<p>Guys I really can't decide, plz give me some advice!</p>
<p>I have been admitted to USC and UCLA both for Psychology major. Both of them are in LA, which is an ideal city for me. Both have good ranking and good prestige. </p>
<p>As for the difference between USC and UCLA, it seems to me that UCLA is stronger in the field of psychology, USC, on the other hand, is better at arts and business. UCLA is public school with bigger class size, and USC is private school with smaller enrollments. I have visited UCLA, the campus was beautiful, if not for the budget cuts happened to UC system, I would definitely choose UCLA. People are talking about the impacts that financial problem has had on UCLA, I'm worried about the education quality there and the future of the school.</p>
<p>I am not a California resident, and assuming that money is not a problem, guys which would you choose?</p>
<p>since you want to be an arts and business major, USC all the way. If, in the other hand your intersest had been in an actual ACADEMIC major, you know, the kind that requires actual research, then UCLA.</p>
<p>DunninLA is a very objective poster, but she/he got this notion wrong: “your intersest had been in an actual ACADEMIC major, you know, the kind that requires actual research, then UCLA”</p>
<p>UCLA is more reputed in research world, but USC is also a solid research university, a top 20 if you look at [The</a> Center for Measuring University Performance](<a href=“http://mup.asu.edu/]The”>http://mup.asu.edu/). IMO, the reason that USC is perceived weaker in research is due to: 1. USC is a late comer in research investment, and doesn’t have enough big names; 2. USC College only has 500 faculty, compared to 900 at UCLA’s college. From per capita’s point of view, USC’s faculty may be more productive. UCLA almost doubles USC’s faculty in science, and triples the PostDoc of USC, but did not produce results proportionally. From what I know, USC is measurably weaker on research in Physics, Math, Econ, etc. But for most of other programs, such as Linguistics, Philosophy, Bio, Psychology, Chem (maybe), USC doesn’t do too bad. </p>
<p>If we only look at undergrad programs other than Ph.D. level research, I think you really need to do more homework to find out which one fits you better. Considering the emphasis on teaching, personal attention to undergrad students, and budget cuts of public schools, USC is absolutely attractive to many people, especially OOS students. </p>
<p>USC’s new president has publically stated that his first priority is to improve the graduate programs. We are going to see USC’s continued rise in research productivity and national perception. I am not going to bash UCLA, but a lot of people see UCSD is passing UCLA, steadily.</p>