I faced a similar choice last year. I was accepted to Princeton, MIT, Rice, Georgia Tech, and the University of Rochester; I am now going to Rochester.
For me, an important consideration was whether I would be an average student or an exceptional student at the college. This may sound petty and shallow, but I think I would be unhappy and unmotivated if I were not a top student at the college that I went to. Here at Rochester, I am the top scoring freshman in my courses and math competitions, but had I gone to Princeton or MIT, I would probably be an average math student; certainly not exceptional (this can verified from previous Putnam Competition results). Of course, you may have an opposite personality to mine. Perhaps you are more motivated if you are not already a top student.
I think you should also consider whether you would have more opportunities as a top student at a second rank university, or as an average student at a first rank university. Some people say that you get a lot more academic and research opportunities by going to a first rank university, but I don’t agree. Certainly, the average student at a first rank university will do more research than the average student at a second rank university. But remember that by going to a second rank university, you will not be an average student.
Of course, there are other important considerations. The points I mentioned here are those that I consider important, but haven’t been mentioned yet.
One thing that USC does an excellent job of is pampering its scholarship recipients. They get a nicely located dorm, and their “Thematic Option” (basically, honors but different) classes have hand-picked professors chosen to teach classes no larger than 20 or something.
In USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, people who qualify for Merit Research get $50,000 attached to them that goes to whatever professor sponsors their research or lets them work in their lab. So if I get one, professors are very strongly incentivized to take me on, and there’s pretty much no worry about research availability.
UMD has programs with similar attitudes, though not with as much money thrown at them.
From your description, USC does seem to offer a lot for its scholarship recipients. Rochester offers much less. I was given the ‘top’ scholarship—a merit-based full scholarship, but there is not much else attached to it; no priority for housing or courses. Even the research grant that I was given is rather meager compared to USC’s - $3000 compared to $50000.
I faced a similar choice last year. I was accepted to Princeton, MIT, Rice, Georgia Tech, and the University of Rochester; I am now going to Rochester.
For me, an important consideration was whether I would be an average student or an exceptional student at the college. This may sound petty and shallow, but I think I would be unhappy and unmotivated if I were not a top student at the college that I went to. Here at Rochester, I am the top scoring freshman in my courses and math competitions, but had I gone to Princeton or MIT, I would probably be an average math student; certainly not exceptional (this can verified from previous Putnam Competition results). Of course, you may have an opposite personality to mine. Perhaps you are more motivated if you are not already a top student.
I think you should also consider whether you would have more opportunities as a top student at a second rank university, or as an average student at a first rank university. Some people say that you get a lot more academic and research opportunities by going to a first rank university, but I don’t agree. Certainly, the average student at a first rank university will do more research than the average student at a second rank university. But remember that by going to a second rank university, you will not be an average student.
Of course, there are other important considerations. The points I mentioned here are those that I consider important, but haven’t been mentioned yet.
Interesting point.
One thing that USC does an excellent job of is pampering its scholarship recipients. They get a nicely located dorm, and their “Thematic Option” (basically, honors but different) classes have hand-picked professors chosen to teach classes no larger than 20 or something.
In USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, people who qualify for Merit Research get $50,000 attached to them that goes to whatever professor sponsors their research or lets them work in their lab. So if I get one, professors are very strongly incentivized to take me on, and there’s pretty much no worry about research availability.
UMD has programs with similar attitudes, though not with as much money thrown at them.
From your description, USC does seem to offer a lot for its scholarship recipients. Rochester offers much less. I was given the ‘top’ scholarship—a merit-based full scholarship, but there is not much else attached to it; no priority for housing or courses. Even the research grant that I was given is rather meager compared to USC’s - $3000 compared to $50000.