Sorry, I know the whole UCLA vs USC thing has been done to death, and I know there are a few other threads out there (a couple of which are quite old) that specifically focus on the pros and cons of each theater department, specifically for actors. For example, I know that USC offers a BFA while UCLA doesn’t, they both have lots of opportunities to act in student films, ect. What I didn’t really find an answer to, was which one is better in terms of industry connections? Does either one have better connections to the TV and film world? From what I understand they both do senior showcases, which is good. Anything else I should be aware of?
Any advice from anyone who has attended/looked into these programs would be very helpful. Thank you!!
I would of course recommend visiting both universities to identify their key differences, relative strengths in terms of your interests and needs and especially tour the specific schools within each that you are interested in attending. I also recommend conducting extensive research on each acting program - including taking a look at the past success of alumni.
As for USC SDA (School of Dramatic Arts) alumni… here are two links to get you started:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USC_School_of_Dramatic_Arts
https://dramaticarts.usc.edu/alumni/
Another thing to consider is the importance of the film schools within each university. The 13,000+ alumni of the USC School of Cinematic Arts could of course be instrumental or at least helpful as you move beyond an acting program into the realm of those auditioning and trying to work in film or television, if applicable.
My daughter is an SDA major, SCA minor at USC currently… and USC SCA was a very big component of her own desicion to attend USC. SCA is after all the oldest and most well-respected film school program… routinely ranked #1 within the Hollywood Reporter’s annual rankings. Then again, UCLA is ranked 4th, so you would be well served by considering UCLA for the very same reason.
While rivals, especially in terms of athletic competitions, USC and UCLA are also fundamentally different in a # of ways… private vs public, etc. So you may also want to evaluate those factors, including cost of attendance, etc.
Good Luck
We are from NJ and my D has her heart set on attending a program in CA. For us, UCLA (or any of the UC schools for that matter) are going to be very hard to get into as they take a very small percentage of OOS students. She is going to apply to UCSD, UCSB, and UCI but again these are long shots and they are non-audition BA’s. I just said to her the other day that maybe she should consider applying to UCLA because it’s an auditioned program and if they like her they won’t care as much if she’s in or out of state. USC is extremely hard to get into academically but if they like her for the BFA program I think she has a decent shot. I hear that their BA program is not good however, so if she for some reason she doesn’t get into the BFA and they offer her the BA (unlikely though because of her SAT/ACT scores are not through the roof) she will not go there. There is a thread somewhere about the BA program at USC I’m sure you can find which really made us think twice. Plus her acting teacher’s son works at USC and he said he would not recommend their BA theater program. So if you’re comparing UCLA’s BA to USC’s BA, then UCLA wins hands down.
To get admitted to UCLA/USC for that major (with admission rate of <4%) is as hard as getting admitted to any Ivy (including Harvard).