<p>Prestige is in the eye of the beholder. If you are interviewing at a company where the President is a UCLA alum, then UCLA has more prestige. If the parents of your new girlfriend are USC alum, then USC has more prestige.</p>
<p>Berkeley best out of 3 overall!</p>
<p>Would it be fair to conclude that they're all prestigious institutions? Maybe I'm just tired of seeing the same argument pop up.</p>
<p>I've heard that some prefer UCLA to USC because of the location of the school, since UCLA is up in the hills and USC is in downtown LA. But in other aspects, I think USC is a pretty decent rival of UCLA.</p>
<p>IMO, for research and academics UCLA and Berk are way better. For employers USC is better. Most employers I've talked to prefer graduates who are from private colleges because they are usually more well-rounded. (IE. good communication, more vocal, more social, better at networking with clients)</p>
<p>Like my old professor told me, if you want to be smart go to UCLA, if you want to be rich go to USC.</p>
<p>For research and academics, you probably can say Berkeley is better than USC. But UCLA is not, or only marginally better than USC. This is my observation as a Ph.D. student doing research actively. UCLA has huge advantage in its medical school and some hard science departments, while USC is good at variety of programs not highly regarded by the academic rankings producers, such as communication, film, music, arch, etc. This may explain the difference in reputation perception. In addition, academic reputation usually lags behind the reality, which may well be USC already surpass UCLA on student quality and education value. </p>
<p>I do concur with Doryx that UCLA people are more complacent of being thought as smart students. In real life, being smart alone doesn't mean much.</p>
<p>Re: "accountability of UCs"
First there is not much to be accounted for; second there is not much accountability. Most of faculty there only care about their research, because that is the only thing they are measured on.</p>
<p>I say it depends on your major. For example, UCS has business, the Policy Planing and development program, and the best film program. </p>
<p>Also, when I was choosing between USC or UCLA, I thought about student demographics too. 16,000 or 23,000...more or less international/ out-of state students, etc.</p>
<p>Does which school you go to affect how much you get paid when you work? I'm trying to become either an aeronautical and mechanical engineer. Thanx</p>
<p>if you got to CampusDirt.com</a> - Home it tells you the reported average salary of students after graduation...</p>
<p>one thing i must say though, USC has an awesome alumni system, so just getting the jobs will really be that much easier. haha just one of the reasons why i love USC more than UCLA. haha...</p>
<p>"If you want to be smart go to UCLA, if you want to be rich go to USC."</p>
<p>I would have to agree with that assesment.</p>
<p>Wow...does private and public make that big of a difference in finding a job? I thought people generally considered UCLA above USC in california though.</p>
<p>there's a reason you pay higher tuition. USC has an amazing alumni network that can easily get recent grads any jobs and interns.</p>
<p>Private school is almost double if you pay full tuition. Private school do offer more financial aid, but it will still be more expensive than public.</p>
<p>Not necessarily. My friend got into both USC and UCLA and found the end price tag to be about the same.</p>
<p>Privates are more expensive than publics...it's a well-known fact. But I guess it also depends on what kind of dorms you choose to live in, etc.</p>
<p>May I point out that USC's acceptance rate was the second lowest in California this year (2007-08 academic year) next only to Stanford. Which means that, in terms of competitiveness, we beat Berkley AND UCLA.</p>
<p>"May I point out that USC's acceptance rate was the second lowest in California this year"</p>
<p>I don't think so (data from <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com%5B/url%5D">www.collegeboard.com</a>)</p>
<p>Stanford 11%
CalTech 17%
Pomona 18%
Claremont-Mckenna 18%
Cal-Berkeley 24%
USC 25%
UCLA 26%</p>
<p>^ USC is just as big as Berkeley, student population-wise.</p>
<p>^ You're right about undergrad population. I was talking about total student population.</p>
<p>
[quote]
So class sizes are about 2/3 the size of Berkeley's.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>From USNWR:
% Classes Fewer than 20:
Berkeley - 61%
USC - 62%</p>
<p>% Classes More than 50:
Berkeley - 14%
USC - 12%</p>
<p>(Pretty close if you ask me).</p>
<p>^ Sure, but USC can hold its own...especially in SoCal.</p>