<p>Whenever i ask this question, i get soooo much biased opinions. I hear crap about UCLA from USC students and crap about USC from the UCLA students, like: "USC is in a ghetto" or "UCLA students are arrogant snobs"</p>
<p>I got accepted to both Universities and i am definitely going to go to one of these 2 schools but i am 50/50%... can i please have some unbiased opinions? (its ok if you went to one of these to schools and want to talk good about it... but don't bash the other school when you really don't know anything about it)</p>
<p>thank you very much and i cant wait for your replies :)</p>
<p>You will always get some bias. Even with my opinion, which would be to go to USC.</p>
<p>You can't go wrong with either. It's a matter of visiting and seeing where you think you could see yourself at for the rest of the time there.</p>
<p>Academically speaking UCLA is the stronger institution for undergrad, with the exception of a couple of programs USC dominates in. However I think it's negligible considering you would get the same respect from potential employers in the So Cal area. What I personally like about USC is that there's more hold handing, like some people on these forums have mentioned. At UCLA you're kind of on your own, and it's a sink or swim situation. You always hear about the Trojan network, and I'm pretty sure once you start going out in the real world you'll start feeling it and seeing it. Just driving around LA(which I do alot of) I see more license plates that read USC alum, or Trojans/USC. You get my point.</p>
<p>If financial aid is a concern, then obviously go for the one that is most cheapest for you and your family.</p>
<p>I'll copy and paste what I wrote in another thread:</p>
<p>Admissions:
-Acceptance rates are virtually identical
-UCLA has slightly higher average GPA
-USC has slightly higher average SAT</p>
<p>Student Body:
-USC is significantly more diverse, unless you are Asian in which case UCLA would be preferable
-UCLA has more students from middle class families
-USC has more students from poor families but also more students from rich families</p>
<p>Sports:
-Both have great sports traditions, with UCLA particularly excelling in basketball and USC particularly excelling in football.</p>
<p>Academics:
UCLA as a school has a little more prestige due to its historical excellence. USC is the "new kid on the block" and its prestige is rising rapidly, but not quite to the level of UCLA. The inherent nature of prestige is that it has lag time, so there would be a better comparison 5 years from now.</p>
<p>Programs:
-USC has a highly ranked undergrad business program. UCLA does not have an undergrad business program but instead has an biz-econ major.
-USC has somewhat of a weakness in the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences and UCLA excels in this area.
-Both UCLA and USC have good engineering programs. However, UCLA has more of a sink-or-swim approach to educating whereas you will get more attention/support at USC.
-USC's film school is probably the best in the U.S. UCLA's Film School is good, but not to the level of USC.</p>
<p>Location:
Westwood > The area around USC.</p>
<p>Campus:
Both have very nice campuses, and it comes down the the style you prefer. UCLA is more majestic/monumental while USC is more charming/cozy.</p>
<p>Alumni Relations</p>
<p>The Trojan Family is no Joke. While I'm sure UCLA's network is strong, the school isn't particularly known for this.</p>
<p>I mentioned this earlier, but UCLA has more of a sink-or-swim mentality where you have to assert yourself a lot more in getting attention for TA's/Professor's. Some do well when they are an anonymous person in a lecture hall, others do better in smaller, more intimate classes. Also, UCLA is a public school and thus there will a lot more bureaucratic red tape. USC is more nimble in this regard. In addition, the school spirit at USC is tremendously strong. UCLA has spirit, but not to the level of USC.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Notice, however, that College Confidential doesn't consider USC to be one of the "Top Universities".
