<p>My parents are adamant about me not attending USC because they think that UW has better engineering and science programs (they looked at the rankings, which seem to indicate that they DO have a point), but I am still leaning towards USC because USC is a private school and usually private schools have better access to professors, and I have also heard that classes at USC are all 40 or less (much like high school). Plus, USC is on a semester schedule, which I prefer. BTW, I was accepted to USC Viterbi School of Engineering as a Biomedical Engineering undergraduate freshman.</p>
<p>what rankings did they look at? clarify on UW</p>
<p>USC has better engineering than UW lol</p>
<p>Well, maybe not Biomedical. But in every other engineering, USC trumps UW. so, eh</p>
<p>“USC has better engineering than UW lol”</p>
<p>Yeah that’s what I told them but they are stingy with their money even though I have the presidential scholarship automatically by national merit finalist, so basically they want me to go to sucky UW.</p>
<p>To Listenkid: I’m not sure which rankings but I’ll get them for you guys to see.</p>
<p>All I know is that USC Viterbi is 8th in the nation overall (even though that is the ranking for the graduate Viterbi school, the undergraduate class should also be “8th” as well right?)</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/555743-us-news-2009-undergraduate-engineering-rankings-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/555743-us-news-2009-undergraduate-engineering-rankings-2.html</a></p>
<p>There’s a grad list somewhere…</p>
<p>oh **** that sucks. Listen are the slow? you can lie to them and make UW cost more. Tell them with pres scholarship you get nicer dorms</p>
<p>Tell them there’s more asians in LA than Seattle.</p>
<p>One of my son’s friends turned down Cornell and Carnegie Mellon last year to go to UW Engineering, and he’s really happy there. Doing research for a prof already, and there’s plenty of access once you get beyond the intro courses. But for him, going far away to college was not a high priority. My son turned down UW Honors to go to USC, and couldn’t be happier (not in Engineering though, so not a perfect comparison). With the Presidential Scholarship, plus 1000 per year extra for National Merit, plus another small award, it’s not really so much more expensive than UW. But it’s your parents’ money, right? I can see why they’re concerned, much as I love USC.</p>
<p>i’m probably going to end up at UW :[</p>
<p>It’s interesting, but my son’s choices will be very much the same. He is accepted to the UW’s Honors College, and is a NMF and Washington Scholar, so UW will be close to free. He grew up around the U, as both of his parents are Huskies, so knows and loves the school. We don’t live in Seattle anymore (eastern WA now), so he would still feel like he is “going away to college”, which is important to him.</p>
<p>Because he is a NMF, USC is offering him the Presidential scholarship, 1/2 tuition. He is also accepted to UCLA, Cornell, and Berkeley, none of which (for obvious reasons) will be giving him any aid. He is very bright and driven, but loves sports and social life as well.</p>
<p>I believe his final three are:
- UW (good engineering school, friends there, loves the city, etc.)
- USC (good engineering school, likes the SC lifestyle, private school treatment, etc.)
- Cornell (good+ engineering school, intrigued by east coast/ivy experience, big enough school to have a lot going on)</p>
<p>We are headed to LA to visit USC and UCLA in a week or so, and I suspect that his final decision might be USC as a good combination of lower cost than Cornell while still providing that private experience and something more special than the school he grew up around.</p>
<p>So any further impressions you can give me between UW Honors and USC based upon your son and his friend’s experiences would be helpful.</p>
<p>^ If I was your son, I would go to UW in a heartbeat. Great engineering program (honors program will give more personal attention), good distance from home, great campus and location (UW easily beats USC in this category), plus as you say, “UW will be close to free”. Can’t beat that combo.</p>
<p>“private school treatment”
USC (and Cornell) is one of the largest private schools…IMO, you won’t get that much more care and feeding over UW Honors.</p>
<p>Washington Dad…
Has your son selected his program within Viterbi? That should play a part in the decision. For example, if he was accepted in the Computer Science/Business Administration program that would be combining a good engineering school with classes in a top ten undergraduate business school. That would be a major with a lot of upside. Another program in Viterbi is the Computer Science-Games. This program is fantastic. There are photos of some of the displays on the Viterbi website.
If your son has the NMScholarship from SC it also involves a $1,000 yearly amount from NM in addition to the half tuition.<br>
If you applied for financial aid your family MAY receive aid in addition to the NMS funds.</p>
<pre><code>Have you ever seen the SC campus? It is an urban university, but the campus is an oasis with courtyards, fountains, flowering trees and tropical plants. Photos of the campus can be found on Facebook. Click on USC Class of 2013. You will find the pictures at the bottom of the page. Be sure to arrange ahead for the campus tour. Take some free time to stroll around the campus and talk with the students.
SC has bike racks for all the bicycles seen on campus. It also has slots for skateboards. I think that is unique to SC. lol
</code></pre>
<p>Yeah. I’m in the same boat as your son, WashDad84. I also got the National Merit Finalist standing, so I have the Presidential Scholarship at USC. And then I just found out today that I got the Washington Scholars Award thing, which means I get all 4 years tuition free at the University of Washington (although I haven’t heard back whether or not I got into Honors UW yet). </p>
<p>Basically these are the schools where I have been accepted at:</p>
<p>-University of Washington in Pre-Health sciences <— Have 4 years tuition all paid for by Washington Scholars Award, but have only been accepted into the normal UW so far although I applied for the Honors Program (I live in Washington state).</p>
<p>-USC Viterbi Engineering School Biomedical Engineering <---- Have the automatic Presidential Scholarship from National Merit Finalist</p>
<p>-University of Chicago Biological Sciences <---- Not really on the top of my list</p>
<p>-Duke Pratt School of Engineering Biomedical Engineering <---- really good engineering program but I have mixed feelings because it is in the South, but my parents really want me to accept Duke’s offer or go to UW (even though I haven’t heard back whether or not I got into Honors UW)</p>
<p>[USC</a> - Viterbi School of Engineering - Viterbi School’s Tom Katsouleas Named Duke University Dean of Engineering](<a href=“http://viterbi.usc.edu/news/news/2008/electrophysics-professor-tom.htm]USC”>http://viterbi.usc.edu/news/news/2008/electrophysics-professor-tom.htm)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>WashDad and AngryAsian - I’ll pm you</p>