The enigmatic USC.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi all,
I find USC to be THE most enigmatic university, by that i mean, one hears too many positives AND negatives about anything concerned to it.I donno why i never hear THAT much about anything else. For example take the reputation matter, some say, "All you need to be a is, a trojan, and you are honored everywhere." and some, "Thats only if you are going to settle in So Cal. </p>

<p>Then lets move on to the value for money stuff, " 30K!! Its not worth it" and then something like.. " you DO get your money's worth".</p>

<p>The academics..."USC is THE place for PhD..even guys from MIT and Stanford come here for their PhDs..and for MS..the guys for MS are like cows..they mint money for the research of the PhD's"......"USC has excellent faculty but they only let the PhD guys do the research and MS guys dont have a chance..so its waste of all the facilities and the elite faculty,coz you never get to say see your professor, the classes are never interactive"....and to confuse more than what i already am.." Its the same faculty who will teach your courses so it is excellent and you get personal attention too"</p>

<p>The admissions..some of the people say that its very difficult to get in..
and some say, "all you need to do is apply"..i believe in the latter..mainly coz..
i have seen it myself..i got into USC for fall 2007 for engineering and couple of my friends got too..the only difference is that i have a GRE score around 1500 and my friends 1000..whatever happened to the selective process.</p>

<p>And social life.. some say 'ghetto','frat party' and 'frat party'..and some others..' Work hard AND party hard '...</p>

<p>The safety issue?? "chill..Its fine..not as bad as it seems", " Its the same even at so and so university too"....VS... " Its IN the hood kid","Its downtown, the place you don't want to be","At first I thought the campus was wonderful..but now i wish never came here..am leaving as soon as i can"</p>

<p>and so...
its goes on..
i have found extremes on both sides of every matter of USC..
I, being an overseas student, I cant go to LA to see and know all this by myself.I dont believe more in the rankings than first hand experiences
Also i would like to see how NCSU,UFL or UIC rate against USC.
If anyone can comment on the competitiveness too, i would be very glad..
coz again i have two things .."USC has over 1200 guys in CS department so..its like a rat race"..and "competition in USC is almost nonexistent"..
I would like to goto a college where there is enough competition for me so that i wont be lazy..and not too much of it that i would have to work too hard and go mad one day..</p>

<p>too many questions..
i know..
forgive me..but thats how confusing it actually is..
so i really wish someone ..hopefully from USC demystify this..
others are also valued for their suggestions..
but please lets not stray too far from our(maybe my own) main issue-USC
--Confused kid confusing all!! :)</p>

2

<p>a lot of the negatives you hear are outdated information... usc is becoming more and more competitive to get into and a lot more serious. honestly, it's where i'm heading in the fall and i'd heard all of those negatives you descried, but when i talked to people who actually go there, they had nothing bad to say about the school at all. the trojan network is incredible ESPECIALLY if you're going to settle in socal, but not ONLY...there are alumni clubs nationwide. </p>

<p>as for admissions, usc uses a very holistic approach. test scores/gpa are really only a small part of the equation... but a lot of people with great scores are rejected. just check out the usc forum here. </p>

<p>as far as safety, i feel very safe on campus. it's nothing like it's surrounding area & usc owns a lot of the surrounding land (hotels, apartments, etc) so it's really not like being in the "ghetto" at all. </p>

<p>i would say that opportunities exist for anyone who seeks them. </p>

<p>overall, i think it is a very good school.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for that and what about the research work there? I heard its very good, but MS people can't actually get to do it coz it runs only around the professors and their PhD students.</p>

<p>Other than that, what do you think about the other schools i mentioned..in case you know anything about them.Coz, 30K a year plus living in cali can be a difficult task coz i would be totally depending on loans..</p>

<p>Coming to the safety thing, it is advised everywhere, i mean EVERYWHERE, i read about USC they advice not to walk alone and also that some students dont go out after 7 pm..this has been given out by a fall 06 student like you ..so.. i guess i would like a consensus..</p>

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<p>even on safe college campuses, it would be unwise to walk alone at night</p>

5

<p>Definitely true,but thats not the only thing am considering about USC, i was showering questions so i thought, why withhold one :)</p>

6

<p>I can't comment on the research stuff. I know that I have several opportunities on an undergrad level, but most of those are helping with research. I have no idea what the graduate level research opportunities are like. </p>

<p>On the safety conversation, however, I can comment. USC is in a neighborhood that is lower economically. It is a rather diverse area, and most of the housing isn't the best, as has been commented on elsewhere. That doesn't mean that it isn't safe. On campus, you care completely safe. There is less crime on campus at USC than at Stanford or UCLA. Off campus is a little more iffy, but that doesn't mean that it is unsafe. DPS (the Department of Public Safety) patrols the area, and you can always get a ride to places using Campus Cruiser. I wouldn't walk back to my apartment at night alone, too often at least (don't tell my mom that last bit!), but as long as you have a friend, you'll be fine. Yes, there is some crime in the area, but it tends to be the type of crime on any campus- bike stealing, minor theft etc. Gang activity doesn't really happen in the area.</p>

7

<p>i read somewhere that usc is statistically safer than disneyland. idk exactly what that means though.</p>

<p>and i really doubt there are people who won't walk around after 7 pm. maybe who won't go off-campus afer dark, but... if you live on campus and won't leave your dorm after 7, you have essentially no social life. besides, some people have classes after 7pm...</p>

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<p>& as for research, i don't know about masters opportunies. i know it is great for undergrads, but other than that, i can't really help you.</p>

9

<p>Hmm thanks for those replies..but is any grad student there here??</p>