<p>I don't know about rejection letters. I was accepted at UCB and have gotten several mail pieces for programs, scholarships and crew. UCLA I get Regents and scholarship mail. Stanford sends more than USC. So does Princeton. I am a Trustee Scholar and have legacy, accepted to TO and FSH at USC. I didn't apply for aid.
Maybe the UC's sent more to scholarship and Regents.
The flash or lack of by any of the schools didn't impress or sway me. I have only looked at the numbers, stats and whats best for me. Sorry to offend you guy!</p>
<p>For UC campuses, there is definitely a coorelation between how much mail (and email) that you receive, and whether-or-not you were named as a Regent recipient. For the UCs for which my son was offered a Regent Scholarship, there was more mail, and email. For those UCs that he did not receive the Regent, there was zilch. However, in my son's case, all the mail combined from UCs (including Regents) did not come close to the total amount of mail from USC. (Granted, you would never base a decision solely on the number or, weight of, mail received). </p>
<p>For USC, after we did the Meet-USC last summer, we received something in the mail about every two weeks. Then, after doing a Departmental Interview in November/December, the mails increased to almost weekly. After the Admissions Acceptance letter in January, followed by the Scholarship Meet-USC letter, also in January, the letters have been weekly, and sometimes multiple mail envelopes per week. Acceptance. Housing. Scholarship. Financial Aid. Invitations to Student Events in our local area. Brochures regading my son's major. Invitations to special programs within my son's major. If you received the Acceptance package, then you know that it alone far exceeded any other schools admission package. (I can't speak for Stanford, S got a no on that one, but a yes on just about every other school applied to). </p>
<p>You ARE correct, that for the most part, one should base a decision on the numbers, stats, and what is "best" for the student. However, I will add to that, that if you have two or three schools that are somewhat comparable, than other factors need to be considered. It could be location, size of school, private vs public, weather, recreation, closeness to home, or not :-). </p>
<p>The many letters sent to my son (from USC) definitely showed some "interest" on the part of USC. It was definitely flattering. The invitation to special academic programs (Honors program, and others) were the clincher for us.</p>
<p>Good luck in YOUR decision, and best wishes in your future.</p>
<p>Obviously USC will show "interest" due to the amount of money they will be receiving from you. It's only logical as college has become a 'business' in most respects.</p>
<p>You are correct. Yes, unfortunately, it has become a business. Nonetheless, the mail was enjoyable to see every week. :-)</p>
<p>For us, it has been a combination of considerations. I do have to say, that along the way, every dealing that we have had has been a pleasure with USC. (I feel bad that it has not been that way for everyone).</p>
<p>When we were down, last summer, for Meet-USC, and the day was over, and we were trying to find our way back to the parking garage, some woman in a golf cart (who worked on staff) sensed the fact that we were lost, looking at map, and turning in all directions. She stopped, started to give us directions, and instead gave us a ride to the parking garage. </p>
<p>When we were down for the Meet-USC Scholarship Interview, and I was heading back to the garage after the Parent's dinner, I got turned around again. A woman stopped and helped. She walked with me to the parking garage. Turns out that she was one of the Profs from the Parent's dinner. Each parent's table had a Prof from their son's or daughter's Major. She didn't have to help me, I would have neven known who she was if she just continued walking past me. But she stopped, and helped.</p>
<p>By no means does it mean that my son is going to receive a better education because some people stopped to help us. But, it does go a long ways towards making a parent feel good about a school, when every encounter that they have is a good one.</p>
<p>There were several other small things (helpful people on the phone, emails being returned by USC staff at night while they are at home, positive interactions in food establshments on campus, and with other campus personnel, etc.). The tours of my son's Department were awesome. The classrooms are state of the art. In one class, it is interactive, in that students can input a value into an electronic device indicating how well they are keeping up with the lecture. The Prof then sees a cummulative graph, and can speed up, or slow down his/her lecture accordingly. Might sound corny, but I liked it.</p>
