so, everyone hates USC? :(

College Search & Selection
21

<p>oh yeah, cal tech, heh, that one get's no respect. :)
You know who I also left out? Pepperdine. Thats a good school with a rising reputation, a better location. kinda crazy with the chapel/bible stuff, but by LA standards, its very nice.
and by spincut's standards, its not in LA (also, ive never been there, don't know how LA it is).
WashU is a little different.. people question it because they question the way it has risen to the top.. through overly aggressive marketing. USC appears to be rising in the same way (although, much to USCs credit, to a much smaller extent). </p>

<p>maybe you dont get the point of what im trying to say.
LA Sucks. We all know it. We don't need ration or logic or the socratic method to arrive at the conclusion that LA sucks.</p>

22

<p>"LA Sucks. We all know it. We don't need ration or logic or the socratic method to arrive at the conclusion that LA sucks." </p>

<p>see, no, thats where you lose me, thats a juvenile comment and is not a valid thing to say. Even if you dont like LA (wait, you havent been there) saying something sucks is an opinion not a fact, so give it up, it's an antagonistic comment. That comment is very reminiscent of the negative treatment USC gets from alot of people on here, noticeably alot of the time from those whome have also neve been there either.</p>

<p>One can say the same about any city, even your own (it would be even dumber to you for someone to imply that and then admit they have never been there wouldnt it?).</p>

<p>-And i am surprised that people have said Washu heavily abused marketing to get to the top, when i looked at it in the late 90's i had thought it was already presitgious and i've never heard people talk badly of that school, but i guess thats news to me.</p>

23

<p>spincut, thecity is from norcal (very appropriate screenname), so naturally, s/he has norcal inferiority complex jk jk ;)</p>

<p>"friends don't let friends say 'hella' "</p>

<p>okay fine LA has its problems. it's an economic powerhouse and a lesser developed country all in one. its one of world's richest melting pots yet highly self-segregated. it's big enough to hold 2 basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer teams, but NO FOOTBALL team! it's in a great location, has tons of entertainment opportunities, awesome weather...but it has horrible TRAFFIC!!! what a big irony.</p>

24

<p>oh yeah, another thing i guess i never notice seeing as i'm not from the west coast, that whole North/South Cal thing, i guess i can just chalk it up to that.</p>

<p>I'm actually from Minnesota and frankly, although i am at horror to some of the crappy drivers in LA, the traffic "usually" doesnt bother me, it depends, but after a couple years i can get around anywhere interesting with usual ease, especially on the weekends.</p>

<p>and yes football is my favorite sport so it kind of stinks La has no pro football team, but they do have USC/UCLA, that goes a ways to make up for that :)</p>

<p>-but to be back on topic, anyone have experience or know of people that came out of USC and were able to transist to one of the top east coast programs? i'd be glad to hear more about it.</p>

25

<p>OK, I know one girl got into MIT, one to Harvard, one guy to Princeton. And one friend's daughter got into Stanford. ALL from USC. I believe there are a lot more, so stop asking this silly question, what you need is to work on it. </p>

<p>Nobody hates USC besides UCLA people:) Take it easy and just get ready for entertainment when you log onto an internet forum. Most handles on CC are just yahoos, they don't know much. Two kinds of people like bashing a school. One is YOUNG people, like TheCity, who doesn't know anything or just enjoy being mean. Another is OLD people, who forgets world changes. Certainly there are some exceptions, like TheDad, who are young at brain, and old at age. That is too pathetic to be popular. So mainly there are two kinds, and neither deserves your attention if you are working to get into elite grad schools. </p>

<p>Now you may've found that persons with a "TheXXXX" screen name like to bash your school. And you can tell yourself "TheXXX"s are just psycho and too bias, self-important to be something, then go to bed.</p>

26

<p>it is not a silly question at all! if anything i think it's been proven it's a valid question and concern for someone like me trying to go to graduate school soon, thats what these forums are for too.</p>

<p>and like i said every school has its sour grapes that can be written off and followed by "bed time" as you put it, but i was just noticing a high amount of antagonism and it concerned me.</p>

<p>the main part of my question was along with my concerns what prospective grad school candidates such as myself have to look forward to in terms of competition when i try to traverse to the east coast schools, especially the Harvards and the Princetons ect....</p>

27

<p>Erroneous quotes from TheCity:</p>

<p>"Between pomona and LA, there is nothing but one continuous city"</p>

<p>No, actually if you look on a map, there is (going East) Monterey Park, Montebello, Rosemead, Whittier, West Covina, Walnut, and finally Pomona. And no, it isn't conitnuous. The most direct route from USC to Pomona is via the 10, then the 60, and there are stretches of undeveloped land.</p>

