Life is a series of these tough decisions. As Sheldon Koop said in the list of 43 Eternal Truths…all important decisions are made on insufficient data. There is something wrong with EVERY school. You’ll only learn the gory details about the one you choose. Grab one, do everything you can to take advantage of the opportunities in front of you and be prepared for serendipity. Remember…luck favors the prepared mind. 
Given your interests, you made a good choice
If you really don’t like the idea of attending WashU and can’t see yourself changing your mind, then you should really think about choosing somewhere else!
I’m a fairly recent WU alum (from the Bay) so I know it’s a fun, eye-opening place for lots of different people – but if you’re just not one of them, pick somewhere you’ll be happy. The people you meet in college will be able to tell if you really aren’t into the whole experience, and it won’t be fun for you or them. If possible, USC seems like a good compromise with great STEM programs and a CA location. It’s a bit bigger, but that just means there will be even more different social groups/scenes where you can find your place.
Whatever you do, I guarantee you’ll have a better time if you go in excited and looking for the good parts of what you have instead of the hypothetical perks of somewhere else (which come with their own set of drawbacks!)
Thanks for the advice! Do you think I would be losing academic quality if I choose USC over WashU?
Is USC still an option? Wouldn’t you have had to commit to them by May 1?
I’m not an expert on your area of interest, but my impression is no. USC Viterbi is very well regarded (from what I hear from my bro, a grad student in computer engineering).
My point is mainly, imagine you show up at USC all excited to meet your roommate, and they quickly starting talking about how much LA sucks and how they wanted to go to school in NYC in a real city. It would be kind of off-putting, wouldn’t it? You just don’t want to set yourself up to be that person.
USC is still an option. Admission is still open…
Good point! I definitely do not want that
The thing to know is that if you have ANY inkling that you want engineering, start in engineering. Essentially the day you start the engineering curriculum is when the 4 year clocks starts ticking (Unless you’ve taken the highest level of both calculus and physics. Most majors don’t. Even those that take calc and physics take watered down versions that you’d have to repeat.). If you want engineering, that means USC or Wash U. Both are respected, but Viterbi has better SV connections.
Just FYI, the area around USC is not particularly nice. Since you said you didn’t like St. Louis.
“Socially Wash U is much more academic and not much of a work hard play hard” school.”
You might find this analysis from Business Insider interesting. They rated the top 30 “work hard play hard schools” in the country. In addition to using some standard academic indicators for the “work hard” half of the equation, the ratings were based largely on student reviews of their own colleges.
No surprise that USC made the list, ranking #23. What May surprise is that Wash U ranked 10 spots higher at #13. None of the Claremont colleges were on the list. There might be a side to Wash U that you haven’t yet discovered.
OK, I’m calling BS on the methodology then because there no better example of work hard play hard than HMC. Plus, having both Stanford and Brown on there? Work hard? Come on! They are the two highest grade inflation institutions in The Union! HMC graduates a 4.0 once a decade. The mean graduating GPA from Stanford and Brown is 3.6+. 
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You say you’re calling BS on the methodology, but the rest of your comment to substantiate this criticism doesn’t even address the methodology.
What seems to be more the case is that you disagree with the study’s conclusions.
No. i’m saying if their methodology left HMC out it must be bad. One only need dig one step deeper than the BI publication to see that they used Niche. Dig into their methodology to see how much of it is subjective or self reported. Garbage in…garbage out.
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My guess this is a moot point. Their deadline is May 1. The portal may be up but unless their yield is low they are likely not going to accept u. You will get a sorry you are too late back. Good luck at wustl. It’s a school many dream of.
no, they really will still accept. other portals have closed
You will know this at the time you push the button and then you have to figure out the consequences of SIRs at two schools simultaneously. Don’t lose both on that assumption!
I haven’t. I can withdraw from WUSTL and confirm CMC is still open. I appreciate the confirm though (do not mean that sarcastically).
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The 5C’s allow off campus majors. You take your Computer Science classes at HMC and Pomona, but your degree in Computer Science is from Claremont McKenna. The issue there is 1. being approved and 2. getting into the classes you need.
https://online.cmc.edu/student-spotlight-off-campus-majors
Here is the information on declaring a major housed at another school in the consortium.