Anyone from LA or Seattle?

[ilya]

hey, if you're from Los Angeles or Seattle, you might be able to help me out quite a bit.

im trying to decide on what college to attend next year. my major in college will be Business (Finance), and perhaps a journalism minor.
Since november, i have applied to 3 schools: U Oregon (and their Honors college), U Washington, and USC. i have been accepted to all 3 (4 if you count the honors separate).
However, money seems to be a big problem.
UW (my #1 choice), gave me NOTHING at all, other than the stafford and federal loan. UO gave me $1000 scholarship, and those loans as well.
Now just last night i was checking my fin. aid. status for USC (#2 choice), and it turns out they gave me $20,000 grant for next year alone. Along with that, they gave me 2500 workstudy, and 2 small loans that dont have to be paid off til after graduation. Now, take in account the fact that the only reason i appleid to USC is because i know it's an AWESOME school, and i wanted to apply to 1 school that i wasn't sure that i'd get in. it was basically a very high reach for me, i thought.

The final costs (as in remaining balances) for the 3 schools turn out to be:
UO - around 13,000/year
UW - 24,000 for next year
USC - 18,000 for next year

i might be able to get residency at UW in a year, year and a half, but that's not a guarantee, definately.

Now my question is, which school, out of USC and UW would be a better one to go to?

Here are the things i like about each:
Both UW and USC are excellent schools, with awesome business programs (i believe i was acepted into USC marshall school, actually!). Both have lots of people, and a LOT of opportunaties for future careers.
Both will give me great education.
UW is a lot closr to home (about 3.5 hour drive, compared to around 8 hours), so i'd be able to visit my family a lot more often.
USC offers the beach, and overall, it's a better school from what i have so far found out.


My biggest concern about USC is the LA Area. how bad is it? From what i've heard so far is that USC is in the middle of the "ghetto" part of LA. There are a lot of gangs around it, and the whole place is very smoggy and dirty. Traffic is miserable (but my aunt told me it's the same as seattle), and you basically have to be very careful if you ever go off campus.

What do you think i should do?

Notice that i have not visited either schools, however i've been to seattle a number of times, and my brother likes it there. Him and i have very similar personalities, so i know i'll like it too.
I have to submit the tuition deposit by may 1st, so i dont have time to visit LA in that time, i think. I really want to, though.

Someone please help me out here!!

Thanks

[dave b]

If you are considering USC, you should pay it a visit, even if that means stretching yourself. College is a big investment (4 years + the money), and you don't want to go into it blind. Guides will tell you a little bit about the school, but the visit will tell you if it clicks. Talk to people that went there, people who decided not to go there, etc.

Now, with regards to USC: it is right south of downtown, and it is in an area that is not that great. However, as a student, you will spend most of your time on the campus and you will probably never see any "action." There are tens of thousands of students there, and as long as you don't do something like run around at 2 AM yelling smack, no one will bug you. Yes, traffic is horrible, you will probably never even go to the beach (it's at least 30 minutes with great traffic), and there is a lot of smog. USC will get the smog pretty bad, since it's in a low lying urban area.

Sounds like finances are a big concern, and here's what I went through: I got into several schools as well, public vs. private. The public schools I got into would have cost less than $10k total, out the door each year. I passed on this in and instead chose the private school where they gave me a grant each year. However, even with the grant, it was a big payment for my parents and I took on the Stafford loans that you got. One thing to know is that their estimates are going to be low - every year, it cost more than the school had estimated, so give yourself some room on that. The federal work study is not cash (keep that in mind!). You have to get a job and earn the money, but the federal government gives that $$ to the school, so most of the work study jobs are really easy (like filing or sitting at the library) and easy to get if you're work study. The loans are easy to deal with out of school: rates are low, payments are easy, and it doesn't affect your credit rating that significantly (unless you default). I've had it on auto pay for the past 6 years and I don't even look at the statements. Plan on having no money while you're in school (it's the only way to live).

My advice: visit all 3 colleges, spend some time there, and choose the one that fits best for you. Chances are you will change your major several times, you will get sick of the people at any school, and you will never go home "just for the weekend." I've found that the opportunities for careers will depend on the kind of person that you are, not just what college you went to. Whatever college you choose will give you a great education, but it will ultimately be up to you to make the most of it. UO and UW will have just as many challenging courses as USC (if not more because they are larger schools).

I hope that helps.