<p>I'll give you a break from "I got rejected from my Ivy League Safeties" and ask a different one. </p>
<p>I live in Arizona, and as you can probably figure out, the school system here sucks. I want to go out-of-state for school, more specifically, the West Coast. I've looked at a bunch, and I've come down to UC Berkeley, Caltech (I'm giving myself a 1% chance of getting in), and UCLA as my top three. </p>
<p>My parents, on the other hand, do not really want me to leave as I can get a HUGE grant at a state school here. However, after we toured Caltech, they seemed to be more open minded specifically towards that school. Even though it's pricey, they'd let me go IF I got accepted. They've also mentioned USC, which I don't know much about, but I know it's pretty good. </p>
<p>My birthday is this month, and I'm going on a trip to LA. I'm going to be touring two schools. One of which is going to be Cal Poly Pomona, because why not. I have a choice about the other one. Which one should I choose? Should I go for the one my parents would definitely let me go to if I got accepted, or one of my personal favorites, UCLA?</p>
<p>I was thinking that if we toured UCLA, they'd open up to that possibility as well, but they haven't said many good words at all about it thus far (it's public, huge campus). However, I might grow to like USC if I were to visit. </p>
<p>I only have one day to do the tours, and their tour times aren’t really compatible. Keep in mind, I’m traveling with my grandmother so she wouldn’t really want to go everywhere.</p>
<p>In my opinion, UCLA has the better campus (I’ve been to both). Which is why you should go to USC, because I think that there is probably a greater chance that you’ll find you don’t like USC.</p>
<p>Both campuses are not that far away from one another so if you can make the time, visit both. If you must choose one to visit, I suggest you visit the website of both schools and search up some youtube videos on both schools to get a sense of what the school atmosphere is like. If you don’t know already, UCLA and USC have a rivalry both athletically and academically. UCLA is a public school while USC is a private school. Since you are out of state, the tuition difference for the two schools for you will probably be about $10,000. If money is an issue, USC will probably offer you more money - assuming you meet the financial aid requirements - than UCLA will, because you aren’t a California resident. Hope some of these facts will help you deicide, but visit the websites and watch some videos to get a sense of which school you prefer more.</p>
<p>Visit both. They’re only few miles away from each other. Even if you can’t sign up on USC’s campus tour, just visit the campus and walk around. Personally I don’t like USC’s location. It’s in a depressed area. The campus is nice, but outside the gate, not so much.</p>
<p>UCLA is located in West LA which is the afflluent part of LA, so the surrounding neighborhood is very upscale and feel safer. The campus is surprisingly very nice and spread out. Once you’re inside the campus, it doesn’t feel like you’re in LA.</p>
<p>Given your post, I realize that you don’t care how much your parents will have to spend on your college education, but if I was suggesting spending $50K+ per year on college I’d at least make the minimal effort to visit two schools that are separated by less than 15 miles.</p>