<p>My daughter is very grateful to have been admitted to Stanford and USC, but now the tough choice. Stanford is, well...Stanford. USC awarded her a trustee scholarship which provides tuition for 4 years and an invitation to apply to the Thematic Options Program. She was admitted to the Annenberg School of Journalism and Communications. Her bent is Journalism and literature. She love to write. We visited USC for two days of interviews/programs for the Trustee Award Finalists and were both extremely impressed with the enthusiasm and vitality of the students and faculty. Students seemed so happy!</p>
<p>My daughter took classes at Stanford the past two summers and was very impressed with the top quality professors and Stanford students in her class. The only difficult intangible for Stanford is it is hard to get a feel for the overall campus personality. I spent quite a bit of time on campus over the summer and noticed a much less socially confident and "happy" seeming group of students, though this was the summer.</p>
<p>We will be visiting both schools this month. My main objective is my daughter have a good fit and great college experience. She is a very well-rounded person, enjoying intellectual pursuits, her friends, activities and meeting new people. I think she is so extremely fortunate to have incredible choices, and as she typically does, I am confident she will choose what is best for her. Any thoughts or input I can pass on to her would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Money may not be an issue but free tuition for a wanna-be writer seems like a very good deal. I can’t say anything about the schools but what comes across from your descriptions is that you/your daughter are very impressed with Standford (as you would expect to be) but excited about USC. Hopefully other people will be able to give you some concrete advise about the two schools. What a wonderful choice to have.</p>
<p>If money is not an issue then Stanford is the clear choice. USC is good in her area, but overall Stanford is by far superior is most others. If money is an issue at all than USC is not a bad option at all.</p>
<p>I was in a similar position, accepted to UChicago, Pomona, Bowdoin, and USC Trustee. I chose USC and I’m so happy! </p>
<p>I think it comes down to a)where does she feel most at home? b)how much of an issue is the money? I visited all of the schools I was deciding between and in the end USC just felt like the perfect fit for me. Of those offered the USC Trustee, 80% accept— it’s really a phenomenal opportunity. I stayed overnight in Birnkrant, the dorm specifically for scholarship students, and I totally loved it. The kids were so friendly, social, smart, and fun. </p>
<p>I’ve never been to Stanford and can’t say much about it. I was rejected :/. Just anecdotally, I only know one person that goes there and she isn’t SUPER happy, she’s doing alright though. I’ve heard from other students who were deciding whether or not to attend Stanford that they just got a weird sort of feel from the place. Again, that’s all anecdotal. From pictures Stanford is absolutely beautiful, the academics are of course top notch, and the name recognition is vastly superior. However, USC’s campus is super beautiful as well; the academics there are also fantastic (I sat in on several classes and loved them); and really, you shouldn’t be making the decision based on name recognition. </p>
<p>Good luck! As I said before, I think it should probably come down to fit first, money second. My biased opinion— come to USC!!!</p>
<p>There are threads in the USC section on CC that will tell you in detail about all the new amazing professors coming to USC, as well as updates on the talented kids. Professors from Oxford, Harvard, etc. etc. USC is really rising fast. I see it challenging for a top 15 position within the next 10 years.</p>
<p>The threads here devoted to Stanford all tend to be about whether to choose Stanford vs. Yale type stuff. You are on a different plane than USC at the Stanford level – no question about it. But at Stanford you are one among the herd; as a Trustee at USC, you are beloved and get the best shot at the best the University can offer: alot!</p>
<p>How much is $200k worth to you (assuming she got zero financial aid from Stanford)? If this isn’t a significant amount of money for you, I’d say she should visit both schools and pick the best one for her. If $200k is a significant amount of money for you, then you’ll have to weigh it more carefully. Most Stanford students could have gotten a full ride at a well-respected school if they had decided to go that route. Most attending Stanford either got significant financial aid (so cost wasn’t a big factor), or decided that it was worth it to pay up (sometimes full tuition)for the experience. Only you know how to strike that balance in your family.</p>
<p>If you were to evaluate the options without considering the cost, which would be the best fit? And I wouldn’t judge Stanford by what you see over the summer (mostly grad students). Nor would I base the decision on a few anecdotal reports. For both schools, take a look at the departments she’d be taking courses in, check out the faculty and their areas of research, look at the ECs and she how she’d be spending her free time, read the student newspapers to get a sense of the ‘vibe’, check the career planning office and see what kinds of internships are available, and look at the strategic plans for each school (what are their priorities over the next 5 years?)</p>
<p>Stanford is a better school than USC, but is it really a quarter of a million dollars better? Clearly your daughter is a smart girl and will do great no matter where she goes. I’d take the scholarship and have money for grad school. If she does well at USC she can just go to Stanford later.</p>
