<p>I am trying to decide whether I should go to UC Berkeley or USC Marshall in the Fall. Can someone please give me some insight as to what they would choose? </p>
<p>To give you some background info, I've lived in Berkeley before and didn't love it. USC's culture is more my style since I'm a socal native. USC seems like the right choice since I would like to major in accounting (but not 100%), but Berkeley has the prestige. Does business school for your undergrad really make that much of a difference to employers?</p>
<p>USC has awesome alumni connections and USC Marshall is very well known. Both are very good schools and you won't go wrong at either one. Reading from your post I would go with USC because it seems to fit you better. It is much easier to do better at a school you enjoy being at.</p>
<p>My accountant went to Berkeley as an undergraduate and decided to go to USC post grad to become an accountant because he felt it was more prestigious, even though he got into Berkeley for grad school. He then went to UCLA law. He keeps his bar card but has never practiced. He is a CPA and loves it. He's been on his own for years, takes who he wants as clients, and makes a serious amount of money.</p>
<p>ucla77, that info wouldn't necessarily help the OP because that's just one person.</p>
<p>anyway, if you want to end up staying in cali, usc's job prospects will be great. but if you want to go elsewhere, you should go to berkeley. and you're right, berkeley is definitely more prestigious.</p>
<p>The USC Leventhal School of Accounting is MILES ahead of Berkeley. Since you are considering accounting, you need to read the Public Accounting Reports. It has school rankings, and Leventhal has been top 5 for the last 20 years.</p>
<p>Accounting firms recognize this and thats why Leventhal students are the most sought after candidates in top accounting firms. I have friends who have gotten internships at the Big 4's after ONE semester at Leventhal.</p>
<p>The classes at Leventhal are extremely rigorous as well as the semester is broken up into two 7 and 1/2 week sessions. Essentially, all of your upper division accounting classes are 7 and 1/2 weeks. We also have a higher target GPA than the Marshall school because Leventhal students have higher exam scores overall.</p>
<p>and yes I do attend Leventhal and I love it. the competition is intense and you get rewarded nicely at the end with plenty of job offers. I heard that 90-95% of LSOA students get their offer the fall before they graduate.</p>
<p>USC's accounting program is known to be top notch, and it also consistently ranks above Berkeley's accounting program. The name Leventhal is more prestigious than Berkeley in the world of accounting.</p>