[/quote]
</p>
<p>They ordered the forums something like 4 or 5 years ago based on US News, and haven't adjusted them since. USC's stature has jumped significantly in that time, and the outdated CC Top Universities classification does not reflect that. Pssst if a moderator is reading this maybe it's time for a update?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Are you planning on staying in socal? The Trojan network is very strong in socal but if you want to leave california it's scarce.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not true. USC has alumni associations all over the U.S and all over the world. USC alumni are particularly active in Northern California (where I'm from), New York, Boston, Hong Kong, and Texas. </p>
<p>USC has the resources of a private university while UCLA is public. While UCLA is certainly a great school, you do receive that sink or swim approach.</p>
<p>I was accepted to both UCLA and USC and chose USC over UCLA for a few reasons.</p>
<p>UCLA felt cramped while USC certainly felt more accommodating in terms of receiving help, meeting with professors, or having professors that actually teach classes.</p>
<p>The school pride was a factor for me, I'm not sure if it is for you though. You will never find a prouder school or more enthusiastic students. At UCLA the students were less enthusiastic (always a sign about where you'll be happier) and the dorms and campus was far more cramped (once again fitting in with my little theme).</p>
<p>Undergraduate degrees are not nearly as important as graduates and the difference in academic reputation between USC and UCLA is now becoming negligible.</p>
<p>USC was ranked 40th a few years ago, nows it 27th. If you're into raw numbers, UCLA is better, but if your a savvy stock trader that looks at trends, USC is your best bet.</p>
<p>
[quote]
USC has the resources of a private university while UCLA is public.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Both UCLA and USC have huge multi-billion dollar endowments. UCLA's as good as a private university..</p>
<p>Ayoub,</p>
<p>Go and visit. This has to be about fit and feel. You can't choose either one based on rankings and a bunch of fanboys/girls on this site. We cannot give you the perspective that walking the campuses will give you.</p>
<p>My son went to USC for film. It was the right school for him. He was rejected OOS at UCLA. Had he been accepted it would have been a tough choice in 2003. It's even a tougher choice now.</p>
<p>That Trojan family means nothing if you plan to leave socal. It's a socal family and has bits and pieces scattered throughout the rest of the state but, if you leave california, is nowhere to be found. </p>
<p>You can't leave USC campus at night either. You think I'm joking but I'm not. I go to UCLA and made my first visit to SC last january and thought all the rumors about it being in the ghetto/bad neighborhood were hyped up. It wasn't, it's in a horrible neighborhood. We crashed at a friend of a friends apartment and he said that he's been robbed once: His advice? If it's night time and you're a guy you can't have an ipod in or talk on your cell phone. If you're a girl you shouldn't walk alone period at night. </p>
<p>USC is probably better for sports. I know UCLA has 100 titles but basketball tickets are very hard to get and you know how it goes for football. </p>
<p>SC is a little more social</p>
<p>UCLA has a little more respect (even in socal)</p>
<p>
[quote]
You always hear about the Trojan network, and I'm pretty sure once you start going out in the real world you'll start feeling it and seeing it. Just driving around LA(which I do alot of) I see more license plates that read USC alum, or Trojans/USC. You get my point.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There's quite a large "Bruin Network" out there as well. UCLA has more than 360,000 living alumni, including more than 245,000 that reside in California. </p>
<p>Large body of alumni does not always constitute a network. I've heard many times about the USC Alumni network from non-USC graduate. Outside of Southern CA, nobody gives a crap about UCLA nor USC. Do not give UCLA any more credit than that. In fact, my admin graduated from UCLA.</p>
<p>
<hr>
<p>huhu: I have posted a similar response on the UVA board (UVA v USC thread), but I have changed some of that response due to your son's interest.</p>
<p>We are from VA, and S applied to USC but not UVA. Nothing against UVA because it is a great school, but S just didn't see himself there. (Also, nothing against GT because it also is a great school, but as a disclaimer I have to admit I have UGA relatives, and there's a "little" rivalry there.) S had also spent part of a summer in Southern California and really liked it. He has narrowed his final list down to just a few schools, and one of them is USC. (USC also offered him scholarship money.)</p>
<p>Before visiting, I honestly had a bias against USC, thinking that it was a partying, rich kids, we-worship-football school. After visiting USC and meeting students, faculty, and admissions officers, I realize now that I was TOTALLY wrong. Yes, there are some of those types at USC (just like at all schools), but most students are not like that.</p>
<p>I'll try and not repeat info that you have received from USC. (I must mention here, however, the great Renaissance Scholarship that USC gives for students with diverse interests. Last year's winner was majoring in Engineering (not sure which one) and Opera. Where else would you find this but at USC!) Here are a few of our observations about USC:</p>
<ol>
<li>You already know that USC offers a wide variety of majors and minors, including over 150 majors and 120 minors. It has the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. It also has 17 profession schools, including Engineering, Cinematic Art, Fine Arts, Music, Business, Architecture, Law, and Medicine, just to name a few.</li>
</ol>
<p>More importantly, however, USC encourages double majors and also encourages interdisciplinary studies and cooperation between schools. For example, for last fall's "Demo Game Day," students from three schools worked together on teams to create video games. USC Viterbi School of Engineering : Viterbi Game Day Builds USC Stature as National Center for Interactive Arts Students came from the Viterbi School of Engineering, the Roski School of Fine Arts, and the School of Cinematic Arts. These were students "from computer science, interactive media, fine arts, animation, and composers from the School of Music."</p>
<ol>
<li>USC is a vibrant campus with some unique buildings. For example, the Bovard Auditorium is a beautiful facility that hosts very diverse events from Ladysmith Black Mambazo to Tom Brockaw. For photos, see Bovard Auditorium - University of Southern California </li>
