<p>As a junior, I am starting to look for colleges, and when I found USC I really loved everything I heard about the school: the small class sizes, the people, the family-like connection between everyone, the location, everything. However, I have gotten mixed messages about the academic programs and in particular the Viterbi Engineering school. I have heard that the program is not that reputable and that you could find a better, more reputable degree somewhere else (Wash U, Dartmouth, BU), but I have also heard that the academics are stellar and have improved over the years. </p>
<p>Are there any Biomedical Engineering alums who went to get a master's degree after graduating that could give me their opinion on the school's academic programs and how well it served them getting into grad schools and for future careers? What kind of grad schools did you get into?</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone! :)</p>
<p>Dear future engineer,
The graduate Viterbi School of Engineering is ranked 10th in the nation. That is certainly a high position. The undergraduate Viterbi School is not ranked in the top ten, but is rising. Some say it takes a good five years for peers to recognize changes that have taken place in stronger faculty, new buildings, state of the art labs, research funding and academic aptitude of the engineering students.</p>
<p>You mentioned other engineering programs. Those you mentioned are all ranked much lower by USNews for undergraduate engineering. This ranking is only for the overall engineeering programs, not the entire university.</p>
<p>Dartmouth Engineering-Ranked 45th
Washington Univ. at St. Louis-Ranked 45th (tie)
Boston Univ.-Ranked 56th</p>
<p>Are you from an eastern state? Your friends there may be unaware of the programs and educational opportunities available in Viterbi. </p>
<p>Alumni and friends of SC have contributed many millions to advance the school. Please check the Viterbi website to see what is happening there. Hawkwings is a student in Viterbi and may be able to answer your questions in more detail</p>
<p>These alumni and friends have made contributions to Viterbi:</p>
<p>Alfred Mann-Donated $112 million for the Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering
Ming Hsieh-Donated $50 million to Viterbi and Keck
Ming Hsieh-Donated $35 million
Andrew Viterbi-Donated $52 million
Dan Epstein-Donated $11 million
Ken Klein-Donated $8 million
John Mork-Donated $15 million
Sonny Astani-Donated $17 million
among others…</p>
<p>I’m from Illinois, but I was wondering how the undergraduate experience is so that I know that I would get a good education there to go onto a good grad school. That’s my main concern about the school because I want to know that I will be getting a good education here, and that the school is not just a nationally highly ranked because of donations people have given, but that I will be ready after graduation to get into a good career.</p>
<p>I absolutely love everything else about the school because I heard that there are small class sizes while still being a part of a large campus, a great school spirit, family like-student body, plenty of research opportunities (if I am correct), immense diversity, and located in California for crying out loud! ;)</p>
<p>This is just the last piece of the puzzle that I need to fill in to make sure that this really is the school I want to attend. :)</p>
<p>Send a PM to Hawkwings. He is in Viterbi now.</p>
<p>Another student asked about career services in Viterbi. Use the search engine and perhaps you can find the detailed reply.</p>
<p>Sent you a reply. Just to comment on one thing though: you probably won’t see any small classes until you get to your junior or senior year. Especially BMEs, since they share a ton of classes with all the pre-med people. Everything else you heard is correct though!</p>
<p>misselaineous,</p>
<p>I’m a current senior at USC, working towards a civil/structural engineering degree. I came here from out of state, also very excited to come to California and I’ve loved every minute since for many of the reasons you mentioned in your post; school spirit, a large campus with small community feel, research and networking opportunities, and diversity both in terms of the student body and the opportunities available to students here.</p>
<p>You mentioned class sizes, and I have to say I’ve had a couple general science classes with 150 students in them. That being said, a writing class I took freshman year had only 15 students, and the majority of my engineering classes have no where near 150 students. Since you start taking classes in BME starting freshman year, your average class size will be small from the start.</p>
<p>Although I’m not a BME major myself, I feel that Viterbi has completely prepared me for grad school and a future career. I’ve already started taking masters classes at USC in structural engineering, and just this week went to the engineering career fair to talk to design firms looking to hire USC graduates.</p>
<p>There’s a group of us that work with Viterbi admissions to give prospective students a chance to hear about current students’ experiences, and if you or anyone else has any other questions feel free to email us at <a href=“mailto:vstudent@usc.edu”>vstudent@usc.edu</a>! If you want to hear about our experiences at USC we all blog weekly and film webisodes about student life that you’ll find at [USC</a> - Viterbi School of Engineering - Viterbi Student Ambassadors](<a href=“http://viterbi.usc.edu/vsa/]USC”>http://viterbi.usc.edu/vsa/)</p>
<p>Hopefully you’ll find some of this information useful, and either way don’t hesitate to send me an email. Good luck with your college decisions!
-Lisa V.</p>
<p>Thanks, Lisa! I’ve just got a quick question. Are the professors willing to help you understand something outside of class, or assessable when you need them, especially with class sizes like that? I feel like it would be hard to catch a teacher with that many kids also in the class.</p>
<p>Lisa V - thanks for that information. My son is also interested in Viterbi - we are now waiting for spring admission decisions. I wish I had gone to USC!</p>
<p>It’s great to hear from so many people excited about USC!</p>
<p>misselaineous, professors are always available to help you with homework, a difficult concept, or job advice. Every professor is required to host office hours each week, so you can count on them being there for a few set hours each week, and whenever I have a conflict with this time I’ve always been able to email the professor and set up an appointment to meet. The TA’s also host discussion sections outside of regular class time, and have their own office hours separate from the professors. Most of the time I’ll go to discussion with the TA, and if I still need help go in and talk to the professor. Even in larger classes, professors are very willing to work with you one on one until you completely understand the material.</p>