Possibly Dumbest Question Ever... Yale Vs. USC

[metamath]

dude... yale. (and it's not even close.)

[Lothario]

Ok new question then, assuming for some reason (hopefully this doesnt turn out to be the case) but if my parents don't want to co-sign a student loan am i basically screwed? They are wealthy enough that i have no shot of getting any financial aid. SO if they don't pay student loans are my only shot.

[4ObliVioN4]

[ QUOTE ]
dude... yale. (and it's not even close.)

[/ QUOTE ]

My response was USC, not even close. Hmm...

[Thremp]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
dude... yale. (and it's not even close.)

[/ QUOTE ]

My response was USC, not even close. Hmm...

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats cause you suck at life choices.

[ChipStorm]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok new question then, assuming for some reason (hopefully this doesnt turn out to be the case) but if my parents don't want to co-sign a student loan am i basically screwed? They are wealthy enough that i have no shot of getting any financial aid. SO if they don't pay student loans are my only shot.

[/ QUOTE ]

I once had a boss who told me about way back when, when he got accepted to two business schools: Harvard and some other biggie (I think Wharton). He really wanted to go to Harvard. The other was offering substantial aid. His parents told him the money just wasn't there for him to go to Harvard, so he went to the other one.

The way he told the story, it was a "sometimes you just can't afford stuff you want" story.

I never took it that way. To me the lesson was, WHEN YOU GET THAT ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME SHOT AT THE VERY BEST, FIND A WAY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN, or you'll be talking about it to youngsters for the rest of your life.

[pokergrader]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ok new question then, assuming for some reason (hopefully this doesnt turn out to be the case) but if my parents don't want to co-sign a student loan am i basically screwed? They are wealthy enough that i have no shot of getting any financial aid. SO if they don't pay student loans are my only shot.

[/ QUOTE ]

I once had a boss who told me about way back when, when he got accepted to two business schools: Harvard and some other biggie (I think Wharton). He really wanted to go to Harvard. The other was offering substantial aid. His parents told him the money just wasn't there for him to go to Harvard, so he went to the other one.

The way he told the story, it was a "sometimes you just can't afford stuff you want" story.

I never took it that way. To me the lesson was, WHEN YOU GET THAT ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME SHOT AT THE VERY BEST, FIND A WAY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN, or you'll be talking about it to youngsters for the rest of your life.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is very true. I do wonder all the time what it would have been like to have gone to a real university. Plz go to Yale.

USC actually is pretty decent for grad school, but the undergrad is a joke (hence they offer money to any semi-intelligent person to attempt to get them to go here). Friends dont let friends go to USC.

[CruNKinTILT]

[ QUOTE ]
I do wonder all the time what it would have been like to have gone to a real university. Plz go to Yale.

USC actually is pretty decent for grad school, but the undergrad is a joke (hence they offer money to any semi-intelligent person to attempt to get them to go here).

[/ QUOTE ]

Pokergrader - I've read your posts and I'm curious to what makes USC such a joke. I understand it's not Yale, but I'm pretty sure 90%+ of high school students who apply to USC would be deferred.

What I'm basically asking is - is the real "university environment" that bad at USC? I would think that a good deal of students care very much about academics and try to use as many university resources as possible to get the most out of college. I ask this because I am going to be a freshmen next fall at the University of Wisconsin - Madison which is similar to USC in the areas of partying/sports/good-looking chicks/butstilldecentcollege. I slacked off REALLY REALLY bad in high school to the point where I really regret my four years spent of learning nothing. I have actually been looking forward to "furthering my education" in college but after reading your posts it seems that it is really difficult to experience this university environment when everyone else around you is busy fooling around.

[pokergrader]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I do wonder all the time what it would have been like to have gone to a real university. Plz go to Yale.

USC actually is pretty decent for grad school, but the undergrad is a joke (hence they offer money to any semi-intelligent person to attempt to get them to go here).

[/ QUOTE ]

Pokergrader - I've read your posts and I'm curious to what makes USC such a joke. I understand it's not Yale, but I'm pretty sure 90%+ of high school students who apply to USC would be deferred.

What I'm basically asking is - is the real "university environment" that bad at USC? I would think that a good deal of students care very much about academics and try to use as many university resources as possible to get the most out of college. I ask this because I am going to be a freshmen next fall at the University of Wisconsin - Madison which is similar to USC in the areas of partying/sports/good-looking chicks/butstilldecentcollege. I slacked off REALLY REALLY bad in high school to the point where I really regret my four years spent of learning nothing. I have actually been looking forward to "furthering my education" in college but after reading your posts it seems that it is really difficult to experience this university environment when everyone else around you is busy fooling around.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would not worry about it. State schools have a much larger variety of people than a private school like USC.

USC is trying really hard to attract a smarter batch of students (read: OP's scholarship offer), but still over 50% of the university is going to be filled with rich kids whose parents went here (this doesn't happen at state schools). Some friends of mine from UVA and VaTech came out here for a week, and they were not impressed. There is a reason UCLA makes fun of the place.

But again I very much enjoyed my time here, I had one or two great professors who really made an impact with me, and really gave me the tools and helped me get a great job. But given the choice between USC and Yale, I just want to make it clear the level of difference there is.

[sfgiants]

Pokergrader,

While I won't claim that USC is in the league of Yale, I do take issue with your characterization of USC as a notch below the likes of UCLA, Virginia Tech, and UVA.

Let's look at some objective data.

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre> UCLA UVA VTech USC
Percent Applicants Admitted: 26% 37% 68% 25%
Middle 50% SAT score Reading: 570-690 600-710 530-630 630-720
Middle 50% SAT score Math: 610-720 620-720 570-660 650-740
Middle 50% SAT score Writing: 590-700 610-710 530-620 640-720
</pre><hr />

Check it out for yourself at collegeboard.com. Notice that USC has a lower acceptance rate and higher SAT average on all three sections of the SAT compared to UCLA, UVA, and VTech.

Your other point about diversity is similarly off-base. Here are some more objective statistics:

UCLA:
* 93% In-state students
* 7% Out-of-state students
* 2% Part-time students

* 59% Women
* 41% Men

* &lt;1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
* 45% Asian/Pacific Islander
* 2% Black/Non-Hispanic
* 14% Hispanic
* 33% White/Non-Hispanic
* 3% Non-Resident Alien
* 3% Race/ethnicity unreported

USC:
* 53% In-state students
* 47% Out-of-state students
* 0% Part-time students

* 52% Women
* 48% Men

* 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
* 22% Asian/Pacific Islander
* 6% Black/Non-Hispanic
* 13% Hispanic
* 47% White/Non-Hispanic
* 9% Non-Resident Alien
* 2% Race/ethnicity unreported

USC has more geographic diversity (out of state students) and higher minority enrollment. With regards to social-economic diversity, USC has an unusually high number of Pell Grant recipients (reserved for families with extremely low income, as in &lt;20k per year). I believe the figure is somewhere in the 25% range. By comparison, most similarly selective institutions are in the 10-12% range. Furthermore, more than 60% of students at USC are on some sort of financial aid.

Returning to the competitiveness of USC, I'd wager a guess that a significant amount of graduating seniors this year wouldn't even be admitted if they applied today.

A lot of people judge USC based on what it was like 10 years ago, but under the leadership of the current President, the university has really propelled itself among the elite colleges in the United States.

And yes, I go to USC.

[Dan.]

Kinda forgot about this thread. I hope the OP chose Yale...