UVA vs USC Engineering

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
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Hey guys I am an incoming sophomore transfer and I am currently deciding between UVA (in-state) and USC towards the engineering field (specifically data science and machine learning).

For costs, the prices for both schools are about identical so this will not play a factor towards my decision. I do not expect financial aid from UVA so it cost about $39,000 and through the net price calculator for USC, the cost also came down to also approximately $39,000.

At UVA, I plan to major in CS and minor in Data Science while at USC, I plan to double major in Data Science and Applied and Computational Math. I hope to pursue a career in Data Science and Machine Learning towards the future and after thoroughly looking through both pathways, USC appears to best prepare for that career. That is because is UVA’s Data Science Program is still relatively new and only offer a minor while USC on the other hand offers a comprehensive major in Data Science if I major in a Dornsife major. I also chose to apply as an Applied and Computational Math major in Dornsife because that major dives deep into machine learning and computational modeling.

The Data Science major is also in Viterbi and I noticed that Viterbi is significantly ranked higher than UVA’s engineering school. While UVA is much better for Business and Law, it appears that USC allocates more resources and money towards their engineering than UVA which may play a role towards this difference.

I would appreciate any advice and help towards this decision! Please don’t hesitate to help offer any feedback!

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UVA is not significantly better than USC for both Business and Law. For undergraduate business, it is almost a toss up with, UVA #8 and USC #10 based on US News 2020 rankings. For graduate business UVA is #13 (usually in the top 15) and USC is ranked #16 in the 2022 US News rankings. For Law UVA is #8 (usually a T14 school) and USC is #19 (usually in the top 20). The decision between UVA and USC is your choice. One selling point for USC is that Los Angeles is a major city in the US and offers immense opportunities for both business or law. UVA is close to Washington DC for law opportunities.

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For engineering, especially CS, USC is the better school. Unless you have a compelling, non-academic, reason to prefer UVA, USC is a much better choice.

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I wouldn’t worry about rankings at all. It does seem like USC is more in line with what you want to do with your career, though. Plenty of data science-type jobs in both California and around DC.

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Rankings are so close that it doesn’t matter. It depends on cost and where you would like to live after graduation east or west.

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I went to both (UVA undergrad) and USC (MBA) and in my view in terms of location, network, culture, diversity, social environment, global outlook and brand awareness, and course offerings, its USC hands down.

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