I am a polisci major currently enrolled in USC who just got off the waitlist at Stanford, and I am looking for a bit of advice on what to do. Stanford has been my dream school since I was a kid, so enrolling should be a no-brainer, but I followed the advice of “get excited about the school you enroll in when you are waiting for a waitlist decision” to a tee, and I don’t want to make a decision I’ll regret. Again, I’ll note I will be studying political science and will almost certainly seek a double major in Music Performance or Jazz wherever I end up. I plan on going to Law School in the future.
I can think of a few things off the top of my head that I’m struggling with… First off, USC allows freshmen to bring cars, and Stanford doesn’t. I live reasonably close to USC, at least close enough that I actually purchased a car intending to drive home every weekend, or so. This car will not be able to be used at Stanford. USC will give me more credits for my AP exams meaning more fun electives (and it seems like USC is really strong in the ‘fun elective’ category), and I received a Dean’s Scholarship from USC. (I have not yet received F.A. package from Stanford as of the time of writing, so a scholarship is not yet out of the question) I’ll note that it is not the finances that are the issue. It is the fact that with the scholarship, I have been placed in McCarthy (Honors housing - suites), and I’m not sure that kind of place is at Stanford. By the way, since I can see it coming up, I am not big on athletics or Greek life. I like the school spirit aspect associated, but I think both schools are pretty strong there.
Writing it out, it all seems trivial. Stanford really is my dream school, but I have spent two months prepping to be a Trojan to a pretty big extent. If I were going solely based off academic program, Stanford wins big. Thoughts?
“I actually purchased a car intending to drive home every weekend”
That’s terrible - you are going to college, to experience all it offers. That’s not just in the classroom - that’s the entire experience.
So for this reason alone USC should be out. You don’t go to a high level school like that to run home each weekend.
Assuming there’s no monetary issues, go to Stanford - and don’t run home to mom when you should be making friends, taking part in activities, going to sporting events - and growing up which you can’t do running home all the time.
Congratulations on your acceptance at Stanford! That is a tremendous honor.
If you were going to college for music performance: jazz, Thornton School of Music at USC would be the easy choice here just as Stanford is the easy choice for straight academics. So I guess the question is, how important is the music side of the equation? The Stanford Music Dept. will certainly provide opportunities for performance and jazz as well.
Almost every student at Stanford is equivalent to the honors students at USC, so I wouldn’t make too much of that part of it.
The fact that USC will accept some AP credits is appealing. OTOH, the Stanford curriculum provides a lot of flexibility, so you should have no trouble doing your double major. P there. Their language requirement can be waived depending on your HS courses and test scores. The core courses are great at providing a common experience with classmates and building relationships with others in your eventual graduating class. And they are specifically designed to make the rest of your college experience more productive. You’ll have room for fun classes at both schools, so I’d suggest that you look closely at the Stanford core and even call Admissions for more perspective to decide which has more value.
I am a USC alum and worked at Stanford. There are some majors where I might pick USC over Stanford, but for pre-law, I’d go to Stanford. It is a field where the prestige of your school matters.
Somehow Stanford students manage to get through their freshman year without a car. I’m sure you can, too.
EDIT 2: On the topic of the car… it has nothing to do with me not wanting to be independent or to not get the full college experience, it’s more just that I am very young for a first year and that I live close enough to USC to go home if I wanted to (but it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t).
EDIT 3: I have decided to enroll at Stanford! All of your very insightful advice paired with my realizing that many of the concerns I named only center around my first year and do not look ahead to the other three led me to realize that I cannot pass up on my dream. Plus, while finances were not an issue, the financial aid package I received does make this a significantly easier decision to make. I am looking forward to attending Stanford in the fall. Thanks all!