<p>Depends on your major. NU has a great reputation for journalism and theatre among others. USC has a legendary film school, great undergrad business at Marshall, and many other excellent programs. Over the past 18 years, USC has gone through a tremendous overhaul under President Sample, and its old reputation of being the school of privledged kids is something they fight by admitting classes of motivated, ethnically diverse students. Check out the mix of students (50% of kids come from California, 10% are international), the amazing financial aid (USC offers half-tuition scholarships to all NMF students, bringing a huge number of gifted students to their school, as well as about 100 full merit Trustee scholarships to the very top students with no regard to financial need). With increasing average SAT scores and GPAs (this year it was reported the average accepted student had a GPA of 4.0) USC is investing in bringing smart kids to the school. They have also spent considerable money on hiring extraordinary faculty and building new facilities.</p>
<p>As for the neighborhood, the USC campus is not ideally located to say the least. Like the locations of UChicago, UPenn, or Columbia, outside its walls are urban areas of lower income housing. Unlike those other schools, there is no windchill or sub-freezing winters.</p>
<p>I know people are legitamately excited about the colleges they love and it’s great to read those posts, but I hate to read all the bashing of schools that goes on, and USC gets more than its share.</p>