<p>As a Stanford grad with 2 USC grads in the family, I would say that Stanford is superior for computer science and entrepreneurship. USC Annenberg School is very highly regarded. I have attended their lunch time round table events with faculty, community members and students that are cutting edge and thought provoking. The peers at USC will be more the creative types as you have top theater, music and film students in your midst. As a Trustee Scholar, you will have many doors open to you and there will be very accomplished students like yourself. Take the USC Trustee scholarship and go to Stanford for grad school if you are dreaming that dream in the future.</p>
<p>Looking at the Communications Department at Stanford vs. the Annenberg School!!!of Journalism and Communications, the Stanford offerings are limited; very limited with few internship opportunities. Stanford’s graduate communications department was ranked #1 by the National Research Council, but when you look at the criteria they are the usual suspects that rank Stanford high overall and may even suggest inferior undergraduate education-- e.g. number of faculty citations, publications per faculty member, # of faculty grants. Publish or perish may be alive and well. Stanford seems well-suited for graduate education in journalism, especially for an academic career.</p>
<p>The difficulty for my daughter is her peers and HS faculty are gaga for Stanford and most just don’t know the richness of USC. Also, she is not sure Journalism will be her future. She is looking for a rich college environment and may select a different career path as often happens with exposure. She was also named an Annenburg Scholar in addition to full tuition provided by the trustee merit award and invited to apply to the Thematic Honors Program which looks incredible: [Thematic</a> Option > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences](<a href=“http://dornsife.usc.edu/thematic-option/]Thematic”>http://dornsife.usc.edu/thematic-option/)</p>
<p>She will visit Stanford for the 4 day admitted student program at the very end of the month. Hopefully, she will have some resolve one way or the other after that. My due diligence thus far points to her particular opportunities at USC. I am completely open to reasoned feedback such as the last few posters which is most helpful. She has two great and very interesting choices. One concern she has is if USC is still too greek and party dominant. While she is an excellent student, she has multiple, varied interests and is socially oriented, but not to an “animal house” environment. Some firsthand recent USC social experience would be welcomed.</p>
<p>For journalism, a vocational major, 'SC is the better value. (Not dissing 'SC, but just pointing out that their program is a real journalism program which fits the bill better for a j-prospie than a non-journalism program, particularly for free tuition.)</p>
<p>“Also, she is not sure Journalism will be her future. She is looking for a rich college environment and may select a different career path as often happens with exposure.”</p>
<p>This leads me to Stanford - but at what cost? If it is not affordable easily - than SC is the choice. But the ONLY thing that would make me have my daughter opt for USC over Stanford would be the $$$</p>
<p>docfreedaddy - Ultimately, it is upto you whether you want to spend the money. There are always disappointed counselors at schools when their students don’t go to the top schools but unless your D wants to do something other than Journalism if she attends Stanford it does not sound like the options will be superior.</p>
<p>The reality is that Stanford is one of the top Universities in the world. USC is a fine institution, but is rather lacking academically on the undergraduate level. They have made attempts to buy their way into good academic standing by hiring away professors (even entire departments worth of faculty see the UCLA linguistics department controversy) from superior institutions, but have had limited success. Their reputation was for the longest time “pay a fee, buy a degree” but that was a bit unfair as they are strong in some areas. That being said, USC is simply not in the same class as Stanford, check rankings undergraduate and graduate and the type of exposure your daughter will have to world renowned faculty, thinkers, students will not compare at USC. Additionally, some of the wealthy legacy animal house B(f)rats still litter 'SCs culture and based on your posts your daughter seems a better cultural fit at Stanford. But again, let me reiterate if she has to BORROW $$$ to go to Stanford than USC makes PERFECT sense.</p>
<p>Wrt a writing career, this will depend on her innate ability to create. This supercedes the namebrand of the school because either she has it by now (even as she finishes hs) or she doesn’t.</p>
<p>Stanford for any and everything else: sciences; preprofessional programs; growth of intellect. But these things, again, don’t apply here. Professors can finetune her writing skills, but they can’t help her gain an imagination.</p>
<p>I have been looking carefully at the basis for rankings and find them woefully inadequate as a measure of education quality as has been published by many. I have not even seen any undergraduate rankings for either university. Which are you referring to? </p>
<p>Regarding money, university rankings are highly correlated with endowment totals. USC’s money infusion may prove to improve rankings considerably, whether the rankings are valid with regard to educational quality or not.</p>