but also discusses their communications department as opposed to SC’s. I think you would find it of interest since it is NOT written by an USC alumnus. The article can be accessed online.</p>
<p>UCLA is an excellent school and you have two good options to pick from. </p>
<p>Personally, I would still choose USC if I had to redo.</p>
<p>I might be wrong here, but didn’t UCLA dismantle its folklore/mythology program some years ago? I know that you’re thinking of it as a minor, but with the major and grad program gone, I wonder about course offerings. You might want to look at the UCLA (and USC, for that matter) class schedules (as opposed to the catalogues) to see what folklore/mythology courses were available last year.</p>
<p>Another significant question is whether you have been admitted to the communications major at both schools. If you are not already in Annenberg or UCLA communications, how difficult will it be to be admitted once you are enrolled at the university? Also, if comm is an impacted major at UCLA, try to get realistic information about how difficult it will be to get into all the courses you need within four years.</p>
<p>USC schedule of classes if you want to look: [USC</a> Schedule of Classes: Select a Term](<a href=“http://web-app.usc.edu/soc/]USC”>USC Schedule of Classes)
USC catalogue info on minor in Folklore: [USC</a> Catalogue: The Schools: USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences: Anthropology: Bachelor of Arts](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/cat2009/schools/college/anth/ba.html#folklore]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/cat2009/schools/college/anth/ba.html#folklore)</p>
<p>@Nester’s point definitely look at the Comm requirements since it is a hugely weeded major at UCLA (you’ll need a 3.8+ to get in)</p>