University of Southern California Overview
University of Southern California is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Los Angeles, California. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.
What Is University of Southern California Known For?
- Students at USC may have an easier time interacting with their teachers since the student to faculty ratio at the school is 9 to 1.
- The 2% student loan default rate at USC is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
- The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at USC.
- For the 2017-2018 academic year, 59% of the faculty were full-time.
- A student who earns a bachelor's degree from USC makes roughly $74,000 a year. This is 81% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.
- The average USC student graduates in 4.2 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.
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University of Southern California Rankings
USC is ranked #103 out of 2,320 schools in the nation for overall quality on our 2021 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation. It is also ranked #12 out of 220 schools in California.
Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.
USC has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.
Rank | Ranking Name | Share |
---|---|---|
#3 | Most Popular Online Graduate Certificate Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#6 | Most Popular Online Doctor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#23 | Best Graduate Certificate Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#51 | Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#55 | Best Master’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#62 | Best Doctor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
Program Level Awards
These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at USC.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards USC has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#3 | Best Colleges for Architecture & Related Services | College Factual |
#4 | Best Colleges for Communication & Journalism | College Factual |
#10 | Best Colleges for Computer & Information Sciences | College Factual |
#10 | Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts | College Factual |
#14 | Best Nursing Schools | Nursing Degree Search |
#21 | Best Colleges for Business, Management & Marketing | College Factual |
Where Is University of Southern California?

Contact details for USC are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089 |
Phone: | 213-740-2311 |
Website: | www.usc.edu/ |
Facebook: | https://www.facebook.com/usc |
Twitter: | https://twitter.com/usc |
How Do I Get Into USC?
You can apply to USC online at: https://www.commonapp.org/
Admission Requirements for USC
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | required |
High School Rank | neither required nor recommended |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | required |
Recommendations | required |
SAT or ACT Scores | required |
TOEFL | required |
How Hard Is It To Get Into USC?
Approximately 49% of accepted students are men and 51% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 17%, and the acceptance rate for women is 15%.
Average Test Scores
About 55% of students accepted to USC submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 650 and 730. Math scores were between 650 and 770.
Can I Afford University of Southern California?
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.
Student Loan Debt
While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At USC, approximately 28% of students took out student loans averaging $8,442 a year. That adds up to $33,768 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at USC is 1.6%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.
University of Southern California Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 27,403 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 19,194 full-time undergraduates at USC, 48% are male and 52% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity
The racial-ethnic breakdown of University of Southern California students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 3,965 |
Black or African American | 889 |
Hispanic or Latino | 2,921 |
White | 7,440 |
International Students | 2,567 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 1,412 |
Geographic Diversity
California students aren't the only ones who study at University of Southern California. At this time, all 50 states are represented by the student population at the school.
At this time, 50 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 130 countries are represented at USC. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and South Korea.
Online Learning at University of Southern California
The following chart shows how the online learning population at USC has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 2nd most popular in California for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.
Online Growth Rankings of USC
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at University of Southern California was 9.7%. This is the #1,356 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at USC regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of USC majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at USC ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at USC.
When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.
University of Southern California Undergraduate Concentrations
The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.
References
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
- College Factual
- National Center for Education Statistics
- Image Credit: By Original uploader was Padsquad19 at en.wikipedia under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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