University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

Overview

History, Affiliations & Rankings

The University of Southern California (USC), founded in 1880 in Los Angeles, California, is the oldest private research university in the city.  The university has achieved accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). USC has been ranked 22nd in the 2020 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities by the US News and World. The university stood 18th among more than 1,000 public and private universities in the 2020 ranking by  The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education. The university was ranked number three of the 150 universities surveyed in the western U.S.  and the university also secured rank number two in engagement and number five in the environment in the set of top 25 schools reflecting its measure of diversity and inclusion.

Infrastructure, Campus & Courses

The university’s main campus, Park campus, is located in the city's Downtown Arts and Education Corridor and inhabits Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences as well as many professional schools.  Most of the buildings dwelled in the campus are in the Romanesque Revival style in sharp contrast to the others in modernist style. The Health Sciences campus located in the northeast of downtown Los Angeles includes the Keck School of Medicine, three major training hospitals, the School of Pharmacy, and programs in Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and in Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy. USC offers many programs through several other centres in Marina Del Rey, Sacramento, Catalina Island, Alhambra, Washington, D.C Orange County, and around Southern California. The Children’s Hospital Los Angele, often called as the third campus of the USC,  offers many programs through USC’s centres in its premises.

Accomplishments & Alumni

Along with academics, the university has stood out in sports with 288 medals at the Olympic Games, more than any university in the USA. The USC’s sport’s team, Trojans, is ranked 3rd for having won 107 NCAA team championships and is ranked 2nd for having won 409 NCAA individual championships. USC has more than 400,000 living alumni including  11 Rhodes Scholars and 12 Marshall Scholars, nine Nobel laureates, six MacArthur Fellows, and one Turing Award winner.  The names of the alumni themselves speak of the glory of the university like  Neil Armstrong,  O. J. Simpson, John Wayne, John Ritter and Patrick J. Adams, to enumerate a few.

Student Diversity & Visiting Companies

Having a reputation worldwide for its academics and cutting-edge research, the university attracts students and companies from all over the world. The  25.4%  of its total enrolled student strength is international that represents more than 150 countries. USC has a big list of companies that visit and hire the Trojans like Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Inc., Bloomberg, Cisco, Disney Imagineering, Facebook, Google, Inc., L’Oreal, Microsoft Corporation, Netflix, Oracle and many more.

COVID-19 Response

The University of Southern California (USC) is monitoring all developments related to COVID-19 very closely, following guidelines issued by the government. The university has asked all international students to beware of current travel guidelines and plan their trips accordingly. USC has laid down all the following information, as responses to the global pandemic:

• In order to maintain active F-1 status, continuing USC students and new students currently in the US will have to continue with their full course load while transitioning to alternative methods of instruction.

• New students who are currently not in the US and are planning to complete their coursework online should coordinate with their academic advisor to create a schedule in accordance with their home time zone.

• Students will be granted deferrals only if the issue is related to religious obligations, medical issues, required national or military service or the inability to create an online course schedule compatible with home time zone (only for international students). 

• As of yet, students have been advised not to travel to campus and take online coursework this fall. 

• Normal operations are likely to resume in January 2021 and all students shall return to campus at that time only. 

• International students whose native language is not English would still have to submit test scores to demonstrate English proficiency.

• All international students are required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in the US before arriving on campus.

• Due to disruptions SAT and ACT testing schedules due to COVID-19, students may apply for the 2021-2022 academic year without submitting  ACT or SAT scores.