<p>More and more it seems like USC will be my future school. All my friends have been extremely smug and been sure to call it University of Spoiled Children.
One of my friends even did this: They google imaged Yale, Harvard, UCSB, and Arizona State University. Then they google imaged USC and .....
Its reputation among people is not always the best as people love to call it spoiled.</p>
<p>But when you look at USNews, its ranked 27th. This is above even tufts, boston college, ucsd and many other big name schools. Also, it ranks third for up and coming school.</p>
<p>Can anyone share with me how they feel about the changes that USC has been undergoing both socially and academically? Will its reputation change soon. I have a feeling I'm going to go to USC and in a few years it will be one of the nation's top 10 schools. I also feel that the people are becoming increasingly down to earth.</p>
<p>I agree, Listenkid (love your name). My S thinks the kids are diverse, intelligent and friendly. His professors have been phenomenal. The campus is beautiful and he's really happy. The opinion of others can sting, but once you are in college with your new Trojan family, their opinions matter not at all. And when my S went home for Winter break, it was interesting how mixed were the opinions of his various friends who found their schools either okay or maybe even less so. These kids were attending ivies and near-ivies back east. The only two in his crowd who were honestly in love with their school were my S and his friend who is... an Engineering major at SC. Coincidence? LOL.</p>
<p>Visit the campus again if you can and look at the kids. You will see how down-to-earth and real they seem as a group.</p>
<p>I cannot think of a better way to describe USC kids other than being simply spoiled.</p>
<p>After spending much time at various universities abroad, USC students have NO IDEA how good they have it at SC. Its a university that prides itself on customer satisfaction and ensuring that all students have an amazing college experience. </p>
<p>USC kids get spoiled in so many ways</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Small class sizes. I actually had a class with with like 6 students enrolled. It was pretty funny because if you missed class, the professor would call you out the next day for missing class. I don't think anyone ditched class after that incident for the rest of the semester.</p></li>
<li><p>Faculty that actually CARES. I remember studying at another university abroad. Some of my professors abroad would deliberately IGNORE emails about questions. They also gave us the runaround when our group went in for office hour consultations. The SC faculty spoils us so much. I would talk to my professors at SC just for general life and career advice. And their advice was always centered on what they thought would make me most happy. I am a spoiled Trojan.</p></li>
<li><p>Tailgating ON CAMPUS and then walking across the street to the coliseum to watch football games. Think about this for a second, the bRUINS have to make the crawl from their bubble in Westwood across the jam packed 10 onto the 110 and finally up to Pasadena after they spend 30 minutes in the downtown interchange. Trojans are SO spoiled.</p></li>
<li><p>Worldwide alumni network. Don't let others fool you into thinking that USC doesn't have a strong presence in other places of the world. I was 10,000 miles away from LA and I met up with some USC Alums who ended up buying me and a few other students dinner. We still keep in touch til this day. SPOILED AGAIN.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>U. of Spoiled Children? I think so. Am I proud of it? Damn right I am.</p>
<p>I have very little to base my image of USC off of and I will definatly visit soon. But I have this idea of that friendly little southern town that everyone loves and speaks about, however, I have too problems with it.</p>
<p>First, its reputation amoung the general public. I know it is a great school, but for someone reason everyone loves to roll their eyes at it. When applying for med school or getting a job, do most educated people know USC is good or is its reputation among people who have no experienced it bad.</p>
<p>Also, how do they treat those who do not fit the norm? Is it like a high school where everyone is extremely nice unless you are slightly different? This has been my expierence with the south (not california I mean redneck land and trust me I know USC is very liberal.)
Everyone there was kind, generous, and polite. However, if you were slightly different, it was hell. Be hoenst, comparing it to schools like UCB, is it somewhat easier to get alienated?</p>
<p>Listenkid: You'll need to experience the campus for yourself to gauge whether you'll be happy and successful there. </p>
<p>As far as reputation is concerned, the people who are in the "know" understand usc's solid reputation. The people in the "know" are admission committees, interviewers, academics, etc. These are the people who regularly encounter USC students and have a good idea what type of talent is coming out of the school. The people who roll their eyes at it... well they are laggards and should be sent back to the factory for reprogramming.</p>
<p>I love USC, Im just resistant to commitement so I'm being a pain in the ass. I just want to be super critical up to the point where I finally select it. Most likely, it is USC. </p>
<p>Moss: chances are they work in a factory too ;) jk jk</p>
<p>USC definitely is on the rise which is why I am so attracted to it. The ivy's are great and all but to they are complacent. Schools like USC are constanly seeking improvement which is great because that means that your education actually matters not just sucking the money out of thier students.</p>
<p>Are the classes at Viterbi really 40 or less people per class? And about 26 for average freshmen classes, or are those not accurate statistics (taken from the USC website)? Because I've heard that some of the classes have 100 plus people?</p>
<p>BTW, I've just realized that the 8th place national ranking of the Viterbi Engineering School is for the GRADUATE school, so does that mean that the Undergraduate Viterbi Engineering is not really 8th and not as good? Can anybody answer this from experience?</p>
<p>i don't know specifically about the classes at Viterbi... but when i toured last month my tour guide said that the average class is something around/between 25-40 students and that she's only taken one class that was over 100 students.. she said its not uncommon to have a class with as little as 15 students..</p>
<p>A majority of people bash USC because of sports rivalries and nothing else.</p>
<p>As far as academics, USC has a bunch of professional schools and has an insane amount of options for majors and minors. The USNWR ranking will go up. And even now, there aren't that many students who can boast about going to higher ranked school.</p>
<p>The costs are a bit high, but USC seems to be good with financial aid.</p>
<p>And someone can find something wrong with anything (e.g. Harvard people are smart, but they're stupid cuz they think they're better than everyone else!)</p>
<p>a school is definatly an invenstment. If you join it now while it doesn't have the widespread layman praise, then graduate in four years or get a job in 8 when it is suddenly one of the top 10, no one will say did you go to it while it sucked or when it was good.</p>
<p>Schools can rise up. Washington Saint Louis is the perfect example. Many schools can also lose their reputation over time. (No names)</p>
<p>It's reasonably priced, but it's still high. It's an investment like getting a fuel efficient car blah blah blah.</p>
<p>About 20% of entering freshman get a merit scholarship, (60% get NBFA, but I don't know the dollar amount). I'm willing to transfer (and I think Tulane, where I go right now, is actually a tad more expensive if I didn't go on scholarship) because it's USC, and I went from undecided early this fall to "I wanna go to film school!" pretty quickly.</p>
<p>God damn it you guys. When I talked about a college as an INVESTMENT, I did NOT mean Financially. I meant it IN REFERENCE TO THE REPUTATION. When people ask you what school you went to, they generally judge you by that schools reputation. Now the reason you want to look at the LONG TERM REPUTATION IMPROVEMENT OR DEPROVEMENT of a school is because IN 10 years when someone asks you where you went, IT WONT BE ABOUT HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL WAS WHEN YOU WENT THERE BUT HOW GOOD IT IS NOW. For example, washington saint louis used to suck, now its awesome. the people who went to it while it wasn't so great now seem like ivy league students.</p>
<p>You don't have to take anyone's word for it. Look at the schedule of classes for an engineering dept this past spring to see what the rough class size is. Undergrad courses are number 499 or less. For example, here is my department (electrical engineering)</p>
<p>I count 5 classes with > 40, and the rest (I estimate about 35) have 40 or less.</p>
<p>("Lecture" is the actual class with the professor. "Lab" or "Discussion" is usually time spent with the TA reviewing material or helping with homework/questions. Ignore any section labeled "Quiz" or "OFF CAMPUS")</p>