USC vs. UC Berkeley

College Search & Selection
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USC is a very well-respected school as well nationally and is definitely a peer of Berkeley. UCB has a stronger international reputation, but the OP hasn’t expressed interest in working abroad.</p>

<p>USC is in the top 10 as far as powerful and intimate alumni networks in the United States. Only Notre Dame, Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Georgetown, Stanford, Duke and Rice can compare to the Trojan Family in my opinion.</p>

<p>The only pro of Berkeley in this case is its slightly higher prestige. USC has better financial aid, a better social life, more prominent athletic offerings, a more intimate undergraduate education and hotter girls going for it.</p>

<p>Go to USC and don’t look back.</p>

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<p>ROF wrote “Berkeley … slightly higher prestige”. SLIGHTLY??? That’s like saying Harvard has slightly higher prestige than Vanderbilt.</p>

<p>Nonetheless, for a similar or lower price, USC is an excellent choice. It’s all a matter of fit. Academic prestige is only one of many factors to consider… perhaps 25% in a weighted list of criteria.</p>

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<p>usc = better girls and more “talented” people. yeah berkeley people are talented, but 90% are simply booksmart people.</p>

<p>cal = more prestige. campus is uglier. stronger academics.</p>

<p>it’s a choice between $$ (if you get usc scholarship) with nice girls or prestige with slightly stronger academics. </p>

<p>i know plenty of people who chose usc over cal and vise-versa</p>

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<p>Cal’s campus is uglier than USC’s’? Should we compare the neighborhood too? Where are you UCBChemEgrad?</p>

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<p>^ I’m here… :)</p>

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This is the biggest misconception…USC is a huge private school. It’s not like the smaller privates.</p>

<p>% Classes Under 20 Students:
USC: 63.6%
Berkeley: 61.6% </p>

<p>% Classes Over 50 Students:
USC: 11.9%
Berkeley: 14.1%</p>

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Umm, Berkeley has been on a tear with building state of the art facilties…ones actually dedicated to academic pursuits such as:</p>

<p>Stanley Hall Biosciences Building: [Stanley</a> Hall](<a href=“http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/aboutus/stanley.php]Stanley”>http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/aboutus/stanley.php)</p>

<p>CV Starr East Asian Library: [03.14.2008</a> - C.V. Starr East Asian Library to open March 17](<a href=“http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/03/14_cvstarr.shtml]03.14.2008”>03.14.2008 - C.V. Starr East Asian Library to open March 17)</p>

<p>Blum Center for Developing Economies: [04.20.2009</a> - Al Gore to speak at groundbreaking of new Blum poverty studies building](<a href=“http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/04/20_blumcenter.shtml]04.20.2009”>04.20.2009 - Al Gore to speak at groundbreaking of new Blum poverty studies building)</p>

<p>New Undergrad Chemistry Labs: [04.23.2009</a> - New labs on tap for College of Chemistry](<a href=“http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2009/04/23_labs.shtml]04.23.2009”>04.23.2009 - New labs on tap for College of Chemistry)</p>

<p>Sutardja Dai Hall - Center for Information Technology Research: [02.27.2009</a> - Dedication of new CITRIS headquarters marks new stage of innovation to help fuel economic growth](<a href=“http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/02/27_citris.shtml]02.27.2009”>02.27.2009 - Dedication of new CITRIS headquarters marks new stage of innovation to help fuel economic growth)</p>

<p>I guess USC has been busy building its Galen Center, a film school expansion dedicated to George Lucas and faculty apartments.</p>

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I find this hard to believe…when even Harvard is freezing faculty recruitment and salaries…USC escaped unscathed? I’m sure USC’s endowment and alumni giving have suffered in the down economy.</p>

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Yeah, they are more “talented”…didn’t that Asian porn star who gave something like 1000 blowjobs attend USC? ;)</p>

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I disagree…On a hill overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay beats smoggy South L.A. any day.</p>

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That is true…Berkeley is not known as the University of Scholastic Compromise… ;)</p>

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<p>Don’t forget that admission to Haas from L&S is extremely competitive. You could end up at Berkeley as an English Lit major bcos Haas is full.</p>

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<p>Really? If that is true then how come USC grads make less money compared to what Berkeley grads make? If it’s indeed true that USC alumni network is strong and each one of them does look after each other, how come their grads don’t make as much as Berkeley grads do, in general? </p>

<p>I would say USC is a very good university or just in the bottom of the nation’s top 30-40 list. But it’s not a great university just like Berkeley is which is a global powerhouse in almost all academic fields. In addition to that, Berkeley has a strong national and international prestige. It is very well respected world-wide. It has a diverse and extremely talented students from all walks of backgrounds and races. It has a beautiful campus – yes much more beautiful than USC’s which is a university situated near a “ghetto”. And beautiful girls abound everywhere. There are even beautiful girls in MIT or Caltech, how much more in a great and large university like Berkeley!</p>

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<p>90%? Really? Was there a study? Or did you just pull that number out of your ***?</p>

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<p>I’m pretty sure USC has the monopoly on pretty girls RML.</p>

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<p>College P-r-o-w-l-e-r ranks USC girls at an A. UC Berkeley is far behind at a C+.</p>

<p>You will probably get more attention at USC, btw.</p>

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<p>Yes, but A girls do not go out with C boys. I don’t. :wink:
Proximity to hotness doesn’t make you hotter.</p>

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<p>middsmith… are you a C boy?</p>

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<p>USC–beautiful school in a bad neighborhood. if you have a car (and the money for a parking permit AND insurance for vandalism, theft, etc) and like a big social scene, go to USC. i was impressed by the school but wouldn’t pay 50,000 a year for it. the dorms are average or worse. and when i was there, public transportation was definitely NOT an option.</p>

<p>And Berkeley–beautiful school in a diverse neighborhood. a few hobos, but otherwise fine. if you don’t have a car, you won’t be stuck there like at USC. in fact, i wouldn’t recommend a car. the BART system is amazing. fine, the girls aren’t as pretty, i’ll give you that. with in-state tuition, looks like a great deal to me, however i have not seen the dorms.</p>

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I find this hard to believe. You have no proof of this other than a flawed Payscale survey. There is no accurate way that has been devised to measure the amount grads of universities make.</p>

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That’s if you believe that prestige is derived purely from academic strength. USC and UCB are peer schools when it comes to undergraduate education.</p>

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<p>ROF, what else would “prestige” mean in the context of a University? Prestige = Academic Strength = Faculty Prestige = Faculty strength</p>

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<p>Any other opinions? :)</p>

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<p>Prestige is how the American people view these institutions with regards to producing successful graduates and benefiting society.</p>

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<p>didn’t really read the whole thread so I don’t know if this was already said but, USC meets 100% of your calculated need. In other words they take your EFC from the FAFSA and calculate thier own USC EFC. I had an EFC of 18K on the FAFSA but USC gave me nothing, like seriously the only aid I got was a 1.5K loan per semester. I don’t know how but pretty much USC expected me to front 200K. USC still has pretty good aid, but don’t let that 100% fool you. If you don’t qualify for a merit scholarship you might me in trouble.</p>

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<p>Monopoly? I beg to differ. I’ve been to USC many more times than I can actually count and it looks just any other university to me. If you’ll say USC has the monopoly of pretty/hot girls, then you’re saying that there are only about 15k pretty girls in America, which is to me a very wrong claim.</p>