USC or CAL (Spring '10 Econ Transfer)

Transfer Students
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<p>Hey guys, been searching around for a bit and was wondering if anyone could answer my specific questions.</p>

<p>I'm and econ transfer student and was admitted to both USC and Berkeley for Spring 2010.</p>

<p>I live in So. Cal. and love it. I've been up to both schools and know the "herb" smell of Berkeley and the dangerous neighborhood next to SC (my mom went to USC when I was a kid so I've known for a while)</p>

<p>After I graduate, I plan on getting an MBA, either right away if possible or after I have a few years of experience.</p>

<p>I've heard Berkeley is the most prestigious but also that USC is rising up and getting close if not the same. Could you say one school is preferred by employers over the other?</p>

<p>Also if I lets say go to USC for my undergrad, I heard it's frowned upon (or even impossible to go to the same school) by employers if I were to return for my grad?</p>

<p>Help is greatly appreciated! =] Thanks!</p>

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<p>Did I post this in the wrong section?</p>

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<p>no no, i think this is the right section :)</p>

<p>as for you question, well, id probably say that berkeley has a more worldwide prestige, im an international student from europe, and i just got accepted to USC where ill be going this fall, and basically none of my friends or anyone i know, know what usc is, but they know what berkeley is… </p>

<p>however, usc has a superb network, the trojan family, that is a HUGE benefit in socal and well all of cal, at least thats what ive heard… so it depends on where you wanna work :)</p>

<p>also, yea youre right about usc being on the rise, theyve been consistently going up on rankings and are even getting a more nationwide reach here in the US. i read somewhere, that a lot of east coast HS seniors are applying nowadays, which means that word has really spread to there, that USC is quickly becoming a top school…
i think itll be a while until it is more renowned outside of the US, but it is definitely coming! then ofc, it all depends on who you speak to :)</p>

<p>personally, if i were you, id choose the one where i feel i would enjoy myself the most… where will you find the most likeminded people and the best ‘fit’ ? :)</p>

<p>as they are both basically equal in prestige, or will be… think about what USC can do for you in terms of opportunities vs berkeley? and location, which do you prefer, USC/LA or Berkeley/Oakland/SF?</p>

<p>I definitely dont think you could make a wrong choice here, both are great schools and if you do well, you will have great opportunities in the future regardless of which school you go to… :)</p>

<p>Personally, I would choose USC, while im fairly sure my parents would have wanted me to go to Cal, as they actually knew what it was before this January when I applied to USC :P</p>

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<p>Thanks for the reply!</p>

<p>I was definitely interested on the prestige of each school outside of the US. Like your parents mine want me to go to Berkeley only because of the price, even though my mom is a trojan herself…</p>

<p>As for where I’d be the most happy I until now always thought USC because it was a dream but I need to give Berkeley a chance too, can’t get stuck in tunnel vision.</p>

<p>My friend who goes up there is planning to stay up there and work after he is done, most of the people he talks about who get the “great” jobs are also permanent residents of the SF area. That is what I want to avoid, I want to live in So Cal. People I know professionally and personally all live here, although I’m sure I can gain contacts there I’d rather return to my mother land.</p>

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<p>I would go with UCBerkeley. It has more prestige and a good network and you could always move back to so cal after college. It also has a good social life, and an excellent football team to go along with what USC offers.</p>

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<p>How would you compare their econ departments? I purchased a subscription to that usrankings site but it doesn’t have that major.</p>

<p>And could anyone answer my last question?</p>

<p>“Also if I lets say go to USC for my undergrad, I heard it’s frowned upon (or even impossible to go to the same school) by employers if I were to return for my grad?”</p>

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<p>phycodes, ive never heard anything about that tbh… ive seen lots of people who did ugrad and grad at the same place… for example one of the researchers i am hoping to work with here at usc went to johns hopkins for both, and he seems to be fine… :p</p>

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<p>split the difference. Attend Haas undergrad and 'SC for MBA. That way you get the best of two worlds (and alumni connections).</p>

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<p>I live in LA and EVERYONE here loves USC, but Berkeley is definitely more prestigious. This is what people think…those that went to USC is because they were rejected from USB and UCLA, those that went to UCLA were rejected from UCB or really love LA…those that went to USB are top notch! People seem to think of UCB and Stanford as the top competing schools in Cali. If you like football and socal then choose USC, but if you want bragging rights as far as prestige goes then choose Berkeley.</p>

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<p>Berkeley undergrad due to finances, then USC for grad school. Best of both worlds.</p>

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<p>SMC is actually kinda right… if you wanna brag, then def UCB is probably your best bet… no one can ever take that away from you, it is and has always been a top notch school so :)</p>

<p>as for the thing about ppl think ppl that go to usc were rejected by the other 2, i doubt thats really true… but i can understand what he means… which sucks, because i know several ppl on here who turned down UCLA/UCB for USC :)</p>

