<p>I just finished my freshman year at Oxy and also found out I was accepted as a transfer to USC's Music Industry program. At Oxy I'm in the Diplomacy & World Affairs program. I enjoy both areas of study equally.
I applied to USC because I wasn't happy during my first semester at Oxy and thought I wanted to leave. But it turns out I liked it a lot more second semester. </p>
<p>I love how laid back the atmosphere is at Oxy. People work and study hard, but overall it's very 'chill' at Oxy. I also like the student body in general. Even though a lot of them come from very privileged backgrounds, I NEVER felt as though I was at a school full of rich white kids. Very indie/hipster. Also, very liberal and accepting, though never overbearingly so.
Is USC different from Oxy in any of these respects (ex - I've heard USC referred to University of Spoiled Children)? </p>
<p>A lot of my problems with Oxy stem from its location. I really dislike Eagle Rock (I once heard Oxy referred to as being in the heart of LA - HA!), it seems like one has to have a car to go anywhere fun/interesting (luckily I did). It's a huge pain to get anywhere on the Westside from Oxy, though Silver Lake, Pasadena and Downtown are close by. Also, Oxy's location in a neighborhood means any house parties are shutdown very early, if they happen at all, making the parties at Oxy super lame.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of USC's location and is the party scene any better?</p>
<p>Any other major difference between the two schools I should take into consideration?</p>
<p>At the moment, I'm leaning towards USC because, although I find DWA and Music Industry equally interesting, I feel like job wise, I would like to work in music and a USC degree in general will take me farther than an Oxy degree. </p>
<p>i’m from an area near eagle rock (highland park) and i know where you’re coming from - that area is boring and a car is totally necessary. socially, it sounds like USC is worlds better.</p>
<p>in terms of the student body though, you will definitely lose some of the qualities that you like at Oxy. USC is NOT liberal. USC is NOT indie/hipster. and i feel that in general, USC is not truly accepting of those types of things. sometimes USC feels like an agglomeration of jocks, and though it’s probably much more diverse than Oxy, much of the diversity is contained within a small subset of the population, with Caucasians still accounting for around 50% of the population. also, believe that you will be aware of wealth of your peers much more than at Oxy. it seems that many (namely girls) at USC are pre-occupied looking fashionable and wealthy. flaunting expensive stuff is pretty common. my first semester i had a pair of people sitting in front of me talking about their rolexes for like 40 minutes.</p>
<p>overall though, you’ll be able to find your niche, and while the above vices may take some getting used to, as they did for me (remember, im from highland park), it’s not unreasonable. i’ve met lots of really great people at SC. ive also met a lot of people that i wanted to smack upside the head. it all depends i guess, hah.</p>
<p>and lastly, there’s no way the network at Oxy will be better for music industry. i say go with USC. better network, better socially, better overall.</p>
<p>grey,
According to the data SC submits to the UCAN official site the ethnic undergraduate student body is quite diverse. Here are the numbers:</p>
<p>Undergraduate Ethnicity:</p>
<p>Asian/Pacific Islander
23%</p>
<p>Hispanic
13%</p>
<p>Black/African American
6%</p>
<p>Caucasian
44% Note: This is not the majority</p>
<p>Native American
1%</p>
<p>International
11%</p>
<p>Unknown/Other
2%</p>
<p>About 60% of the student body is on financial aid. Around 20% of the students are on merit scholarships. Although there are students from wealthy families USC enrolls the greatest number of Pell Grant recipients of any private university in the US, closely behind only Columbia. At the selective private colleges it is not uncommon to find students whose parents are able to afford full tuition. I live in a southern state. One can find many quite wealthy students at Washington & Lee, Duke, Vanderbilt, Rice and Emory.</p>
<p>forilla,
A suggestion would be to visit the Facebook Class of 2014 page. In the discussion section is a long thread about the Music Industry program. There is quite a bit of useful information about the major from students who have posted there.</p>
<p>Georgia girl, the way that numbers translate into perception are what i’m referring to. we all know to be critical of statistics and not take them at face value. I know that there are wealthy students at all private universities (duh? lol) but the southern California wealth culture is about letting people perceive, loud and clear, of your status. notice i said it’s not something unmanageable, but that i did say that if the OP consciously perceived this to be suppressed at Oxy, s/he will notice a difference at USC.</p>
