University of Southern California

If we look at the rankings, then University of Southern California has been ranked #25 by US News, whereas, UCLA has been placed a bit higher at #20 in its national universities category. Both the universities are prestigious and students with outstanding profiles prefer both the institutions. Although USC ranked a bit lower but getting into USC is more difficult than getting into UCLA. USC has an acceptance rate of around 8 percent whereas, UCLA acceptance rate is of around 11 percent.

Candidates looking to secure admission to an undergraduate programme at USC need to meet the requirements mentioned below.

• TOEFL (or TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition) with a minimum score of 100 and no less than a score of 20 in each section.
• IELTS (or IELTS Indicator) score of 7.
• PTE score of 68.
• 650 on the SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section.
• 27 on the ACT English section.

The cost of attendance is calculated by icluding tuition fee, books, personal expenses and accommodation fee. The undergraduate estimated cost of attendance for 2023-24 at USC (on / off campus) is as follows: tuition: USD 66,640, fees: USD 1,597; housing: USD 11,910; food/meal plan: USD 7,290, books and supplies: USD 1,200, personal and misc: USD 1,820, transportation: USD 464. The total cost of attendance shall be USD 90,921.

The tuition cost for 2023 - 2024 for prospective undergraduate students has been raised by USC by 5%. Students will pay USD 66,640 in undergraduate tuition for the upcoming academic year. The estimated cost of attendance for 2023-2024 is given below.

Tuition and Fees for international students for both undergraduate and graduate prorams are given below. For the 2023 academic year, undergraduate tuition and fees are estimated to cost approximately USD35,982.

For the 2023 academic year, graduate tuition and fees are estimated to cost approximately USD24,928.

When it comes to selectivity, both of the universities UCLA and USC rank fairly equally. UCLA has an acceptance rate of around 11%, whereas, USC has an acceptance rate of 12.5%. However, when it comes to ranking, then UCLA ranks better than USC. In the QS World University Rankings 2024, UCLA ranks at #29, whereas, USC ranks at #116. In Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023, UCLA ranks at #21 and USC ranks at #65.

The acceptance rate at USC signifies the university being highly selective when it comes to admission. For fall 2022, the acceptance rate at the University of Southern California was 12.5% for its freshman class. The average unweighted GPA for entering freshman class was 3.75 - 4.00. Candidates need to have a very high GPA for getting into USC. Those who score low GPA need to have above average scores in the standardized tests. 

Although, the University of Southern California has a lot of highly ranked schools, it is mainly known for Engineering, Business, Medicine and Cinematic Studies. USC is also popular for its Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The University of Southern California ranking by US News & World Report was #25th in the 2023 in its national university ranking category. USC's top notch education and excellent resources make it a preferred choice for students looking for quality education.

USC is a top-ranked university globally. As per a ranking publisher 2024, USC ranks at the #116 position. According to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024, USC has been placed at #74 position. In the Global Universities category, USC ranks at #79 position for 2024-25 as per a top-ranking publisher.