<p>thing is, we just had a family were friends with over for dinner, and the dad of the family is a engineering professor at swedens best engineering school, and he was like,</p>

<p>oh so youre going to LA now ? im like yea :slight_smile: hes like, ok UCLA then ? i was like, no USC :slight_smile: hes like oh ok… i dont think he knew what USC was… even though it has one of the top engineering depts in the US(i think, right?)… btw, i am in sweden… :)</p>

<p>but yea… usc is def on the way up… within 10 years theyll be world famous i think :)</p>

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<p>USC has been around for quite a long time. It’s highly unlikely that USC will become on par (in terms of world-wide prestige) with Berkeley within the next 10 years let alone UCLA. Berkeley and UCLA are known world-wide. In many Asian countries, if you say names like Cornell, Penn, Dartmouth, etc, people will stare at you blankly. But the names Berkeley and UCLA make their eyes light up in a similar way when we hear someone came from HYPSM.</p>

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<p>Considering your plans of an MBA, I will state that its very rare to get an MBA(at least from a top MBA program) following graduation from undergrad. You will NEED notable work experience, and the fact that you would have to get that after undergrad, and you plan on staying in SoCal after graduation, your best bet is USC. My cousin did Econ at USC,(graduated with less than a 3.5, but above a 3.0). Has had really great work experience primarily because of the trojan network. I know she works in the stock industry, and is now headed to UCLA for her MBA. She also got into USC for an MBA(but decided on UCLA as she already did the USC thing and UCLA ranks higher for business and generally is more well known around the world).
If you plan on coming back down to so cal, after undergrad, your best bet really is USC.
I definitely wouldn’t get into debt for it if Berkeley’s price tag is better(after financial aid) but you can’t go wrong with USC and living in so cal.</p>

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<p>I’m glad I finally posted here, reading a lot of helpful stuff.</p>

<p>I love football and hockey but I think it’d be a bad decision to rest my future just so I can watch good games.</p>

<p>With usc it’s the whole so cal thing that keeps bringing me back, that and my mom went there.</p>

<p>But I guess I could always do my masters at usc like a few of you said</p>

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<p>liek - i agree! most top MBA programs want you to have good work experience, and though berkeley isnt bad for that, USC is superb, spec within socal!
i think i could actually agree with going to USC first, and then something else… as long as its not too expensive in comparison to berkeley… :)</p>

<p>supa_ramga - yea it has, but you should also know that since current president sample came into office, USC has been consistently growing and getting better, as well as getting higher ranked… ive read in many places(including a UCLA paper) that USC most likely/definitely will overtake UCLA within the coming years… theyre just 2 rankings behind atm… and they just bought the norris cancer center as well as the LA county hospital, which means theyre medical field as well as ugrad bio/premed/neuro/etc etc will receive a lot of benefits… </p>

<p>USC is working towards becoming one of the top medical schools in the nation! not to mention they are consistently becoming more famous around the US, for example through winning football all the time, through their marching band performing as backup music for radiohead at the vmas or whatever it was… </p>

<p>ive said earlier to, that a lot more ppl from the east coast are applying nowadays, showing how much USC has grown at a national level… i definitely think it will take time before they pass UCLA, but maybe not too long… </p>

<p>as for asians, it might be because UCLA has a lot of asian students, so many of them are intls from asia, and many of them have relatives etc… ? just a theory… but yea its the same in sweden so i dont know … :slight_smile: </p>

<p>only thing i know is that, USC is DEFINITELY on the rise!</p>

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<p>I remember when my mom went they were trying to escape the this is for rich kids only stereotype. For a while it was believed that you just went there to buy your degree, but I watched my mom study her ass off to become top of her graduating class.</p>

<p>Though the tuition is still high they’ve really improved their academics. Like how Ns89 said, they’re 2 behind UCLA. 15 years ago that wouldn’t have been the case.</p>

<p>Although rich kids do go there they are still rich afterwards. I’ve seen many UC alumni plates on beat up old cars but I only see USC alumni on BMW and Mercedes haha.</p>

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<p>^^Very true of LA(or at least were I drive in LA), it’s rare to see USC alumni plates on beat up old cars. I always see them on newer cars or BMW/Mercedes. Can’t say the same thing with UC kids.</p>

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<p>^ haha thats funny :p</p>

<p>also, you should know that its not only rich kids, USC has a large population of students receiving pell grants etc, which means youre really low income… and i know several ppl on here who are getting a lot of fin.aid, so theres a great diversity which is good :)</p>

<p>sucks they dont give any fa to intl students =/ im paying it all out of pocket, and it sucks… but its the same with any univ in the us for me basically, so…</p>

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<p>I only wish I could qualify for financial aid. My mom, a dentist from USC, makes too much although our expenses are high =/</p>