I was offered admission to Penn after being deferred, and I was also awarded the USC Mork Family scholarship. I love both schools. In fact, USC was my dream school during my middle school years, and it wasn’t until my senior year that I had the nerve to venture into Ivy League schools; I became passionately invested in Penn at this point. After being deferred from Penn and awarded the top dollar scholarship from USC afterward, my hype for Penn decreased as USC showed me so much love at ExploreUSC and their scholarship.
The urban life in California is drastically different than the northeast schools, and I really adore that. I also appreciate the paradise-like weather in Socal, the campus, strong school pride, the social scene, the food, beaches, and mountains. I also have a few relatives in the Socal area.There is so much at my disposal socially and academically.
Penn on the other hand has a certain prestige, I guess, and that puts me in this dilemma. I don’t want to give up a prestigious degree as much as I don’t want to pass up an awesome scholarship at an amazing location. I’m indifferent about Philadelphia. Both schools have the degrees I am interested in, by the way.
I just need some opinions in this extremely daunting time… thank you!
Don’t know if you have made this decision yet. Penn and SC are both great schools - similar in many respects.
The main obvious questions are:
What does the money difference mean to you/your family?
What do you want to study?
Where do you want to live (during and after school)?
You can’t really go wrong with the choice, except in financial terms. I would not advise spending too much money to go to Penn over USC except in certain cases. (Money not a big deal to family, major is very specific to something Penn does amazingly well, sports or other EC opportunities, etc.)
There will be very little qualitative difference at the undergrad level in most majors. Communications/media/film/journalism - Penn can’t come close to USC. Game design - same thing, although Penn’s special Engineering Design program is very decent. Wharton might be a bit better as a name for business. Penn has a cool new nano-lab. USC much better/more interesting for aerospace/ME.
But really I’d choose for the money first and foremost for undergrad.
I don’t know what the mork scholarship is, but if it’s the biggest at USC I’m assuming it’s full tuition minimum, or full ride.
If that’s the case IMO you’d be nuts not to take that. That’s close to a $300,000 difference in price. For an undergrad degree. From similar (enough) schools.
There’s just not enough difference in the schools to even come close to justifying that price. Penn is great, but it isn’t Harvard. Even if it were it would he hard to justify the price difference. But it’s not, not even close, so it’s easy.
Rep wise, it depends on where you live. In the West USC had more prestige and rep. Most in the West think Penn is a state school.
Plus IMO being a top dollar scholarship recipient at USC is IMO more prestigious and impressive than being one of the thousands that get into Penn easch year.
I’m with @8bagels - going to school with a prestigious scholarship is better than going to school with a brand name.
It really sound like the only reason you are considering Penn is " I don’t want to give up a prestigious degree" Once any perceived prestige is taken away, the clear choice is USC. If you think you will want to settle in California (most Californians seem to want to go back to their home state), go to USC. Penn is a good school (Penn alum) but not.worth $200,000 extra.
USC is a brand name school. Nationally, prob a bigger brand name than Penn.
Anyway, I wonder if there is any limit to this crazy level of judging schools and school fit apparently solely on current us news rankings.
Is there any financial limit? At current tuition cost, mork scholarship is worth $225,000. Read the original post. The poster prefers USC in every respect except for a difference in some perceived “prestige” between these two top schools.
That is insanity!
I just wonder if there is any limit. If $225k isn’t beyond that limit, what is? Seriously, I think there’s some people who would pay $500,000 more to go to Penn over northwestern because it’s 2 spots higher on the current us news rankings.
If you have the interest, motivation, and energy level to get actively involved, take opportunities that are offered, and make the most of your 4 years, choose Penn. If you aren’t the type of person who will take advantage of those opportunities, then choosing Penn will not benefit you.
TommyD36 - in a previous post, you said that Penn was offering you a full ride, but in post #18, you said that Penn would cost you $280,000 over four years. Which is it?
If post #18 is correct, then it’s obvious that USC is the best choice, unless your family has more than enough money to pay for Penn.