Is USC seen as a good school in SF? (Los Angeles: employment, catholic schools)

[BarcelonaFan]

I fell in love with NoRCal and especially Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, SF, Berkeley. But it also seems like a very status conscious city where prestige in terms of employment and education. I am going to be going into a program at USC and was hoping to look for work and move to SF sometime soon. How is the school viewed in NoRCal? It will be in the comp field so I am hoping to land something near Silicon Valley but really anywhere in the area is fine.

Also can anyone name the pros and cons of living in SF or the surrounding areas?

[silverkris]

Are you're talking about the University of Southern California (USC) which is in Los Angeles, or do you mean Santa Clara University (SCU), which is in the Greater Northern California area, or specifically, Silicon Valley?

[bmw335xi]

University of Southern California has a great reputation in the Bay Area, so that won't hurt you.

Pros:

Scenic
More restaurants per capita than NYC
Walkable
Easy access to hiking, fishing, biking, etc
Mild/Cool weather
Friendly people

Cons:

Homeless
Expensive
Mild/Cool weather

Pros > Cons

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

University of Southern California has a great reputation in the Bay Area, so that won't hurt you.

Pros:

Scenic
More restaurants per capita than NYC
Walkable
Easy access to hiking, fishing, biking, etc
Mild/Cool weather
Friendly people

Cons:

Homeless
Expensive
Mild/Cool weather

Pros > Cons

Agreed. USC has a lot of alums in the SF Bay Area, and their alumni network ("The Trojan Family" - I'm not kidding, a USC prof told me) is tight - they look out for each other.

My point is that sometimes Santa Clara U gets confused with the U of SoCal, years ago it was called "University of Santa Clara" until they officially changed it to "Santa Clara University" in order to not be confused with the LA school.

[BarcelonaFan]

I was just hoping that USC wasn't one of those regional schools where the locals think of it as an Ivy but other regions could care less. I figured it would've been seen as a safety school for Stanford undergrads.

I also do not mind the cons. I live in LA where homelessness is just as bad if not worse. Also the cool weather is something I miss. LA is already expensive.

[04kL4nD]

It is held it high regard- especially if you're an academic or in business.

Definitely more prestigious than USF, Saint Mary's, or Santa Clara- all of which are expensive private schools.

[rkwalton]

L.A. universities have strong networks here. USC definitely does.

[skyao]

I would say the reputation is below Stanford and Berkeley, but more prestigious than the private catholic schools in the area.

If you are a computer science person ( think you said comp) then USC is plenty good. If you are a MBA who wants to work for Google or Goldman, then its a bit of a tougher sell.

For most jobs here i think USC is plenty good, especially if you are technical. If you are looking for a non engineering prestige job at a prestige firm, then its a tougher sell - companies like Google,McKinsey, etc can be pretty snotty...

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

It is held it high regard- especially if you're an academic or in business.

Definitely more prestigious than USF, Saint Mary's, or Santa Clara- all of which are expensive private schools.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

USC is a good school except for the incessant:

"Bah ... bah, bah, bah, bah ... bah, bah, bah
Bah ... bah, bah, bah, bah ... bah, bah, bah
Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh .... "

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

USC is a good school except for the incessant:

"Bah ... bah, bah, bah, bah ... bah, bah, bah
Bah ... bah, bah, bah, bah ... bah, bah, bah
Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh .... "

Oh, don't get me started on "Fight On" or "Tribute to Troy". I am a loyal Cal alum (Go Bears) so we did have a rivalry about that (and our archrivals on The Farm aren't too crazy about them either). But seriously, I have friends who went to SC and it's a good school (I almost went there for grad school).