<p>My DD attends Berkeley, her good friend attends Marshall at 'SC. They have both had great experiences, forgive the cliches, but there are some generalities about each school that are based on fact:</p>
<p>USC is yuppie, Berkeley has a more blue collar feel- less make up, less brand name prestige, fewer people want cars there.</p>
<p>USC Greek is “wow”, Berkeley Greek is small and mellow, at least for the girls. I would recommend joining to make friends quickly.</p>
<p>Both schools have ‘good’ football, but at USC, it is well, USC.</p>
<p>Both schools have a strong alumni network, but in SoCal, the USC alumni network is amazing and always has been.</p>
<p>DDs friend has done great internships in great big cities and already has a job offer for next summer. DD is going to grad school so cannot compare that, but there are a lot of job networks, especially in the bay area.</p>
<p>SC is SoCal, hotter, more “blonde and plastic” (hey, I grew up there and still work there sometimes!) and NorCal is more back to nature, hiking, crunchy granola in attitude.</p>
<p>Where do you fit? Who do you want to be. I have a kid who was born in SoCal and went back for university, hated the area, hated it, loves it further north, so knowing who and what you are about is good. If you have not stretched yourself and have always lived in SoCal maybe this is the time to stretch and explore.</p>
<p>Is grad school a definite pursuit? Many econ BAs & Marshall UG degreed grads go on to work right out of UG, no MBA required. If grad school were not needed which would you pick?</p>
<p>My other DD got into 'SC, but financially it was not a good choice for us, do consider the net costs of each school. </p>
<p>Berkeley is tough and my DD is pre-med, but she has done Greek, study abroad, competed in a sport, worked a campus job, etc and still is in tat necs 3.5-4.0 range, so it can be done, if you are that type of intense person.</p>
<p>I would imagine you get more hand holding at USC than Berkeley!</p>