<p>Hi guys, I am currently debating between several schools, which are 3 UCs and USC, and I honestly need input!</p>
<p>So UC or USC?
UCLA w/ Regents Scholarship (full ride)
UC Davis w/ Regents Scholarship (full ride)
UCSD Muir College w/ Chancellor's Scholarship ($3350 loan)</p>
<p>and USC w/ no particular scholarship, but $5500 in loans and $2500 WS.
(also invited to apply to FSHP, but don't know exactly what it entails)</p>
<p>USC will therefore be the most expensive option for me, but is going to a private university worth it? Where do you guys think would be the best place for me to go?</p>
<p>I am a biological science major going into pre-health...I do not know much about USC's reputation for biological science and pre-health students. Can anyone shed some light on this? </p>
<p>I do know USC has both a TAP program and Pharmacy school, but I don't know the size of the applicant pool, or how many people are accepted.</p>
<p>And most importantly, can anyone tell me more about the Trojan Family? Does its alumni interaction and networking benefits apply to the life science majors as well, or mainly to the business, film, and fine arts majors who need connections?</p>
<p>One of my friends wants to go to medical school at USC and he said that all of their medicine/health programs are amazing. I really don’t know anything about them though.</p>
<p>I think the Trojan Family could help anyone regardless of their major. USC is the largest private employer in Los Angeles, so it couldn’t really hurt you if you hope to stay in LA. :)</p>
<p>Saving 200k is very tempting from UCLA… I would highly consider UCLA especially since its biological science major is highly renowned and there are a lot of perks that come with reagents scholarship which I believe includes priority in choosing classes. Seeing as getting the classes you need at a UC is the biggest turn-off I myself, would pick UCLA. But yet again, the more personal interactions and attention at USC are a huge plus.</p>
<p>It depends on what you wanna do. ex. USC=great with biz. UCLA great with biological science.
it also depends on your financial status. a full ride to UCLA is a hard offer to refuse.</p>
<p>I have to agree, although I can see your dilemma, especially about USC vs UCs. There’s definitely a difference with a smaller, private school. However, a lot depends on your financial circumstances and what you can afford. Tough decision. What do your parents say?</p>
<hr>
<p>**thementor5 wrote:</p>
<p>a full ride to UCLA is a hard offer to refuse.**</p>
<p>Too hard to refuse as in…take it over USC? D:</p>
<p>Financially I’m not very well off, but my parents told me they can afford to pay 5.5k or even 8k to cover the WS at USC. The thing is the decision is up to me because they personally want me to go to Davis (not for financial reasons, but to be close to home). USC will cost me about 32k more, but it is a private school…compared to a full ride at a public school, I just have no idea. ><</p>
<p>just because you get work-study doesn’t mean you have to utilize it. the point of work-study is to help out with your cost-of-attendance (aka spending $$ so you can go hang out with friends)</p>
<p>maylix, I think you mean that USC will cost you a total of $22,000 over all four years, and you’ll be able to earn $10,000 in work study, right? You also stated that your parents could afford this amount. If this is true, you should consider that the UCs are saying that it often takes more than 4 years to graduate. The cost of attending college for a fifth year (plus the year delay in beginning to earn a real salary) should be weighed. </p>
<p>I might even suggest that you contact your FinAid adviser at USC and explain the scholarships you received to the UCs. Someone else may know the answer, but I wonder if they might be able to rework your grants a bit? Never hurts to ask.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that it pretty hard to earn high grades at the UC system for pre-med, and that those grades are very important to matriculate to med school. Have you visited all campuses? You really should. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Just on note on the loan total over four years: The freshman total is $5,500, Soph= $6,500 and Jr/Sr= $7,500 each year, so the loans over four years (assuming all other info stays the same) = $27,000.</p>
<p>Jr/Srs also get a somewhat larger w/s award since it is expected that they can manage their time a bit better than freshmen.</p>
<p>(Just want to be sure everyone is aware going in that these amounts go up each year and so are not unpleasantly surprised! The natural result of the loans and work/study going up is that the USC grant will be reduced a corresponding amount.)</p>
<p>my dad went to cal undergrad and ucla med school and mom both went to ucla grad. my dad is an md, my mom is a ph.d. several docs who have worked with my dad over the years went to usc med. our old dentist went to usc underg and dental. you can not go wrong at either. go where you won’t have debt before you enter grad/med school cause that is going to cost you. either school will prepare you (according to my dad).</p>
<p>for sure. UCLA. at least the school ranking is higher and you’ve got a full ride also. you should go to the college day and make sure you like the school.<br>
check out how many years that you have to pay off your loan if you decided to go to USC to see if it makes sense.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input everyone!!
So is the general consensus - if I can afford the loans, I should go to USC? (assuming I like the campus and everything) :3</p>
<p>madbean - that’s a great idea~ I will try calling the USC finaid about my grants (since my FAFSA and USC-determined EFC differ by $3500)</p>
<p>alamemom - thank you for clarifying the increase in loans…would have been a surprise : )</p>
<p>As far as financial aid goes, should the fact that my brother will be an undergrad in 2 years affect my decision?</p>
<p>If you are going pre-med, I’d take ucla. Though I am biased towards usc since I am a business major, med school will cause you to incur a ton of debt. I’d pick usc if I had minimal aid from either but I couldn’t turn down a full ride if I knew I was gonna be looking at 100K+ in med school debt a few years down the road…</p>