I was recently admitted to USC Marshall School of Business, but did not receive any financial aid and only received a tiny merit scholarship. I would be able to pay for it, but it is definitely very expensive. However, I also have offers from my local state school with admission into the honors program (which would be really cheap with in-state tuition) and UCLA and UC Berkeley (which are about 10k cheaper than USC).
Although I have always loved USC and can really see myself going there, I was wondering if it is worth the extra 50k compared to my state public school, which is also pretty good for business.
Any insight or advice on where I should go would be much appreciated! Additionally, does anyone know if I’d be able to potentially lower the cost of attendance as a student there, such as through new merit scholarships or on-campus jobs? How well do these pay, and how accessible are they?
It sounds like you don’t have a really pointed interest in business yet. Marshall is a good program, but your breakeven on the $200K differential would be years if not decades in the making. I don’t see a compelling reason to choose USC.
It’s like a lot of things in life, it can certainly be worth it to some people, and certain things in life are worth it to those that can afford it. To those that can’t, it is hard to understand. I think lots of colleges are worth the sticker price. It depends on a person’s point of view, experiences, and frankly, one’s bank account.
It sounds like you have alternatives that don’t strain you financially. I certainly wouldn’t leave a great public to go to another OOS public.
U Dub! I wish there was a public university of that quality in the state where we live. At in-state rates it’s an incredible value. The honors program also comes with lots of perks.
My son has both acceptances from UDub and USC. Currently the remaining tuition after scholarships for USC is less than $20,000 (he’s a NMF and a music major) and we’re OOS for UDub. My son has Direct Admit to Computer Science at UDub and he’s also accepted to School of Music as a Violin Performance major. The remaining tuition after scholarships at UW will be a little bit more than USC But he’s going to UDub for sure.
Some good advice on here. My immediate thought is that if I were an HR person evaluating a resume from a kid from USC and a kid from UDub, I would give a slight - but not much - advantage to the USC kid. That said, I make a point of NOT holding it against ANYONE nowadays for either going to their state flagship or for starting in community college. College costs are just insanely out of control nowadays and keep in mind that employers know that (a lot of the mid level executives who would do the second round screenings probably have kids and want to know your experiences in evaluating schools) so you are NOT alone in your decision.
The piece of advice I’d offer here is to ask if you know what it is that you want to do and where you want to go yet, because that should help guide where you want to go to college and why. UDub is an excellent school but most people outside the PNW don’t know that, whereas USC has a much bigger reach around the Pacific Rim. If you are planning to stay in the PNW, then UDub and an honors program would be an easy choice. If you are looking more broadly, then USC may be the better choice. But if you have younger siblings to think about, that’s also an issue. Warren Buffett’s big thing in making college decisions nowadays is not to confuse cost with value as they’re not the same. The college market is global nowadays which is why colleges are basically charging whatever they want, and they don’t care if they price the American middle class out. The crackdown is happening but it’ll take a while, and the online learning revolution is thankfully also going to blow up this overpriced, outdated model.
The one other thing I’d add is that if you do choose to go the UDub route that you should definitely study abroad if at all possible. The diversity of the student body at USC was one of the best, most unexpected benefits for me in going to school there. But you can have a similar experience if you do a year or semester abroad to get you out of your comfort zone and see a different part of the world. You might also see if you could get a big merit scholarship to go to a school like Puget Sound or Wazzu (read: virtually free), then do a study abroad, and then get an MBA from a big fancy school. After that, you could go anywhere.
All US students would benefit from studying abroad, even if they attend a school with a large number of international students, such as UW, with 16.4%, or USC, with 13%. These schools also enroll similarly diverse classes:
UW (USC) 2018 Freshman Class
White
36.1% (36%)
Asian / Asian American
32.3% (22%)
Latinx / Hispanic
8.2% (16%)
International
16.4% (13%)
Multiple Ethnicities
NR (7%)
Black / African American
3.6% (5%)
Native American or Pacific Islander
2.1% (<1%)
Other/Not indicated
1.3% (NR)
Of course, as a public university, Washington has a higher percentage of instate students (62% vs. 41%).
Both are excellent across many disciplines (and have been for many decades) and have very good academic reputations:
Strongly consider UW since you are in WA state and tuition is low for you. If you decide on a business major, UW’s Foster School of Bus. is highly regarded and many good firms recruit there. S, is out of state, just graduated from Foster, and is working for a Big 4 firm. He had previous summer internships with the Big 4 firm, Amazon and others. We paid out of state tuition, but still about 20 to 25K per year less expensive than USC. In addition to business, UW also has other excellent programs such as engineering, computer science, etc.
@USCAlum05 if possible, could you please private message me? I have a follow up question but can’t PM anyone yet since I just recently made this account.
BTW I didn’t mean to inadvertently throw shade on UDub. It’s a solid school and some departments are fantastic, but it’s always been off my radar. I’ve worked with a few people in L.A. who went to school there and I have a friend currently sending a kid there and they all speak highly of it. Just off my radar.