The University of Southern California – USC – Photo Tour

My daughter and I just finished touring three colleges in the Los Angeles area. I thought I’d do a photo-blog for each one. I did not take note of which building was what, so only some of my photos are captioned – sorry!

We had no idea what to expect at USC. We’d heard it was not located in a good area of Los Angeles, it was super expensive, and it had the nickname – “University of Spoiled Children.” Two of these three presumptions were right.

First of all, though the area around USC looked sketchy, the campus itself was gorgeous. It was also large enough to make you feel like you were in your own protected area within the city. And they close the campus at night.  Here is what their website says about that:

USC strives to maintain a safe community for its students, faculty, staff, guests and neighbors. From 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. every night, the number of entrances to the main University Park Campus are limited (for USC Village, the public closure hours are from 10 p.m. – 6 a.m.) Security personnel are stationed at each entrance during these public closure hours; and all persons coming to campus are required to show identification.
Guests expected to arrive on campus after 9 p.m. must be pre-registered by a USC student, faculty or staff member; photo ID must be presented at entry.

USC also offers a free Campus Cruiser and Lyft partnership to get students safely home at night. Read this page about campus safety. And USC has three Metro stops on campus that connect the university to Santa Monica and the beach.

USC also has the added convenience of a USC Village that is open to the public.  It is anchored by Target and Trader Joe’s, has many retail shops and restaurants and includes eight residential colleges. They employ many people from the community as well. It closes at 10 p.m. and opens at 6 a.m..

 

Yes, it is expensive. The 2018-2019 tuition rate was $55,320, not including room and board, books, etc. But it is a world class private university – what do you expect?

Everyone seemed really nice. Assuming they are all spoiled is just dumb.  The admission rate is 13%, the middle 50% SAT score is 1360 – 1510, ACT is 31-34 and the grade average for accepted first years is an A-.

Here are some random photos of the campus:

We only got to visit one of the many library buildings at USC – the Doheny Memorial Library. It was beautiful!

Inside the Doheny Library, one floor down, is the wonderful Cinematic Arts Library. We met a great librarian there who regaled us with stories of Hollywood/USC happenings at the library. He even got out an Oscar for my daughter to hold!

I have to say, we LOVED USC.

Go here for more information about campus tours and the university.

Next up – Chapman University and the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts!