<p>This is extremely subjective, anecdote-based, and unreliable, but I believe people on the West Coast are in fact nicer. It's just a nicer place to live. For the rec, I have lived in the South for several years. I don't find the people any nicer. That isn't a criticism.</p>
<p>i'm with phobos... the diversity generally breeds tolerance. i grew up in socal and ended up moving to virginia for middle and high school. i miss california SO MUCH - it really is harder to get bogged down in everyday stress/crap with such beautiful weather.</p>
<p>as far as "southern hospitality" goes -
i know some people will say that virginia isn't all that "southern" in terms of geography, but in my experience, quite a few people are still stuck in that southern mentality. i'm a black female. i've always been in honors everything, and a number of my teachers/peers/peers' parents have had problems accepting that i'm not as ____ ("black" / intellectually inferior / ill-mannered) as they would have liked to think. there are going to be rude and stand-offish people everywhere, just like there are going to be racist people everywhere (black = south, hispanic = west coast?), but there don't seem to be as many in ca.</p>
<p>of course, that's just my experience. i'm not trying to sterotype southerners.</p>
<p>I think that depends on where in the South you're from, but I could understand that VA is a COMPLETE culture shock as opposed to CA (my experience with Virginians has not been pleasant, either, and I'm a white female). But like I said, it all depends on where you're from. In Atlanta, where the minority population (black and hispanic) is very high, it's not uncommon to see racists, but its DEFINITELY not uncommon to see high achieving minorities just as much as the majority...it's just very natural.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What do you mean "money" might be a reason to choose USC over an IVY? Maybe you are talking about scholarships?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Obviously ;)</p>
<p>USC gives out some amazing merit aid, and to a LOT of people compared to other schools of similar caliber.</p>
<p>Last I checked...Ivies give out zip.</p>
<p>Honestly I just really get beyond peeved when people don't consider that for us middle class people/people who's parents realize no education is worth the full freight of an Ivy :).</p>
<p>I too applied to USC and Penn, and I actually received friendlier assistance from Penn. They have spent several hours on the phone with me over the past few months and I have developed a good relation with my regional admissions director. At USC I cannot even get her on the phone. :(</p>
<p>where do you find contact info for your regional director amazon?
I actually have a question to ask him/her.
and have you gotten into USC yet?</p>
<p>takeme2cali- if you are talking about your admission counselor, go to:
<a href="http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/counselors/admission_counselor/%5B/url%5D">http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/counselors/admission_counselor/</a></p>
<p>yeah Cali people are way nicer and laid back!</p>
<p>I'm from Pennsylvania. When I went to LA over the summer, i fell in love with how sweet people are. However, there are many people out there who cares more about their public image than their true self. </p>
<p>Although everyone may seem to be nice, beware of people with fake attitudes in Cali! There seems to be more of those around LA than in Pennsylvania. </p>
<p>But i'm sure u'll find great people anywhere. People in Cali tends to be more chilled.</p>
<p>Groovinhard you must not have checked out the Ivies in a while because they give out some of the best financial aid in the country. If your family makes <50k/yr you get a no-loan full ride at most of the Ivies. All of the Ivies meet at least 90% of financial need, and most of them do it through grants.</p>
<p>takeme2cali you can go here <a href="http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/contact/%5B/url%5D">http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/contact/</a> to find your regional director. A direct line is also listed but you must go through their secretary and request that they call you at a specified time (usually). Though I would not call at this point if you can avoid it because the decisions process is just gearing up and they will be swamped.</p>
<p>Haven't gotten in to USC yet, my SATs are only so-so. Penn is a reach but I definately have a shot from some of my other attributes.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Groovinhard you must not have checked out the Ivies in a while because they give out some of the best financial aid in the country. If your family makes <50k/yr you get a no-loan full ride at most of the Ivies. All of the Ivies meet at least 90% of financial need, and most of them do it through grants.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Why do people not read?</p>
