USC or UCLA?

<p>I have just recently considered adding USC to my list of prospective schools. I'm not sure if I want to apply to just USC, just UCLA, or both. Which school has a better reputation on the west coast? I plan on going to school for international business, but that can definitely change (and I know USC is better for that). But how are the schools viewed overall in comparison to each other? I know there's a rivalry between the schools, so I'd prefer if I got a neutral person's opinion on the matter.</p>

<p>What I know so far about both schools:</p>

<p>UCLA:
- public
- very large school, part of one big University of California
- top tier UC school
- urban</p>

<p>USC:
- private
- very large school
- urban
- better for int'l business</p>

<p>I don't know much, so I'd really be grateful if I can get some more info. Thanks!</p>

<p>I personally like USC better. Its private, semester system, and I’ve been very interested in its growth, while the UCs in general are potentially deteriorating due to budget cuts. Its only going to get worse for them because California is in SO much debt…</p>

<p>USC has interesting alums ranging from Neil Armstrong to OJ Simpson to George Lucas. I liked its campus too. The larger endowment of $2.671 billion compared to UCLA’s $1.88 billion helps to toot your ego, but I’m sure you’ll get the same opportunities.</p>

<p>UCLA is nothing short. Its an excellent school as well, but its all up to you and the fit.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>UCLA is ranked higher overall (since you seemed unsure about sticking to your major). If you are OOS, tuition is going to be high for both. USC does offer good scholarship options if money was an issue. </p>

<p>They both are excellent, however you should probably go with USC as its private environment offers better attention, even though it is a massive school.</p>

<p>^USC (#23) beat UCLA (#25) this year in 2011 USNWR overall rankings…not that it’s a huge deal in the end of the day, but I want to give the right facts to the OP :)</p>

<p>They’re both looked upon equally prestigious in California, although USC might have a little disadvantage in the East Coast…they might confuse it with the “University of South Carolina” :rolleyes:</p>

<p>UCLA does have a solid name all over America. But USC is still a very respectable institution among the educated.</p>

<p>My advice: It doesn’t hurt to apply to both!</p>

<p>I am OOS, so the money is around the same anyway. I am already applying to Berkeley, so I personally think the wisest decision for me is to apply to one UC (Berkeley) and one non-UC (USC). But if there is something I’m missing out on while comparing UCLA and USC, please let me know.</p>

<p>I personally like USC better. Its private, semester system, and I’ve been very interested in its growth, while the UCs in general are potentially deteriorating due to budget cuts. Its only going to get worse for them because California is in SO much debt…</p>

<p>The UC’s have had little or no impact from the state budget crisis and no strong indicators that this will change in the future. UCLA will be just fine moving forward. With that said, I do feel that USC has a slightly more attentive educational environment, as masterchief1 points out. I believe that UC Berkeley is on the semester system, unlike the other UC’s. They really are both great schools and, if possible, go visit them to see which one you like better.</p>

<p>Here’s my neutral opinion:</p>

<p>The difference in prestige/respect on the west coast is negligible. From my experience it favors UCLA, since USC was a crappy school 20 years ago so adults still think of it like that. People in the age group of 16-30 probably think of the schools as equals. The student caliber at both schools is equal.</p>

<p>Random tidbits about each school…
UCLA:
Awesome area (it’s in arguably the nicest part of LA)
Active campus
Gorgeous campus</p>

<p>USC:
Famous for the inclusive “Trojan” family, making it supposedly very easy to find a job
Significantly more expensive sticker price
Somewhat less students than UCLA
Larger out of state presence</p>

<p>These two schools have a lot more in common than they have different. If you got into both, you should just visit and see where you prefer. Your choice of major will also play a role. If you decided to go the business route, USC has a great business program while UCLA does not have one.</p>

<p>If it is a big dilemma to choose between the two (which I imagine is hard), I would call both schools and tell them that I am a prospective student and would like to have more information about the school. I am not sure but you might be able to do the same on their website.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

<p>USC. It’s ranked higher in the latest USNews & World Report college rankings and continues to climb. As it continues its rise, at some point in the near future, this won’t even be a question unless the individual is in-state and UCLA is cheaper. Also, the population is 16,751 (USC) versus 26,928 undergrads (UCLA), so the size difference is not just “somewhat less” or slight</p>

<p>If you are considering adding languages to your international business program, consider UCLA. USC has been cutting their already lacking language departments. I think they dropped German altogether.</p>

<p>TXHorn: He said he was looking for an unbiased opinion, not ridiculous fanboy-ism.</p>

<p>To propose that USC is ranked higher than UCLA is a joke. Here are some rankings for reference:</p>

