A couple of mine got into UCLA & UCBengineering (and USC) and another in a liberal arts major could have gone to UCLA, plus a USC athlete (no brainer, USC all the way on that one). Lots of kids, lots of money on college, so we were really looking, it wasn’t just a USC or bust approach at that time (except for the athlete). UCLA is gorgeous and a great school, no question. UCB has an amazing reputation, (although not a fan of the campus), but for us, it all came down to a few key factors that pushed us to USC:
We like private education. Did public schools up to high school then went private. So we learned the difference there and liked what we paid for. Being able to change majors (nearly impossible at some publics) and the ease to double major and/or add a minor. One of mine changed majors 5 times (yes 5 times, her advisor knew her well). But it wasn’t till that 5th one that I got the call with tears of joy, knowing she was now in the right major (and now works in said industry). My biggest fear was for any of mine to spend 4 years in a college (and that we were paying for) and stuck in a major they didn’t really want to be in. Two double majored and one did major and minor. Not everyone goes to college knowing what they want to be. I wanted them to be able to explore and if they found a passion, be able to go for it. The Trojan family network thing - it is real. Connections matter when they get out. I just wasn’t that familiar with grads from some of the other schools actually helping each other out. They didn’t have that family helping family feel that went beyond the four years. Every one of mine uses and has very close Trojan connections that have been amazing from watching a game together with alum they just met when across the country or getting a job and everything in between. California is crowded and fighting for resources is a daily struggle, didn’t want my kids having to do that in college (getting classes, lunch, opportunities with profs, etc). We found the cost wasn’t as big a difference when factoring in being assured you can graduate in 4 years (versus paying for more for another year at UC) and bonus of getting 2 majors or major/minor, which can be done (when well planned for) at USC. And last one, sounds dumb (and helicopter parent kind of thing) but it was big for us at the time, including my student. Room mate selection was random at UCLA, meaning my studious engineer could be placed with two, let’s call it “more party type” major students (no judgement just different). And having to leave room to study seemed a pain. USC had great room mate matching (worked fantastic) and limit 2 to a room in most dorm situations.
But gosh oh golly, money is a big part of the equation obviously, both are great educations and experiences, we just wanted the bit more flexibility that we felt we could get at USC, and believed it was worth paying for. It was. And I do still enjoy getting the fight on sign when traveling somewhere in the world or driving on some interstate when we have something USC visible on us or the car. Little bonus.
儿子当时择校的时候是在三所学校中选定的USC (另外两所是一所藤和一所US News排名前二十的非藤私校)。记得访校是在一个阳光明媚的下午，踏进USC校园后，他就不再考虑其它学校了。在USC，儿子度过了非常充实又快乐的四年时光。他大学毕业后的第一份工作是在一家tier one投行。
首先说USC地理位置，洛杉矶各方面条件得天独厚，从海边冲浪、冬季滑雪(一个半小时到San Gabriel)，到去银行/律所或电影制片厂、唱片公司实习，洛杉矶都可以满足。守着好莱坞，USC毕业的校友中获得奥斯卡奖和艾美奖的人数比其它任何学校都多，这当然要归功于它的电影艺术学院，但多元性是USC校园文化的重要特征之一。
运动方面，USC作为Pac12联盟成员(未来Big10)，每年的赛事极大程度增强了校友的凝聚力和荣誉感。儿子曾多次参加“学生自卫队”整夜守护校园的“特洛伊人铜像”在赛事期间不被对手涂鸦/破坏。截至2021年，USC在奥运会上赢得了326枚奖牌，超过任何其他美国大学。直到今天，学校的重大赛事，儿子在时间允许的情况下还是每场必到。
课业方面，学校对于学生专业的选择及不同学院的课程选修提供非常大的灵活性。儿子朋友当中有读商科和电影艺术双专业的，或是商科和生物、CS和音乐产业等。拿USC和UCLA比，都是大规模的学校，但是课堂规模却完全不同，师生比例差别很大(8:1和18:1)。USC 平均班级规模是26人，近一半的班级人数少于20人。USC每个教学楼都有自己的图书馆，教学楼里有很多间具有最新电子装备的private rooms供学生使用，校园里各方面人均资源充足。
生活环境，为确保学生出入安全，每天下午6:00至凌晨2:00，学校为学生和教职工提供方圆大约两英里范围免费搭乘Lyft，这涵盖了校园附近的宿舍区、餐馆和超市。说到宿舍，儿子在校期间曾有三年住在USC Village(和campus一条街之隔), 那是我见过的最好/最新的美国大学宿舍村，村里从健身房到nail bar, 从CVS到trader joe’s, 从咖啡馆到各式中西餐馆，还有银行、fedex…… 应有尽有。能感觉到学校真是用心在对待学生。
USC校友关系紧密，学生满意度很高。儿子周围经常听到从外校转学至USC的同学，但没听到过哪位同学从USC转出到其它学校。他说从上学期间到毕业后接触到的同学/校友，聊起天来无人不喜欢自己在USC的经历。校园里俊男美女特别多，并不是说长得漂亮，而是学生们整体看起来都很健康、快乐、阳光，非常养眼。儿子在谈到USC的时候总是满满的自豪感，说这是一个”True community”. 所以，如果您还在犹豫是否要帮孩子选择USC，就大胆去选吧，孩子们在那里会有一个非常好的大学体验。
申请EA被deferred的孩子也不要气馁，RD时还有机会。AO办公室阅人(申请者)无数，从孩子们的申请档案和文书上是可以判断出申请人是否真的喜欢此学校，所以看起来条件相似的申请人有被录取有被拒绝就可以理解了。这有点像找对象，你是从达标的人群里选出和自己各方面最匹配的人，而并不一定是成绩最棒的人，就像顶尖名校每年会拒掉很多标考满分的申请人一样。所以，成绩突出、想用USC做备胎而EA被拒的申请人并不冤枉，相信后面还会有和孩子更匹配的学校出现。
最后祝愿今年所有申请大学的孩子们都能好好享受高中最后几个月的轻松时光，今秋入读自己心仪的大学。
坛子里大部分抱怨的ID的心态我能理解
但是有些真是素质太低。。。鄙视都是浪费我的精力
就是听大家说NMSF会拖后腿才不敢押她家，当年熊娃各种唧唧歪歪不想撤USC的申请，我心想你这是找虐啊，坚决撤，这就是家长有portal access的好处，不许娃作妖。
等待的时候比较折磨人。
--- "那不成了培养温室的花朵了吗?"
