University of Southern California
Private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States
University of Southern California Rankings
The University of Southern California (USC) was founded as the first private research university in the state (five years before Stanford) largely through the efforts of Judge Robert Widney, one of the most prominent citizens of Los Angeles at that time.
Widney’s vision was of an inclusive institution that would serve all sectors of the already-diverse LA community. Accordingly, the board of trustees he assembled included a wealthy Protestant businessman, a Catholic former-governor, and a Jewish banker. While USC was officially affiliated with the Methodist church during its early years, from the beginning its charter provided that no student would be denied admission on the basis of race.
Today, USC enrolls more than 48,000 students, of whom around a quarter (some 12,000) are international students—one of the highest percentages of any university in the country. Half of all students are undergraduates, while the other half are pursuing graduate or professional training.
Nine Nobel Prize laureates have been connected with USC, including the:
- Physicist, Murray Gell-Mann
- Chemist, Arieh Warshel
- Economists, James Heckman & Angus Deaton
USC faculty member Leonard Adleman, who has a joint appointment in computer science and molecular biology, is a Turing Award–recipient.
Among its many other notable faculty and alumni, we may mention:
- Astronaut, Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon
- Architect, Frank Gehry
- Electrical engineer and entrepreneur, Andrew Viterbi
- Actors John Wayne, Tom Selleck, LeVar Burton, Cybil Shepherd, Daryl Hannah, Will Ferrell, & Forest Whitaker
- Television producer and film director, Judd Apatow
- Film directors, Robert Zemeckis, John Singleton, Ron Howard, & George Lucas
- Mohamed Morsi, the former president of Egypt
- Shinzō Abe, the current prime minister of Japan
Admissions
What does this school look for?
Annual Applications
64,352
Acceptance
13%
Graduation Rate
92%
Median SAT Score
1440
Median ACT Score
32
Costs
How much does it cost to attend?
Tuition (in-state)
$55,320
Fees (in-state)
$842
| Income | Average Net Cost |
|---|---|
| 0-30K | $15,210 |
| 30K-48K | $15,032 |
| 48K-75K | $21,572 |
| 75K-110K | $29,793 |
| 110K+ | $51,487 |
After Graduation
Averages for 10 years after enrolling
Avg Earnings
$88,800
Employed
91%
Campus Life
What's it like to attend this school?
The People
Full time on-campus stats
Student Body
37K
Under-Grads
20K
Graduates
17K
The Campus
Where will you be attending?
Location
University Park,
Los Angeles CA
90089
What is University of Southern California known for?
Our answer to this is to show you the disciplines in which a school's faculty and alumni have had the highest historical influence. A school may be influential in a discipline even if they do not offer degrees in that area. We've organized two lists to show where they are influential and offer corresponding degrees, and where they are influential through scholarship although they don't offer degrees in the disciplines.
Top areas of influence with degrees offered
Other areas of influence
Influential People
Who are University of Southern California's Most influential alumni?
University of Southern California's most influential alumni faculty include professors and professionals in the fields of Social Work, Communications, and Business. University of Southern California’s most academically influential people include Neil Armstrong, Frank Gehry, and George Lucas.