Please help! Usc vs pitzer college?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Here is my situation:</p>

<p>USC was my dream school as a young boy. I wanted to go to their world-famous film school and write scripts for Hollywood. I have a decent amount of academic merit, but I am also quite desperate for financial aid because neither of my parents are employed, or support me for that matter. Until two weeks ago, I thought I was headed for Pepperdine University, but then opportunities arose from nowhere. After careful consideration of the admission committee, I was essentially awarded $49,500 dollars to go to Pitzer with an estimated $4,500 deficit of its full cost. At the same time, the University of Southern California accepted me into their Psychology department. Unfortunately, I really don't want to study psychology, but I don't know if it would be worth it to take GERs (General Education Requirements) for a year at USC, then transfer into its 4-year film program, making a total of about 5 or 6 years as an undergraduate student. I believe it is the best film school in the country, so with my work ethic I think I could probably work my way into Hollywood and be completely happy; however, being young, poor, and impatient, I am looking at Pitzer as an extremely tempting alternative. Who could possibly refuse being paid almost in full to go to Pitzer College? At USC, they're still determining my financial aid, so I don't know exactly what the difference is, but I've done a lot of research, and the trend for USC financial aid awards with students of my caliber and financial need (2210 SAT, 3.7 GPA, no income) is about a 16k deficit (including loans). Please correct me if I'm wrong about USC's financial aid award. </p>

<p>On comfort alone, I would choose Pitzer. Small, loving, and diverse community? Mentally stimulating classes? Enough money to attend school AND go out the weekends? Beautiful girls in a virtually crime-free neighborhood? What's the problem, then?</p>

<p>I hate big cities like LA, and I hate how hard I'm going to have to work, but when I write that school down on my resume when I graduate, and when I make hundreds of thousands of dollars more graduating from USC than I would from Pitzer, I think the immediate unhappiness could be worth it in the long run.</p>

<p>PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ASAP!!</p>

2

<p>Pitzer is a great school and I believe you’re allowed to take courses at any of the claremont schools which is a big bonus. That said, USC is a great school also and it sounds like your heart is with film. Are there any other majors at pitzer or the claremont schools you’re interested in?</p>

<p>I imagine your dilemma might be resolved depending on if USC gives you any aid.</p>

3

<p>Oh man you sure have a problem…it is very easy to picture how you must feel right now… and i truly don’t have an exact answer, but i’ll def do my best to write one out…here we go…
it sounds like you def love USC and its film program, but yeah, the 5 or 6 years of undergraduate sounds pretty crappy…now i haven’t ever heard of pitzter so i did some research and it seems all right …top 50 lac…how bout you take 2 years at pitzer and then transfer to USC? …or if you think it’s going to take you 5 or 6 years…then why don’t you take summer classes? i know being poor sucks, but i’m sure that you can pay off your debts once you graduate and make the benjamins…what do you really wanna do in life? if youre set in USC and its film program, then go for it…if you’ll be happy there and u know what you want then do it . don’t worry about the debt, everyone has debt and it’s common to pay it off…</p>

<p>hey i took a real long time answering your question, now will you answer mine please? it’d mean a lot
here we go:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/956576-can-i-get-into-georgetown-gw-transfer.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/956576-can-i-get-into-georgetown-gw-transfer.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>I agree with post #2… wait and see what kind of aid USC gives you, because if they give you less than you anticipate, your choice has been made for you. Even with the aid that you project, I would choose Pitzer because the school seems to fit you better and you won’t have to take out as many loans. This is a really, really bad time to take on a lot of student loans, and 16k A YEAR from USC is hefty. Go to Pitzer, unless USC costs about the same or less, and go to grad school at USC (if you need that for film).</p>

<p>Also, it doesn’t sound like you’re guaranteed a job if you choose to pursue screen-writing the way that a pre-med is. This is also something to consider when debating whether or not to take student loans.</p>

<p>Edit: And I just read through all of georgetownboy’s post… it is very poor advice to “not worry about the debt”. There was an article passed around on CC a few weeks ago about a young woman who owed NYU about $100,000 after her UG years. She certainly has to worry about her debt: <a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/109701/placing-the-blame-as-students-are-buried-in-debt?mod=edu-collegeprep[/url]”>http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/109701/placing-the-blame-as-students-are-buried-in-debt?mod=edu-collegeprep&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>There’s an aspect of being realistic, not necessarily pessimistic, when it comes to industries like film, music, tv, fashion, etc.
Correlation is not causation. Yes, going to USC might give you an advantage in terms of networking, but to really make it or do something significant in these industries involves more than just going to X school. And even if you go to X school with amazing networking or resources, you have to be the type of person who is very pro-active. If you are the pro-active type, then attending Y school over X school won’t end up mattering, as you’ll find the resources and network in other ways. Work experience, being social(networking with people in the actual industry, not just your classmates), are just as important if not more important than being talented.
The advantage I see with Pitzer, assuming USC doesn’t kick in with the financial aid, is that it will allow you to leave college with less debt. Consequently, being in less debt should allow you to not sacrifice exploring unpaid or low paid opportunities, like internships or entry level positions with really great companies.</p>

6

<p>I ended up deciding to go to Pitzer. I’ve committed at both, so that’s subject to change, but I think my heart is with Pitzer. I’m also not entirely sure that I’m academically prepared enough to leap into such an esoteric group as that of the USC film school. I’m going to really spend a lot of time at Pomona College while at Pitzer and make an effort to transfer to Pomona. I’ll be able to take classes there, write a compelling “Why Pomona” college essay about the course I took under specific professors that will help shape the outcome of my goals in life, establish a first name basis relationship with admission counselors, tour the school to see if I like it, etc. Thanks for your help, guys.</p>

7

<p>Most people in LA respect all of the Claremount colleges…be proud if you end up going there! USC is great, but it takes a lot more than going there to land a good job…there are a lot of USC grads in LA that didn’t get their dream job.</p>

8

<p>I think you made the right choice. you could easily end up not getting accepted to SC’s film school (really tough to get in) and being stuck in a psychology major with debt.</p>