<p>ARWU-
UCLA #13
USC #46</p>

<p>Times Online-
UCLA #30
USC #102</p>

<p>Forbes (dumb rankings though) -
UCLA #111
USC #281</p>

<p>Washington Monthly-
UCLA #3
USC #41</p>

<p>US News (the anomaly in the group)-
UCLA #25
USC #23</p>

<p>USC only beats UCLA in one ranking system, and only by a mere two spots. Compared to the domination of UCLA in all other ranking systems…yeah, you get the idea.</p>

<p>Forget the USC vs. UCLA nonsense and which one is better. Since you’ve decided to apply to Berkeley, just check off UCLA on the application and send in the additional fee - there, you’ve applied to UCLA. Apply to USC as well…they usually are more generous in financial aid offers to OOS students.</p>

<p>

Yes, Berkeley and Merced are the only UCs on the semester system.</p>

<p>I’m with UCB. It’s easy to forward the application, and it very well may be worth it. If you get accepted into USC and UCLA, it’s not too difficult to visit both of them (they’re in the same city!). You could then choose based on a mix of:
a) where you like better
b) your major
c) the cost</p>

<p>The UCLA vs. USC thing has been done to death though. I recommend doing a search for past discussions. They’re pretty much equal at the undergrad level.</p>

<p>UCBChemEGrad, do you have any more thoughts regarding the “doom and gloomers” who think the UC’s are potentially going to go spiraling downward because of the CA budget crisis?</p>

<p>^ Actually, I think this budget crisis will help the top UCs in the rankings (ironically and eventually)… State budget proposals are encouraging more spending on higher education. Education is a top priority and I believe legislature is more closely aligned. </p>

<p>However, the top UCs will be admitting more OOS students…these are typically full pay with higher test scores than lower income in-state students. Higher income is well correlated to various factors in the USNWR rating such as SAT scores (more prep), better grad rates (don’t have to work part time), and higher alumni giving rates. Also, UCs have said they would cut enrollment if state funding is cut further…this would reduce class size, etc. </p>

<p>I’ve suggested that the top UCs charge more for certain majors and programs like engineering and business (there are drawbacks to this like if you’re trying to encourage more kids to go into engineering)…there are lots of room the top UCs have in their arsenal to help their situation. </p>

<p>No question the state needs to get its priorities in order and act. The UCs though are several steps ahead.</p>

<p>Advantages to USC:

  • smaller, which after a certain critical mass is always good
  • good school spirit
  • better football team, but that might change with the Death Penalty recently imposed
  • has a business school
  • smaller average class size</p>

<p>Advantages of UCLA:

  • 1 mile from Hef’s mansion… in other words, in a fantastic part of town
  • more course selections, but harder to get into the most popular courses
  • better reputation over the past 50 years, it’s a push lately
  • because of Ph.D. and professional program prowess, well known outside CA and US
  • has the #1 Basketball program in the history of college basketball</p>

<p>In response to others, and some notes mainly about UCLA:</p>

<p>UCLA because of the large increases in college-aged eligibles has over-enrolled and that’s why the undergrad is now > 26K. Enrollment right before the tidal wave of students was around 23-24K. I’ll refer to the increase in students as “The Wave,” no allusions to radio stations or Pepperdine or anything else intended. After The Wave is over, I would guess the university will shrink back enrollment as before. But this doesn’t apply to you since you’ll be attending college during this boom period of students. You’ll find this across the country generally, though: publics generally increased enrollment to meet demand, while privates tended to keep enrollment steady.</p>

<p>As a consequence, lot of privates saw their acceptance rate drop quite a bit: Ivies, and like universites to < 10%, and some other top-notch schools to < 20%. USC took advantage of the large “supply” and saw its acceptance rate drop to as low as I think it was around 21%. Same for UCLA. UCLA”s acceptance rate before the boom was I believe ~ 25%. I don’t know what USC’s was. I’ll explain why I think this might be important, later. For both it’s higher than that now, ~ 23% for UCLA, 24% for USC, if I remember correctly from that NYT link - I just looked at some numbers I had for UC and UCLA’s is actually 22.6%. </p>

<p>The reason why UCLA’s has crept up is because it’s seeking more non-resident enrollment; I’ll refer to them, you, as “NCA’s.” Here’s a table wrt CA and NCA students from a spreadsheet I had:</p>

<p>CA: 47,112 apps; 9,894 acc; 21.0% acc %; 76% of total acc
NCA: 10,539; 3,126; 29.7%; 24.0%
Total: 57,651; 13,020; 22.6%</p>