--- No, 培养的是爱护和感恩
毕业的时候是business/CS, 在南加工作。
很感恩孩子们都在USC有很好的体验。
感叹一下，娃进同一所大学，家长素质涵养真是天壤之别。
女儿进了USC CS,但她ED2了Harvey Mudd,先在犹豫要不要把ED2换成regular 。
入学后转专业或double major很容易。
在校学生体验好，校友关系网强大，就业机会好
如果是我，Harvey mudd 会申请，但肯定不再ED.
其实很多EA进了的最后都会因为经济原因放弃, 被延迟后还是有一定机会的。
考虑其它方面, 把USC和油克拉相比:
- 课堂师生比例如果真如楼主说的是8和18:1的关系, 那真要为油克拉鼓掌。
- 周边环境安全油克拉要胜过USC。校园内俩校都很安全。
- 工作机会 私校的校友网具有得天独厚的优势, 同样工作的绝对机会比油克拉多, 质量高。但是油克拉的top 5%学生也会拿到与私校同等的实习工作offer。
- 花费 这个没啥可说的, 对于加州学生这是最重要的参考。外州学生应该不是太重要。
- 刨去不同, 这俩学校share很多共同点。同样的location, georgous campus, med school, law school, dental school, MBA, top notch art/music/filming majors。活跃的校园运动气氛, 爬梯schools。
感觉最近一两年USC招生政策的改变, 对我们普通小中(typical asian kids stats and ECs)很不利。
声明一下我家今年没人申USC。
A couple of mine got into UCLA & UCBengineering (and USC) and another in a liberal arts major could have gone to UCLA, plus a USC athlete (no brainer, USC all the way on that one). Lots of kids, lots of money on college, so we were really looking, it wasn’t just a USC or bust approach at that time (except for the athlete). UCLA is gorgeous and a great school, no question. UCB has an amazing reputation, (although not a fan of the campus), but for us, it all came down to a few key factors that pushed us to USC:
We like private education. Did public schools up to high school then went private. So we learned the difference there and liked what we paid for. Being able to change majors (nearly impossible at some publics) and the ease to double major and/or add a minor. One of mine changed majors 5 times (yes 5 times, her advisor knew her well). But it wasn’t till that 5th one that I got the call with tears of joy, knowing she was now in the right major (and now works in said industry). My biggest fear was for any of mine to spend 4 years in a college (and that we were paying for) and stuck in a major they didn’t really want to be in. Two double majored and one did major and minor. Not everyone goes to college knowing what they want to be. I wanted them to be able to explore and if they found a passion, be able to go for it. The Trojan family network thing - it is real. Connections matter when they get out. I just wasn’t that familiar with grads from some of the other schools actually helping each other out. They didn’t have that family helping family feel that went beyond the four years. Every one of mine uses and has very close Trojan connections that have been amazing from watching a game together with alum they just met when across the country or getting a job and everything in between. California is crowded and fighting for resources is a daily struggle, didn’t want my kids having to do that in college (getting classes, lunch, opportunities with profs, etc). We found the cost wasn’t as big a difference when factoring in being assured you can graduate in 4 years (versus paying for more for another year at UC) and bonus of getting 2 majors or major/minor, which can be done (when well planned for) at USC. And last one, sounds dumb (and helicopter parent kind of thing) but it was big for us at the time, including my student. Room mate selection was random at UCLA, meaning my studious engineer could be placed with two, let’s call it “more party type” major students (no judgement just different). And having to leave room to study seemed a pain. USC had great room mate matching (worked fantastic) and limit 2 to a room in most dorm situations.But gosh oh golly, money is a big part of the equation obviously, both are great educations and experiences, we just wanted the bit more flexibility that we felt we could get at USC, and believed it was worth paying for. It was. And I do still enjoy getting the fight on sign when traveling somewhere in the world or driving on some interstate when we have something USC visible on us or the car. Little bonus.
想去私校的，加州就那么几所top私校, S, Caltech, USC, 前两去不了的话，不就得要严肃考虑USC么. 都进不去，再考虑外州。
也没用。两个学校我非常清楚，UC的学生家庭背景variation 实在太大, 他们按zipcode招生，不缺钱还是去私立吧。两校都去campus tour看看就能清晰理解我在说什么。