<p>"that Stanford isnt in the san francisco bay area."
It is, and Pomona is in LA county. But Stanford is not in San Francisco, nor are the Claremont schools in the city of Los Angeles. As aforementioned, they're even several cities away.</p>

<p>"All of LA sucks, you arent going to say anytihng here on CC that is going to change my, or anyone else on CC's opinion about that."</p>

<p>Oh, so College Confidential as a whole has come to a consensus that Los Angeles sucks? Sorry TheCity, but your opinions don't apply to everyone. It's troublesome knowing you're going to such fine Chicago institutions with reasoning skills such as those.</p>

<p>"And for film, its easily one of the four best in the country."</p>

<p>Nope, it's #1. It's only competitor is NYU and those in the industry will tell you that USC is clearly the favorite. NYU is more for the independent filmmaker types. UCLA is a distant third.</p>

<p>"Also, admission statistics at those 3 LACs are much more selective than USC."</p>

<p>Thanks for posting those statistics. Once you get to college, you'll have to do that in order to make statements like that. To save you the trouble, I'll go ahead and do that for you with info taken from the Princeton Review Online...</p>

<p>% admitted:
USC - 27%
Pomona - 20%
CMC - 29%
Harvey Mudd - 38%</p>

<p>So going by admission statistics, which is what you're claiming to go by, only Pomona beats USC. Again, I congratulate your reasoning skills. And certainly in all fairness, Pomona is extremely underrated. Nevertheless, it is a small LAC and like it's sister schools will never carry the name recognition or command the respect that USC's name does. How many people outside of Southern California have heard of Pomona? Granted they should, but they have no clue how good it is.</p>

<p>"All in all, I think UCLA is just much less "LA" than USC is, and thats what makes the social atmosphere there more appealling."</p>

<p>To YOU. How many people come to USC to be in LA? Please, if you're going to insult USC, do it from an educated, informed perspective. Good luck at Northwestern/Chicago buddy. You'll be competing against kids who do know how to argue persuasively. Oh, they probably don't make up statistics either.</p>

28

<p>i loved Northwestern BTW (was for undergrad and still is for grad my No.1 choice) when i saw it, but i also looked at UofChicago (for undergrad anyhow) and let me tell you, it aint exactly a happy place. A Depaul friend of mine said that Chicago students say it's where "fun goes to die".</p>

<p>but this is all a little off topic, my main goal was to try and promote people to relate positive grad school admission experience they had after getting out of USC.</p>

29

<p>spincut, I'd say it is a silly question if you were really looking for anwers here. Most people don't care about USC, and the name won't stop you from anything successful. I can assure you a UCLA grad and a USC grad are same in front of an interviewer before they talk. What you know will make a difference. And for some professional majors, USC brand may carry more weight. </p>

<p>Why is it silly? Because you need to look at who are bashing USC. Some are extremely naive kids, while most are UC people. I noticed you come from Minnesota. You need to prepare for california culture, e.g. NorCal vs SoCal, UCB vs Stanford, UCLA vs USC, dirty hippies, city bums, middle-aged losers, mind midgets, also the enormous diversity. Outside of california (maybe NYC, but I like the people there), you won't find many people acting like this. Despite all these, you should find there are a lot more amazing people in California.</p>

<p>CC offers a platform for all different opinions. It is a little unfortunate that the yahoos outcount who really in the know. But that is all the case for this kind of internet forum.</p>

30

<p>""LA sucks" was not meant to be an argument. If you are really so pompous or have your head screwed on so crookedly that you actually misconstrued that as an argument.. well, that tells the readers enough about a USC education right there. "</p>

<p>i'm not even sure how to tackle such a statement, firstly it wsa a juvenile statement and your insisstance that an opinion of yours (which comes from what i'm now made aware is a popular bias to have for people from Northern California) is a "fact" and now insulting me and my "education" (of which you havent even yet received) is further juvenile. I didnt classify it as an argument, i classified it as a juvenile opinion, so you can cool with the "pompous", head not screwed on "tells readers about your education" comments, you have plenty of that attitude already as it's been made clear to me by others.</p>

<p>and Liberal Arts schools are liberal arts schools, USC would not automatically be a "safety" for those who apply to a place like pomona, they represent different goals for education, if anything i wouldnt always be surprised if they got into a place like Pomona but got turned down by USC, as the schools have different goals when accepting students.</p>