<p>So the good news for you is there’ll probably be a better chance of a non-resident like yourself being accepted to UCLA than a CA resident. UCLA will enroll ~ 15% NCA’s this fall per LA Times article, a drop from the 24.0% total accepted, because the yield of NCA’s is roughly half of what it is for CA residents. The breakdown of NCA students will be about the same for international and oos students, ~ 350 each of a total class of ~4,800 - I don’t have specific numbers. A lot of what UCLA did in enrolling a lot of people like you was to offset a lot of budgetary concerns becuase you all pay full non-state supported tuition.</p>

<p>For USC, the acceptance rate will probably creep up because of steady enrollment and lesser amount of apps due post-wave effects. I don’t know a lot about USC, but the high amount of apps probably peaked at > 35,000 or so. A mititgating factor for USC”s acceptance rate, ie, its holding steady rather than rising signifantly quickly, would be if factor for reputation gained during the wave > factor for reduction of college-aged eligibles - > fairly steady app numbers.</p>

<p>So what I’m trying to say in of the previous with regard to acc, is, any allusions to USN’s rankings this year might indeed change from the 2010 rankins - it/they always do; rankings below the top are more volatile - and UCLA might be above USC again. A lot of USC people think they have UCLA in its back mirror. But as stupid as USN’s rankings are, UCLA in a world sense surpasses USC by some 80 ranking spots. (With allusions to Einsteinian (macro, world rankings) and quantum (micro, USA rankings) physics, and the mismatch thereof, with only sketchy weird theories to reconcile the two.). But USC’s administration is keen on working USN’s US rankings, and UCLA’s administration is seemingly indifferent, which will work better for USC rankings-wise. </p>

<p>I’d only recommend UCLA to a NCA student if you can afford it. It wouldn’t be worth being in $100K debt, unless you really wanted to experience the CA lifestyle, with all the rest of the sun-loving people. In this way, UCLA is more of a quintiessential CA experience than Cal, and you’ll have to find whether USC would be for you location-wise. UCLA”s closer to the beach ~ seven miles, which is good weather-wise because UCSB, UCSD on the bluffs of the Pacific would have more overcast weather if sun were a factor. </p>

<p>A good factor to apply to the adjustment of undergrad students at the schools would be about 1.5-1.6 or a ratio of 1:1.5-1.6. </p>

<p>Apply this to the following professions in case you want to pursue things outside of the business realm:</p>

<p>Attorneys:</p>

<p>UCLA, 20+k CA certified; USC, 7+K</p>

<p>Med School Apps, 2009:</p>

<p>UCLA, 737 apps; USC 224 (This despite USC stating 10% major in “pre-med”</p>

<p>Wrt your probable field:</p>

<p>Business, MBA’s:</p>

<p>This is harder to figure. But USC is definitely more undergrad vocations; UCLA is more grad-prep oriented. So if you just want an undergrad Bus/Int degree, USC would be better. UCLA doesn’t have pure undergrad bus degree - it’s interdisciplinary Econ and Bus. But you can take classes through Anderson, which offers classes to undergrads.</p>

<p>Best of Luck…</p>

<p>Wow! You guys are very informative. It’s crazy.
Well since some of you have said that many people have gone through this decision between USC or UCLA in the recent past, I thought it might be a good idea to bring in particular aspects that I wouldn’t normally care much about unless we’re in a situation where the schools are this similar.</p>

<p>I want a school with HUGE school spirit, and I think USC wins in that one. I also want a school that has had a long standing tradition of being a great, well-respected school in the area, and I think UCLA wins that one. I want a school that’s in the city but still has a campus, and I think both fit well with that. I want a school that has a good international program (whether it’s business or just int’l studies), and I’m still not sure which is better for that. I want a school with better internship opportunities in the LA area (and internships that can expand to maybe NYC, Chicago, DC, or other huge metropolitan areas), and I’m not sure which of the two that one is.</p>

<p>But for now I will take the advice of a poster a few posts back and apply to both, and see where that takes me. Since both schools are pretty low priority for me, I’ll only have to go through this again if I don’t get into my top schools. Thank you guys for all your help, and keep it coming!</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>But you need to factor in the large amount of money the State allocates to UCLA. </p>

<p>I also like USC more than UCLA. I prefer its campus set-up and environment. I also love its overhyped alumni bonding. But I think UCLA has a stronger academic reputation.</p>

<p>…surpass Cal for annual giving. </p>

<p>I think someone quoted UCLA as receiving ~ $3B over the last 10-year period. USC’s is higher.</p>

<p>But if UCLA can receive this much with a paltry ~ 14% giving rate, which hurts its rankings (5% weight?) in USN’s, then the potential for even higher /year is there.</p>

<p>And I’m not sure what endowment has to do with state funds. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Undoubtedly, there are people who like the extreme downtown urban environment more.</p>