</ol>
<p>When we visited in February, the flowers were blooming. (We left VA in a snowstorm.) The campus is not too big and students walk, use "long boards" (skateboards), or ride bikes called "beach cruisers" everywhere. These cruisers are the exact opposite of mountain bikes. They have no gears, have baskets on the front, and come in great colors like pink, purple, lime green, etc. I think it would be hard to get too stressed out at USC with the longboards and pink cruisers sailing by you, surrounded by flowers blooming.</p>
<p>Some people talk about the "high crime" area around USC, but it did not seem too dangerous to us. Yes, it is an urban area. Yes, you would not walk around by yourself at 2 am off campus wearing your Ipod. But no campus is totally safe, and common sense goes a long way. (Note GT is in a similar-type neighborhood in Atlanta.)</p>
<ol>
<li>The student body is diverse and very nice. Eleven percent are first-generation college. We met many students and all of them were friendly. I went to an annual hip-hop dance showcase which had some amazing dancers. Even the dancers who were less than amazing received applause from the very enthusiastic and supportive audience. I talked to some students in the audience who were eager to share their we-love-USC stories. One was from Canada and the other from Northern California.</li>
</ol>
<p>USC has students from all over the world with different backgrounds and ethnicities. The students were wearing all kinds of outfits. We saw prepsters, mini-skirts with cowboys boots, lots of USC shirts, long shorts, short shorts, and everything in between. There was not one main look.</p>
<p>S went to two club sport activites (there are over 600 student organizations), and the students were very welcoming. </p>
<p>He also met a aerospace engineering student who was on USC's Design/Build/Fly team and who invited him to the team's lab where he met other members of the team. They explained how the team designs, builds, and flies (hopefully) a plane that will compete in a national competition based on mandated specs. (The team icompeted this past weekend, 4/18/08, in Wichita, KS, and came in around 10th out of 50 or 60 teams.)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>USC has almost a $4 billion endowment. Though this is not at the same level as Harvard or Stanford, last year USC raised over $450 million. Recently, USC received $25 million, the largest ever made by an African American to a U.S. institution of higher learning. (The donor made the gift in honor of her husband, a "49 Marshall School grad.) Even people who never went to USC seem to give it money. Why? Because it is easy to fall in love with USC and to believe in what USC is accomplishing. The Viterbi has received several major gifts in the past several years.</p></li>
<li><p>USC works closely with industry to help place students. For example, at the Demo Game Day I mentioned above the best of the best attended:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Quote:
Industry representation included Applied Minds, THQ, EA LA, EA Mobile, Activision, Northrup Grummann, Disney Interactive Studios, Digital Domain, Emsense, Disney VR Studios, Sony Online Entertainment, Sony Computer Enteratinmane of America, Steamboat Ventures, Blizzard, Google, Insomniac Games, Naughtdog Games, iSportGames, and Creative Artists Agency. </p>
<p>One of the nice aerospace students we met told us that her department had a "Shadow Day" where students shadowed industry people around for the day. For her company, she selected a major player in the aviation industry. At the end of her day, her host asked her to come back in the summer for an internship because he was so impressed with her. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Though USC has around 16,000 undergraduates, the Viterbi School and the people there go out of their way to make you feel part of a much smaller group. They have activities for the engineering students and crazy contests which involve building concrete canoes and walking on water. (And yes, I mean literally!) They are also interested in all aspects of their engineering students, not just the math and science parts. For example, this past January the actor Alan Alda spent a day at the Viterbi School talking to the students about public speaking.</p></li>
<li><p>I don't know if your S is interested, but USC has honor dorms. I don't know about GT.</p></li>
<li><p>I know it sounds crazy, but I have to list the USC Marching Band. Those of you who have watched and heard them play (especially "TUSK") will agree.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>We also found the admission people to be nice, helpful, and concerned. These included those in the main USC Undergraduate Admissions Office (especially Director Timothy Brunold who also makes a great emcee) and those in the Viterbi Admissions Office (especially Director Matthew O'Pray). The Viterbi faculty and students were the same.</p>
<p>What also impressed me about USC is that unlike some schools that dwell on the past, USC focuses on the future. I see USC going nowhere but up in the coming years. I think that even if S selects a different school for his undergraduate studies (he's still deciding, and there's only a few days left before May 1st), he will come back to USC for a graduate degree. Hope this helps. Best of luck in your decision.
<p>Ayoub, you never answered my questions about which school would be cheaper for you financial aid-wise, or what your intended major is. Asking for links to photos and videos of the two campuses seems to be a rather superficial way of deciding where to go. You can do a google image search yourself to get that.</p>
<p>Are you seriously trying to compare the two schools to make a decision about which to attend, or did you just want to try and start a USC/UCLA rivalry thread? I suspect the latter.</p>
<p>I'd personally have a serious dilemma too if my choices were UCLA and USC. These days the two schools are absolutely neck and neck, with UCLA providing more overall prestige and academic rigor while USC provides better alumni connections and private school privileges aka lots of moolah spent to make you happy. The USC acceptance package was quite a lot more "substantial" than either UCLA or Cal, there's just no contest to that and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make my heart move. I think the ultimate factor comes down to costs, if one is cheaper than the other, then it's probably a good idea to go to that one as you can't go wrong with either choice. But if the costs are also the same, then ... ... good luck to you because I have no idea what to do either.</p>
<p>Again, you just can't go wrong with either nowadays.</p>