<p>-anyhow back to someone who is actually on topic, "always there", maybe it is silly to look for answers "here" (i figured this would be the best place) but it still is not a silly question or concern. I would think school can count, especially when trying to get into an east coast program, as i hear they may or may not be more partial towards more localized east coast schools, but i am not sure. When you say it "doesnt matter" to them where i go, i'm sure to an extent it does, i'm not sure if you meant it doesnt matter "negatively" or positively or both.</p>

<p>And i am from Minnesota, but i'm not sheltered and i've been here for about three years. i dont come from a midwestern cornfield where i've never seen a minority, crazy person ect.. and have been to LA many times before i came out for college. But yes, there are "some" things i dont catch onto even after being here, such as this North vs. South nonsense that has already reeked its way in here. But bigots, hippies and bums i'm used too, as far as rivalries go i only really know about UCLA/USC, i mean, how can one miss it eh?</p>

31

<p>Those are old-- Princeton Review doesn't update that fast.</p>

<p>For the '05 fall year, the average accepted SAT at 'SC was 1395, forty-five points up from just LAST year. That's a higher average than any of the UCs.</p>

<p>So no, if anyone's thinking it, Southern Cal. students are NOT sub-par. Anyone who actually gets of their butt, does good research and looks into the quality of 'SC-- and doesn't pay attention to the percieved negative reputation, old stereotypes or malicious bad-mouthing so often aimed at it-- will figure out fast that USC isn't a U of Southern Choice, U of Spoiled Children, or U$C anymore.</p>

<p>Bless President Sample.</p>

<p>:)</p>

32

<p>i wish the "anymore" part wasnt emphasized either, i wish it was "not at all".</p>

<p>i wonder how many people posting here though are not USC alumni, it's always nice to know outsiders feel the same way :)</p>

33

<p>I went to grad school at Columbia and there were at least 2 former USC students in my class. I'm sure there were more, but those are two that I got to know well.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that a vast proportion of posters on CC are Harvard wannabes and bash any institution that is not on the top 5 list of the Bible (read US News World Report Rankings).</p>

<p>I think admissions officers will be much more interested in how you took advantage of the opportunities at USC -- courses, internships, and, if you're looking at b-school, your subsequent professional experience. In no way will USC be a stain on your resume. It may not have the "halo-effect" that you desire on the east coast (I think only Stanford truly has it in NYC), but it will be viewed as a solid school.</p>

34

<p>well thats good to know i suppose.</p>

<p>I am a business major and i probably will be considering business school, and i am doing some interesting things with my education alongside my business degree and internships.</p>

<p>I was actually thinking about columbia but after USC i'm not so sure i want to spend my next college experience in an urban area (or at least as urban as columbia).</p>

35

<p>TheCity,</p>

<p>which hs do you go to in the city? just wondering.</p>

36

<p>The City: Its funny how you know so much but are only in high school! I went to USC and am currently in a PhD program. I chose to stay in CA but was accepted to a couple of east coast and U MIch. </p>

<p>Spin: I am sorry you are unhappy, but don't worry about the image of the school that you came from. It's tier one and prestigious so you'll be fine. Thats if you have the GPA. People who are haters will bash USC but its awesome in so many ways. I find that past the GE's the classes are small and the faculty were supportive. And please note that I am middle class (but did recieve some Financial Aide), non-white, and a current doctoral student. Ask people why they hate USC and it will be that people percieve the students as cocky. That's definately true sometimes, but thats as far as their criticism goes. </p>

<p>The City just seems to have some sort of inferiority complex and not many facts. Good luck to you, but if your seriously taking peoples criticism seriously ask them to elaborate, you might just find that they are basing their views on false facts and bitterness.</p>

37

<p>TheCity, which school are you going this fall?</p>

38

<p>mind you, i already go to USC, it almost sounds like you think i'm trying to decide to go there still, but i've been going there for a while.</p>

<p>my issue is indeed peoples perception of the school though, at least the ones who make the admission decisions for grad school anyway. It's not so much that people make up negative lies about it, as a current student i know if it's true or not, it's how far those perceptions spread that concerned me.</p>

<p>and albeit GPA is important the whole point is that do they think a good student from SC should have a high GPA or that they realize it is challenging enough as it's peers to be a little more lax on GPA in comparison to lower tier schools and programs, that was my concern. As if they know it's really good they may not be as adamant about how high the GPA is.</p>

39

<p>CMC is not in Los Angeles; it is not even in the same county. Claremont and Los Angeles are not one continuous city.</p>

40

<p>"CMC is not in Los Angeles; it is not even in the same county. Claremont and Los Angeles are not one continuous city."</p>

<p>whether or not claremont is "one continuous city" with los angeles is debatable, but i just wanted to point out that claremont IS in the same county as los angeles.</p>