Hey everyone! I have a dilemma, albeit one that I feel exceptionally lucky to have in the first place: I’ve been accepted at both Northwestern and USC (the University of Southern California, not South Carolina), and I’m really struggling to choose between the two. I’ve been trying to think of the best way to communicate the thoughts about both schools that have been flying around my head lately, and I think it would probably be easiest if I just laid out the best possible arguments for both schools.
Starting with Northwestern: I was admitted to the Medill School of Journalism, which is consistently ranked as the best journalism school in the country. Journalism has been a large part of my high school experience – I started writing for my school’s paper during my freshman year, and I now serve as its head editor. It’s been a long-time career interest of mine, too, and having a journalism degree from Northwestern might make it a lot more viable. Many journalism students also have second majors, largely thanks to the fact that Medill apparently makes double-majoring considerably easier than at most other schools. This means that I could pick up a second major better suited to the pre-law track (one of my main ambitions is to go to law school). I’ve heard great things about Northwestern’s Legal Studies major – although apparently this buzz has made it fairly competitive, with many well-qualified applicants for the major being rejected. In spite of the sub-zero winters, I feel quite drawn to Northwestern. When I had the chance to tour it during my junior year, I felt an instant connection to the campus; it felt like somewhere I belonged. I think it’s safe to say that I would probably get a more focused, individualized, and potentially advantageous education at Northwestern than at USC. If quality of education were my only concern, that would be enough for me to start buying purple clothes today – but there are some things about the alternative that make me hesitate.
The case for Northwestern is based largely on pragmatic reasoning with some sentimentality sprinkled in. The case for USC, on the other hand, is more about intuition. I’ve never had the chance to visit USC’s campus, but I still somehow feel connected to it in a way similar to Northwestern. This isn’t a feeling I get often – I only got it with UCLA, Northwestern, and, now, USC. There’s probably some sentimentality at play there; I was born in Los Angeles, lived there for the first seven years of my life, and then moved to the other side of the country. I’ve always wanted to move back back, and the idea of going to college there seems like the perfect way to get that experience if I don’t have another chance at it later in life (UCLA, ironically, was my first choice). When I think about where I’d like to spend the next four years of my life, I’ll admit that Los Angeles sounds a lot more appealing than the Chicago suburbs, especially when I start thinking about winter temperatures. Based on an extremely surface-level analysis of the vibes there, I also feel like it would probably be easier to find “my people” at USC – looking at the class of '25 Instagram accounts for both schools seem to back this up (although I only take this with a grain of salt. Maybe two; my gut has a decent track record here). Is it possible that my feelings are largely the product of the confirmation bias imposed by my inner child who just wants to move back to L.A., drink overpriced coffee at comically hip cafes, and take classes with pretty girls? Definitely. But I think there might be some legitimacy to my feelings here – after all, I have some concerns that a generous reader might almost consider practical. As much as I want my college experience to be academically rigorous, I want to have fun, too. I’m sure I’d have the chance to go to plenty of parties at Northwestern, but it seems like pretty much any school would be hard-pressed to compete with USC in the fun department. Niche gives it the #1 ranking for quality of student life; it’s in the middle of an incredible city, and there are a million great things to do on and off-campus. I wouldn’t be a journalism student there, but that’s okay – I don’t know if I really have the passion for it I once did, and I think I’m really more interested in law. USC’s Politics, Philosophy, and Law major sounds perfect for me, and I think I could do really well with it. It’s not like I would have to give up journalism entirely, either, since I could still write for the Daily Trojan.
I’ve said a ridiculous amount already, so I’ll try and synthesize all of that into one overarching question. I think it would be fair to say that I would get a better education at Northwestern, but I would be considerably happier at USC. So, which one should I sacrifice for the other? I think I made a good decision a while back when I sacrificed the former for the latter, deciding that I would rather go to Northwestern than UChicago – but I can’t decide whether it would be wise to make that choice again.
I think the answer to that question depends, in part, on the answer to another: for law school, would I be doing myself a disservice by choosing USC over Northwestern? Assuming I did equally well at both schools, would attending one over the other improve my chances of being admitted to the likes of Yale, Stanford, and Harvard’s law schools? (I know those schools are unbelievably hard to get into, but please humor me.)
A million thanks to everybody who read all of that. I’d appreciate any and all thoughts/advice!