<p>Hi, I have been accepted to UT at Austin to study Engineering and USC to study Biological Sciences. I plan on double majoring in both regardless of what school I go to. At both schools I received a large amount of scholarships and financial aid. Cost is not a huge factor in my decision. I grew up in San Diego, CA and have always been around the LA area when we went on vacation or the like. When we moved to Texas six years ago, I hated the fact that I had to live here, but over the years, it has been a relaxing lifestyle. The weather in Texas is not very nice. I want to go back to California, the only problem is the transition to get back over there and live by myself. If I stay here in Texas, I will be closer to my family and will be able to visit more often. </p>
<p>I've always wanted to go to USC, but I have never been there. I know it is surrounded by a ghetto area and that is not very appealing to me. I want to have a pleasurable undergraduate experience and hopefully go to graduate school at a place like Stanford later on. How is campus life on USC? I know USC has the private brand name which attracts me. As far as rankings go, which school is better to go to so that I can double major in biology and engineering (particularly mechanical)? Will USC look better? Will I have better job opportunities after college? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>I was in a similar situation as you. I was choosing between USC and UT (among many others) but I think I’m going with UT.</p>
<p>For engineering, UT has a slight edge over USC, but both are in the top 20 so there’s not really any difference. </p>
<p>If you want to eventually settle down in California, then go to USC. It will have the better brand name and job opportunites. UT will be better if you want to stay in Texas. For grad school, the difference won’t matter. Go to whichever school you think you can get better grades.</p>
<p>UT is in Austin, which is basically perfect. If you’ve never been there, you’ll probably want to visit. USC is in LA, which is cool, but it’s in a really bad part as you mentioned.</p>
<p>USC is not in a ‘ghetto area,’ although it’s not in a destination neighborhood. Despite the recent incident, there have been as many students murdered on campus proper at UT Austin as there have been in the USC area in recent years.</p>
<p>Same story here- but as oos at UT Austin. I’m from Albuquerque, NM. USC is offering some nice merit scholarships while UT offers only loans. My 529 account will pay for UT. Austin was hot and humid last summer when I visited- over 100 deg F every day, while LA was NICE! I noticed a lot of street people around UT, so no place is perfect. Plus, the attitude is “Keep Austin Weird” which I find weird…I also have family in Pasadena, CA, so my choice is going to be USC.</p>
<p>I’ve in the downtown areas of cities before and USC is by no means in a ghetto neighborhood. It is just urban since it is less than 2 miles from downtown LA and part of the southern edge of downtown pretty much. Both schools are great and you can’t make a bad decision here. I’d visit both campuses and see which one feels more exciting to you. Personally I am partial to the weather in LA versus Austin and after living here it makes it hard to move somewhere colder or more hot. </p>
<p>I’d say where you want to live after graduation (even after grad school) should play a role as being a Trojan will make getting a job on the west coast much easier, especially in Southern California.</p>
<p>@runningismylife
One factor you may want to consider is that UT’s Cockrell has about 5550 undergrads plus there are 1200 Computer Science undergrads in the College of Natural Sciences, for a total of 6750. In comparison, there are only 2100 undergrads at USC’s Viterbi.</p>
<p>In fact, for your chosen majors, there are 1073 Mechanical Engineering undergrads at UT and 3361 Biological Sciences undergrads (the most popular major at UT by a longshot). So you may end up with a much different experience between a much larger class at UT versus what will be an entering freshman class of maybe 430 students at Viterbi.</p>
<p>Another factor to consider is that UT undergrads are 91% Texas residents. While Texas residents can have very diverse backgrounds and life experiences, it hardly compares to having 35% of your students come from out of state and 16% from outside the US, as is the case for USC.</p>
<p>Sorry, I guess I should have mentioned…
My son chose USC over UT. While there were many factors affecting his decision, I must say that we were drawn to the Viterbi family just as much as we were drawn to the Trojan Family as a whole. Viterbi has a great “smaller school-within-a-school” feel that definitely did not come across during our visits to UT.</p>
<p>Ok thanks a lot everyone for your help! All the advice is really appreciated and it is helping me out more than you think. As of right now, I am leaning toward USC. The problem I am mainly concerned with now is the cost it will take to transition over there. I have a good FA package for USC but there are going to be a ton of costs flying over there and paying for necessities. Any help there? :)</p>
<p>I’m a proud USC grad and while living in Boston years ago I was watching SC play Texas at the BCS championship game at a sports bar. One of the UT grads told me he wanted to go to USC but didn’t get in…I just waived my cardinal and gold, very gold, class ring at him and smiled…UT won the game but I was still proud. Fight on!</p>
<p>“I just waived my cardinal and gold, very gold, class ring at him and smiled”</p>
<p>I bet you he was the only one smiling after Vince Young scored that go ahead touchdown, lulz.</p>
<p>Actually, he’s probably still smiling somewhere after he found out USC got their national title stripped away from them in 2004 too. And their Heisman =)</p>
<p>Regarding expenses, I too was a scholarship kid and while tuition was covered, I had to work part time and incur some loans to attend all four years, including work study; it sucked, however, I worked my butt off and made it work. I also kept my eye on the prize, which was to get good grades and go to a top law school. It all worked out. If you prioritize your goals you will be able to meet your financial needs.</p>