Same for us. We might be a divided house! Daughter now at USC. Son wants to stay in LA.
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I had two get into UCLA engineering (and USC). And another in a liberal arts major. Lots of kids, lots of money on college, so we were really looking, it wasn’t just a USC or bust approach at that time. UCLA is gorgeous and a great school, no question. But for us, it all came down to just a couple key factors:
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We like private education. Did public schools up to high school then went private. So we learned the difference there and liked what we paid for.
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Being able to change majors (nearly impossible at some publics) and the ease to double major and/or add a minor. One of mine changed majors 5 times (yes 5 times). But it wasn’t till that 5th one that I got the call with tears of joy knowing she was now in the right major. My biggest fear was for any of mine to spend 4 years in a college (and that we were paying for) and stuck in a major they didn’t really want to be in. Two double majored and one did major and minor. Not everyone goes to college knowing what they want to be. I wanted them to be able to explore and if they found a passion, be able to go for it.
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The Trojan family network thing - it is real. Connections matter when they get out. I just wasn’t that familiar with grads from some of the other schools actually helping each other out. School didn’t have that family helping family feel that went beyond the four years.
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California is crowded and fighting for resources is a daily struggle, didn’t want my kids having to do that in college (getting classes, lunch, etc).
But gosh oh golly, both are great educations and experiences, we just wanted the bit more flexibility that we felt we could get at USC.
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oh another one, sounds dumb (and helicopter parent kind of thing) but it was big for us at the time, including my student. Room mate selection was random at UCLA, meaning my studious engineer could be placed with two, let’s call it “more party type” major students. And having to leave room to study seemed a pain. USC had great room mate matching (worked fantastic) and limit 2 to a room.
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My son got in EA, not sure about RD
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That’s awesome congratulations
Thanks but USC is top choice and the podcast said 9/10 applicants ( Viterbi) will be getting bad news. So quite discouraging.
Even I’ve applied for engineering program 
Good luck
Engineering is such a small program at a lot of schools, even UCLA. I don’t think applicants know how few spots there are sometimes!
410 First-Year Students
130 Transfers
50/50 Male/Female Yay Viterbi!
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My daughters stats are currently a 3.9/4.1 GPA, 21 units of Community college courses (all passing), 7 AP Courses (all passed), AP Award with Honors, 250+ hours of community service, a Poll Worker for elections, really good letter of recs, an internship, and a food bank coordinator. Would she have a good chance at Dornslife?
True!
Any idea when it’s coming out
thinking 3pm pst, that’s the usual time.
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Thanks so much for this feedback! It is really appreciated!
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For merit scholarship folks, can you provide some stats. Thank you.
What are the acceptance stats for Roski?
anyone know if it’s common to get admitted to your second choice major? my first choice was through viterbi but it seems too competitive so
i’m wondering what the chances are that i’ll get my second choice which is a dornsife major
Yes, some certainly get second choice or admitted undeclared. Either way, it’s a pretty simple process to move back into Viterbi.
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I agree, they are different for sure. Crossing our fingers!!
He felt like it went well. He was accepted to Architecture.
@CADREAMIN Thank you so much for taking the time to share this. Very helpful!! I can totally relate with the “not knowing what I want to be” part, my daughter has a general idea but she wants to explore and have that flexibility to do something else.
Thanks again for all the time you spend on this forum helping others out 
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