The University of Southern California
StudentsReview ::
The University of Southern California - Extra Detail about the Comment | |||||||||||||||||||
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Educational Quality | C | Faculty Accessibility | B+ |
Useful Schoolwork | B+ | Excess Competition | A |
Academic Success | B+ | Creativity/ Innovation | B |
Individual Value | B | University Resource Use | C |
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty | A | Friendliness | A |
Campus Maintenance | B | Social Life | A- |
Surrounding City | B | Extra Curriculars | A |
Safety | D | ||
Describes the student body as: Friendly, Arrogant, Approachable, ClosemindedDescribes the faculty as: Friendly, Helpful |
Lowest Rating Safety | D |
Highest Rating Excess Competition | A |
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Major: Biology (This Major's Salary over time)
I came to USC from out of state, and I suppose you could say I made that decision based on the elaborate show USC puts on to admitted students to get them to commit. I was top of my class in high school, and was hoping to find an academic, intellectual environment when I came to college. My disclaimer with this review is that I am not the "party type". I would rather go to a coffee shop and watch a band play than get wasted and make out with random strangers on the weekends. Also, I love learning and love attending classes—I don't just go to college to get my degree and move on. I found that the environment at USC was not what I was looking for. Although many kids were very smart and hardworking, a great many seemed not to care about classes or learning and were not too academically oriented in general. I had some amazing classes, but mostly just OK classes. My general education classes were all huge lectures, and with the exclusion of maybe one or two all of them were taught in a relatively superficial manner. I guess the best way to put it is I didn't feel like I was being challenged to really think. I was just trudging through classes, doing what the professor demanded of us to get the grade. And being the nerdy-intellectual type that I am, I was greatly dissatisfied with this way of learning. Aside from the non-intellectual environment, I was not happy with USC's location. Put simply, I hate LA. Unless you have a car on campus and can leave frequently to find things to do, the area around USC has little to nothing in the way of non-USC activities. There are a handful of restaurants, one bar, and some fast-food joints. No cute coffee shops. No arts venues. I don't know what I expected, though, since it was obvious when I visited USC that it wasn't in a college town. Moreover, despite USC's vamped-up efforts at improving safety, the area simply isn't safe—last year two graduate students were shot and killed, and there were a number of armed robberies and muggings. Just be sure you are OK with this risk before you attend. Otherwise, USC is an OK school. The student body is extremely diverse, and it is true that there is no one "typical" USC student. (I will say, however, that the Greek atmosphere is at times overwhelming—I got very sick of the arrogant, a-hole guys and the superficial girls that seemed to populate the Greek system.) Everyone is involved in a million different extracurriculars, and passion seems to be a commonality among all students, especially for community service. Our campus is beautiful, some of the teachers are exceptional (hit or miss), and the university does a lot for its students. Nonetheless, in the end I just wasn't happy here. I did not feel the education I was getting was worth what I was paying in any regard.One last note—it pissed me off how all of these huge donations kept coming in, but little of it translated to academic programs. It all seemed to go to the football program or incoming student scholarships (not continuing student scholarships). And everything here, too, is extremely expensive. USC is what you make of it. For some, it will be the perfect school. For me, and for other intellectual types out there, it was disappointing.