<p>for instance, yes 60% are on financial aid, so: 1) 40% are paying full price; 2) the make-up of people within the other 60% on full-ride vs, say, recipients of $1,000 in aid, is not clear. don’t assume that just because someone’s on financial aid that they will be poor and modest (sarcasm disclaimer). and 3) that’s only people eligible for financial aid. factor in the 11% of internationals who aren’t eligible and thus pay full price by default.</p>
<p>While I agree with grey that, among universities, USC tends to be more conservative than many - I want to point out that universities in general are very, very liberal… </p>
<p>My daughter was also choosing among universities perceived as liberal (Berkeley and Oxy), where she felt “most” students would share her liberal ideals, and USC. One (of the many) reasons she chose USC was that she didn’t want everyone to agree with her. She wanted an opportunity to learn how to present and defend her positions in the somewhat protected environment of a university, to learn how to disagree with someone but continue to work with them. Diversity of ideology seems as important to consider as diversity of ethnicity and background.</p>
<p>With 16,000 undergraduates I am certain you will find far more (raw numbers-wise, not percentages) liberal-minded individuals at USC than at >2,000-student Oxy, but you will also find people with whom you can engage in lively debate. </p>
<p>BOTH are excellent universities - good luck!!!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Academics. You say you want to work in the Music Industry after graduation; it seems to me the best way to accomplish that is to follow an academic track that prepares you for the industry. While knowledge of diplomacy will help you in any career, it probably won’t give you a leg up on Music Industry majors. </p></li>
<li><p>Surroundings. Eagle Rock is city-suburban and USC is very urban. While posters on this board will tell you still need a car at USC in order to get anywhere, there are certainly more transportation options at USC than at OXY. Of course with the urban environment comes other issues like congestion, noise and crime. I am most decidedly not one of the Pollyannas who see death and destruction on every street corner at USC, but there will be more crime issues at SC than at OXY.</p></li>
<li><p>Parties. While an important part of college life, I’m having a hard time seeing how it trumps the academic questions. That said, the size of USC (16,000 undergrads) dwarfs that of OXY (1,900), so it’s likely that you’ll not only find more opportunities to party, but also plenty of politically like-minded students.</p></li>
<li><p>Wealth. You’ve observed a laid-back almost “repressed” attitude toward money at OXY, most everyone agrees that there is a more overt embracing of wealth at USC. It’s up to you to decide if that’s going to bother you to the point of disliking your time at USC. However, to a dinosaur like myself, everything I see surrounding the Music Industry seems to be about “bling” and “flashing the Benjamins”, so if you’re truly interested in the Industry I’d suggest getting used to being around conspicuous consumption.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>alamemom, absolutely right. in fact, one of the aspects of USC that attracted me was just that - the lack of a blindly leftist attitude, which is one of my pet peeves. i’ve had plenty of exchanges with people who have polar ideals from mine, and in fact, i’ve made friends with many of them and partied with them and what not. it’s been great to step out of my comfort zone and venture out of the insular in which i grew up. i wouldn’t trade that experience for the world.</p>
<p>Be aware that the Eagle Rock area is similar to USC’s in terms of needing a car (only Oxy has free parking and USC charges for parking permits). Just like at Oxy, there’s some walking distance eating and a little shopping, but you’re essentially stuck without a car. There IS a free tram to LA Live, but your concerns of location will stay about the same at SC.
I believe USC to be less liberal but more diverse than Oxy. Occidental may be more all around “accepting,” but the student body is ultimately much more homogeneous. USC is actually full of all races, ethnicities, and economic backgrounds. I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity. There is definitely an air of privilege, but it’s not as all-encompassing as the Spoiled Children nickname leads you to believe.</p>