<p>I could write an entire paragraph about how much it meant to my son, to spend the night in the dorms, and interact with current students. And to go to dinner, breakfast, and a social event with the students. Sure, you can say it is marketing. But those current students with whom he interacted were not getting paid for their comments.</p>
<p>^Typo above. </p>
<p>Meet-USC was last summer (1/2 day tour, included in-depth discussion with Admissions Officer from your major). </p>
<p>Explore-USC (2 day, overnight adventure) was during the Scholarship Interview process.</p>
<p>Lovetocamp, sounds like you made the right decision. hope it works out. I never wanted SC, it was more of a safety for me. My cousin is still on the fence on SC. She's a Trustee's too. Good luck to you and your son.</p>
<p>Clearly you have not looked at USC well. In Silicon Valley it is the premier school along with Stanford Engineers that recruiters hope to get resumes from. Also, you cannot get classes you want at UC's frequently.</p>
<p>Wow... interesting discussion... </p>
<p>I have recently been admitted to USC Electrical Engineering as a transfer student (Junior standing). Yeah, USC shows so much care to their students as they send out many letters and keep them updated regarding their status. I too received more than 10 regular mails, and I especially like the acceptance package; it is the nicest one I have ever received: I like the "certificate of admission" very much; I feel like I have accomplished something upon looking at that certicate and I even feel proud of having it :D </p>
<p>Last week, I visitted the engineering open house with my friend who has also been admitted. I really enjoyed many presenations there and I appreciate their free lunch (pizza) and free T-shirt. :D From my own observation, USC is such a beautiful campus, especially in engineering department, it seems that they have equipped with all kinds of high tech materials for labs, researches... so on. </p>
<p>I have been accepted to UCI, UCSD and USC so far; still waiting for UCLA and UCB, though. Nonetheless, USC is currently on my top choice!</p>
<p>Since you all are USC fans, would you mind sharing something you learned regarding USC engineering department?</p>
<p>There is a cool DVD Viterbi put out that might be of interest to you, if you haven't already received it. I liked it (tho my son ignored it). So far, I have been impressed by the accessability of the folks there. I spoke with Mrs. Louise Yates, who is Associate Dean of Engineering several times & she has always been very helpful and informative and she replies to e-mails I have sent her. My son interviewed with her (wearing regular HS clothes instead of the nice outfit mom wanted him to wear), but his attire wasn't counted against him. :)
The folks I know who are currently in the engineering department or have graduated from there have been positive about their experiences. Several of them have completed internships and one enjoyed a summer in Europe with the USC engineering department.
A dad I spoke with said his son is psyched that he's meeting the brightest kids from all over the world in engineering--his group had a kid from Russia, one from Afganistan, one from Iran or Iraq & him from HI. There's also a kid from Vietnam who is 14 & a genius! He loves the diversity.</p>
<p>@kevin101 - the most important thing about USC engineering is picking good classes and good profs. Not to say that there are any really bad ones, but when there are such awesome profs and interesting classes available you should try to get those. For EE, pick Redekopp, Puvvada, and anyone else who's won a teaching award (the list is posted on the viterbi site). You'll work extremely hard in those classes(esp. Puvvada), but it'll be interesting and rewarding at the same time. The student senate is overhauling the extremely popular professor review site senatecourseguide.com too.</p>
<p>@HImom - engineers usually wear old torn up jeans/t-shirt so "regular HS clothes" might be considered formal around here :)</p>
<p>Many of the engineering faculty here are great. So far for engineering, I've had Goo, Katsouleas, Redekopp, and Meshkati but all are great guys who really want to know you personally and outside the class. Goo was boring in class (it was Materials Science, aka easy chem) but I got to know him well through office hrs. I was impressed that Katsouleas actually remembered everyone's name in his 60-person class, even long after the class ended! (I ran into him skateboarding outside commons a few weeks ago and he remembered me well, even though I had him last semester) There are actually two Redekopps, one is the father in AME and the other is the son in EE. I had the younger one, but both are supposed to be great. Meshkati keeps botching my name, but he's still a cool guy! </p>
<p>The faculty I have been disappointed with so far are the math and physics faculty. Most of those profs are the type that would rather be in a research lab than in the front of a lecture hall.</p>