<p><em>sigh</em></p>
<p>And it's like they think there's two classes of people. Poor people, and everybody else can pay 40 grand a year. </p>
<p>Why is the middle class forgotten??? </p>
<p>To bring this back to USC, it gives amazing merit scholarships. The best I have seen for the caliber of the school. For the vast majority of people gaining admission to Ivy League schools...USC is gonna be cheaper.</p>
<p>yeah that's true. i mean, when a kid goes to college, you can't just expect the parents to downgrade everything they have. most people lie in the middle class category where they can, supposedly, afford it, but just can't do it very comfortably.</p>
<p>plus, if you make less than 50k a year, almost any school will give you a pretty damn good financial aid package. don't even talk about the ivies, the UC's, and we all know uc's are cheapasses, give amazing ones if you make, say, 40k annually. this one girl last year paid like 100 bucks a year to go to la :|.</p>
<p>In my own biased opinion as a displaced east coaster in NorCal, I prefer east coast people. I have no idea what SoCal people are like (other than the widely stereotyped idea that they're superficial), but NorCal people can definitely range. East coast people tell you something how it is, plain and simple, and can be known as unaccepting, etc. West coast people have been known to be accepting, but know that in NorCal at least, for the most part people are ultra-liberal, and if that's not your thing, people can be pretty unaccepting of your conservative/moderate views.
I think things have definitely changed in the bay area since the initial poster was in 4/5th grade.... that was before the dot com-ers had a presence in the bay area (SF specifically), thus today there is a greater amount of disgustingly wealthy 30-40 year olds. In my opinion, it definitely reflects in their kids.
As to CA people being more laid back than us east coasters, that depends.... at my school, some people are openly cut-throat, some pretend to be laid-back but actually are cut-throat, and some are just laid-back. But again, this is NorCal. So I don't know how it would be at USC. What I do know, as a side note, is that USC is in a horrible area of LA. I think this is something "outsiders" tend not to notice as much</p>
<p>One last comment and then I’m done: I find it hilarious that kids who’ve lived their entire lives in CA are dying to head east, and many on the east coast want to head west. It’s ironic.</p>
<p>^Haha. Not really. You always want what you don't have, want to see what you've never seen before. Grass is always greener on the other side, blahblah.</p>
<p>Don't read Grapes of Wrath, though...lol.</p>
<p>lol well when i lived in CA, I knew I wanted to go to college in CA, and now I don't live in CA, I'd still prefer to go to college in CA.</p>
<p>
[quote]
One last comment and then I’m done: I find it hilarious that kids who’ve lived their entire lives in CA are dying to head east, and many on the east coast want to head west. It’s ironic.
[/quote]
i've lived in California all of my life and i knew as soon as i applied for college that i didn't want to go to school in the east coast...a sentiment reflected in essentially my entire graduating class, with only a few heading east. and at that most were only because of the draw of prestige (it was an Ivy). nobody was "dying" to head east. at the very least, east coast schools were second choice unless the institution was especially prestigious (Ivy, US military academy)</p>
<p>and on the comment on where USC is...i've lived on campus for quite a while and i can say that while it's not perfect, it's not what i would call "horrible" for more than handful of reasons. so unless you can say that you've spent at least 5 months on the USC campus/the West Adams/University Park area (and mind you, i've been walking off-campus more than a lot of students), i'm not inclined to accept the definition of the area as "horrible."</p>
<p>
[quote]
, thus today there is a greater amount of disgustingly wealthy 30-40 year olds. In my opinion, it definitely reflects in their kids.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I completely disagree. If anything, San Francisco is known to have millionaires who drive old Volvos. My experience is that rich people in the San Francisco Bay Area tend to be very down to earth.</p>
<p>Haha I guess it all depends on where you're from. My friends who go to school with me and who go to schools on the east side of our county call the area the "EC" (east ****<-- name of county) as a spoof off of the "OC" since there's a lot of money. (however, my school is kind of on the lower end of the spectrum)</p>