6 ms·
USC is definitely a status symbol on the West Coast (especially in Southern California). It's obviously not on the same academic level as UCLA/Berkeley/Stanford
by dvt 8y ago
USC is definitely a status symbol on the West Coast (especially in Southern California). It's obviously not on the same academic level as UCLA/Berkeley/Stanford/Caltech, but it's still very much an exclusive brand. You don't get it because you don't live here and aren't surrounded by wealthy 16-year olds that yearn to go to USC (often times over UCLA/Berkeley/Stanford).
(Disclaimer: I'm a UCLA alum.)
- shams93 8y agoOn average us students make far higher incomes than the average call tech grad.
- sologoub 8y agoSource? Edit: sorry that was rushed. Source of my skepticism - worked with grads from both, tech-wise CalTech is way better and therefore comp follows.
- WillPostForFood 8y agoThese three are clearly at the same academic level. Way below Stanford and Caltech though. 19: UCLA 22: Berkeley (tie) 22: USC (tie) https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-unive...
- dvt 8y agoJust so you know, no one takes USNWR rankings seriously -- it's well-known that public schools are dinged due to lower endowments and higher student counts. To wit, the idea that Berkeley is academically comparable to USC is a joke.
- WillPostForFood 8y agoFeel free to share whatever ranking validates you.
- dvt 8y agoRegardless of rankings, I'm definitely jealous of USC's alumni network. It's leagues above UCLA/Berkeley (rivaled probably only by Stanford).
- TonyGonzalez 8y agoMaybe at the graduate level Berkeley should be ranked higher but how are public schools dinged? UCLA has an endowment almost as high as USC’s with comparable student body size. Thinking public schools are dinged because they’re poor is factually wrong. Also, Berkeley is about where it would be given its acceptance standards and standardized scores outside of EECS are among the lowest in the top 25. The only school where it’s actually getting easier to be accepted year after year.
- asdff 8y agoThe student bodies aren't all that comparable. Although they both have 45k students, USC has twice as many graduate students as UCLA and they even outnumber the undergrads. But really, its pretty foolish to compare an entire school to another. A given program against another given program? Sure. There are fields that USC and UCLA each might be at the top of, and there are fields where they are going to be much worse. That's the real rub with these rankings, combining and binning aspects of schools that aren't related at all. The only thing that's worth looking at is the rigor or research output of a specific program.
- ashelmire 8y agoAll are top 10 in engineering: https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering... This jives with engineering industries, where USC is a consistent producer of aerospace/mechanical and tech talent. USC is considered a top school in many other research fields as well. I think it's more likely that you actually know very little about academics at these institutions. Disclaimer: I work at UPenn (doing research!) and went to USC.
- cycrutchfield 8y agoAs far as ranking the quality of colleges, USNews is about as garbage as you can get. Anybody with any shred of awareness of what those three schools are would not rank them anywhere near each other.
- WillPostForFood 8y agoI love posts like this, "I don't like your data, it is bad, and I have none" All lists are lame, do you like Niche? UCLA is 29, USC is 20. UCLA has an acceptance rate of 16%, USC 17%. USC SAT range is 1300-1500, UCLA is 1220-1450 I was responding to the poster who said the schools weren't academically comparable. they obviously are shockingly similar. Don't know or care which is "better". But only a radical partisan would argue they aren't similar.
- asdff 8y agoIf you want to get into data then at least cite the most recent numbers. I'm not going to bother doing the due diligence you should have done on your numbers, but at least for the USC acceptance rank, the most recent figure is 11%.
- WillPostForFood 8y agoHey, that's a great number, thanks for sharing it. It helps make my point. USC acceptance rate is now better than UCLA, so it is ludicrous to say it is not comparable to schools like UCLA. How much due diligence do I you think I owe you in a comment on HN? If you google USC acceptance rate, the primary result is 16.6%. I was referring to Niche rankings, which says 17%. I think having a source and an accurate (albeit a couple years old) number is better than 99% of comments. So maybe you believe you are entitled to more, but if so, then maybe you should lead by example and share more data yourself instead of just sniping.
- lawnchair_larry 8y agoThat’s measuring the quality of applicants, not the quality of the school. The subjects you are measuring the school by haven’t even spent their first day in class. A little premature to judge the quality of a product that has yet to be delivered.
- electricslpnsld 8y ago> USC is definitely a status symbol on the West Coast (especially in Southern California). > it's still very much an exclusive brand I would say weirdly exclusively in Southern California. I can’t think of a school with more regional status and less national status than USC. Maybe some of the bespoke NYC schools? Hell, I’ve worked with folks in Oregon and Washington who have thrown out resumes because they went to USC.
- HighValuation 8y agoI went to Berkeley, it’s a far better public school than Washington or Oregon, who appear to be oddly insecure of their schools’ >40% acceptance rates. Surely our graduates would never make discriminatory hiring decisions that may deprive their company of talent.
- cycrutchfield 8y agoNothing says oddly insecure like creating a new account and repeatedly shilling for your alma mater when you are aggrieved because people happen to be criticizing it obliquely.
- mturmon 8y ago> ...I can’t think of a school with more regional status and less national status than USC... The state schools in the midwest are an example of this - say, Kansas State University. Another one: Catholic schools -- St. Louis University; huge regionally, but not nationally. I was not marinated in NY State, but my impression is that the SUNY schools have some of this too. Really, I think there are a lot of colleges with a big regional reputation, but not so much nationally. If you know international students, you can see the same kind of thing play out in a larger stage -- universities that are top nationally, but not so well-known outside the country. Say, Seoul National University, or Tsinghua, or ENS, or some of the IITs or IISc. And incidentally, for these excellent schools, it's not their fault that their quality is not well-known outside their host region.
- jjeaff 8y agoAnd you can't forget that these wealthy parents have the same desire as many parents to keep their children close to them. So USC offers enough prestige while keeping their kids closer. It is also prestigious in that it is hard to get in and very expensive.
- AbdulMohammad 8y agoI’m from the Bay Area and I can tell you that as far as “status” goes, USC and UCLA don’t carry much status at all, if any. Berkeley is considered far more prestigious here. And of course, Stanford.
- gnicholas 8y agoI grew up in norcal and live in the bay area. Plenty of my high school classmates chose UCLA over Berkeley because they wanted to get farther away from home. Some of them are now med school professors. The difference between these two UCs is not as great as you might think. Neither has the elite status of ivy league schools, but most people I've run across on hiring committees viewed the two ad fairly comparable. Note: I went to UCLA for grad school and have many family members that have gone to Cal.
- ikeyany 8y agoI think they meant that Berkeley and Stanford are the hardest to get into, not that they are necessarily the 'best'. I would assume that anyone who got into Stanford or Berkeley could get into any other school in California.
- lawnchair_larry 8y agoMost people I’ve run into on hiring committees do not know or care what school the applicant went to, or if they even went to school. That data isn’t provided. Interview performance is the only factor. What industry do you work in?
- gnicholas 8y agoThis was in law, and I observed it with regard to both undergrad and law degrees.
- lawnchair_larry 8y agoDid that only apply to new grads with no experience to judge? Or does degree still trump a successful 5-15 year track record?
- yumraj 8y agoI don't know how common it is, but once a person I knew had referred to USC as University of Spoiled Children.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]