University of Southern California: Influence Ranking, Acceptance Rate & Notable Alumni

University of Southern California at a Glance

U.S. influence rank: #17
Acceptance rate (fall 2024): 10%
Tuition and fees (2025–26): $75,162
Graduation rate: 90%
Undergraduates (fall 2024): 20,443

Reviewed by James A. Barham, PhD, Vice President and Academic Editor. Influence ranks come from our InfluenceRanking™ methodology; other figures come from federal data, with the year shown under each section. Report an error

University of Southern California Featured Rankings

About University of Southern California

By James Barham, PhD

In brief

The University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, was the state’s first private research university, founded five years before Stanford largely through the efforts of Judge Robert Widney. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #17 in the United States and #40 in the world. It admitted 9.8% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1500 and a median ACT score of 33.

It was affiliated with the Methodist church in its early years, but its charter barred denying admission on the basis of race. Today it enrolls more than 48,000 students, about a quarter of them from abroad.

Where USC’s influence is strongest

USC’s influence is led by social work, where it ranks #4 in the world, and by the health professions. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:

Social work: #4 in the US (#4 in the world)
Engineering and criminal justice: #13 each
Business: #14
Education, communications, and medicine: #15 each

Within those fields, USC is a national leader in several specialties:

#1 in the US and the world: occupational therapy and gerontology
#1 in the US: physical therapy
#2 in the US: orthopedic surgery (only Harvard ranks higher)
#3 in the US: educational technology (behind Stanford and MIT)
#4: systems engineering

By comparison, USC sits further back in mathematics (#37), physics (#37), and nursing (#43).

How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.

Notable people

Nine Nobel laureates are connected with USC, including the physicist Murray Gell-Mann, the chemist Arieh Warshel, and the economists James Heckman and Angus Deaton, and the Turing Award winner Leonard Adleman is on its faculty. USC-connected figures also include the astronaut Neil Armstrong, the architect Frank Gehry, the engineer Andrew Viterbi, the filmmakers George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, and Ron Howard, the actor John Wayne, and Shinzō Abe, the former prime minister of Japan. Our full lists of USC’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.

Frequently asked questions

Is USC hard to get into? Yes. It admitted 9.8% of applicants for fall 2024; the middle half of admitted students scored 710–760 on the SAT reading section and 740–790 on math.

What does USC cost after financial aid? Tuition is $75,162 for 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $18,282 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $13,736 for incomes of $30,000–$48,000 to $59,062 for incomes above $110,000.

How do USC graduates do? 90.2% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 96% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $103,420.

What is USC best known for academically? By our influence data: social work, engineering, and criminal justice, plus occupational therapy and gerontology, where it ranks first in the world.

According to Wikipedia, The University of Southern California is a private research university in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1880 by Robert Maclay Widney, it is the oldest private research university in California. The university is composed of one liberal arts school, the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and 22 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, enrolling roughly 21,000 undergraduate and 28,500 post-graduate students from all fifty U.S. states and more than 115 countries. It is a member of the Association of American Universities, which it joined in 1969.

University of Southern California's Online Degrees

MBA in Business Administration

Required Credits: 51
Completion Time: 3-4 years
Format: Fully online

Average Net Price by Family Income (2024–25)
Income	Average Net Cost
0 - 30K	$17,171
30K - 48K	$13,736
48K - 75K	$18,282
75K - 110K	$28,033
110K+	$59,062

University of Southern California

University of Southern California at a Glance

University of Southern California Featured Rankings

About University of Southern California

In brief

Where USC’s influence is strongest

Notable people

Frequently asked questions

University of Southern California's Online Degrees

Degree Concentrations

Degree Concentrations

Degree Concentrations

Degree Concentrations

Degree Concentrations

Degree Concentrations

Degree Concentrations

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Degree Concentrations

University of Southern California Admissions, Retention, and Graduation Information

How Much Does University of Southern California Cost To Attend?

How Much Do University of Southern California Graduates Make?

University of Southern California's Demographics

Where is University of Southern California?

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What Is University of Southern California Known For?

University of Southern California's Top Areas of Influence With Degrees Offered

Who Are University of Southern California's Most Influential Alumni?

Who Are University of Southern California's Most Influential Faculty?

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