<p>I went to USC, music major switched to business, switched to economics. I dropped out to figure out what I wanted to do, now at CCC hoping to transfer to Berkeley or UCLA for economics or possibly math/statistics(still not completley decided). Anyways, if it is a concern that you are trying to get into economics department at USC, it is not a problem. There is not a huge demand for the major because everybody does business undergrad. I mean everybody. They churn them out at USC. If you want a smaller type of intimate economics department USC might be for you...</p>
<p>However, be warned that USC does not put a high priority on their economics department. That is not to say it is bad- especially at the undergrad level- but it is a very small department compared to UC Berkeley Economics or UCLA Economics. I would say that bizecon at UCLA is probably comparable to Business Administration at USC because there is no Business major at UCLA, so everybody does Bizecon. I have visited all three departments and Berkeley just seems to have way more professors in Economics than USC or UCLA. But, it also is a highly demanded major so upper division classes might not be that small, but b/c Berkeley has Business I bet it takes a lot of people out of the equation. As for USC, Upper division Econ classes were pretty much capped at 40 for like Intermediate Micro/macro, and electives frequently had like less than 20. </p>
<p>Oh yeah, "all costs aside"- USC has raised tuition every year and is continuing to raise by like 6% a year, so beware.... </p>
<p>If your going as a freshman, you also might want to factor in that you, and everybody else, will probably switch majors. I did. Like 3 times. So you might as well go to the school with the most reputable departments in everything, just in case you switch= Berkeley. Either way, I think any of those three schools are comparable academically, like stressed4college pointed out. However, many people think that you are smarter if you go to a school which US News reports higher on a stupid list. So, you might as well go to the highest on the list so people will think you are smarter.</p>
<p>In my own case, if admitted, I'm gonna go to Berkeley for economics. It's cheaper for Cali residents, it's not in LA, it's more "prestigious" , it's a bigger department, and it's not in the ghetto, well not entirely. Anways, good luck!</p>