[cctop]

When my older son was applying to colleges, I suggested USC because, you know...good school. He replied "I'd rather go to a JC."  

When my younger son and I were returning from SoCal on a trip, I convinced him to tour the USC campus because, you know...good school. We were on the campus for all of 11 minutes when he turned on his heel and headed back to the car. I said "Wait, don't you want to see the public service building?" Without breaking stride, he called over his shoulder "you can, if you want. I'm not going here..."

My younger son, currently a high school junior in San Francisco, tells me that USC is one of the hottest schools among his classmates.

He is both baffled and amused by the disdain his mom (a UCLA grad) and I express for the place.

This past summer we visited a lot of California schools -- Cal, Stanford, Cal Poly, UCSB, UCLA, USC, the Claremont schools.  Didn't get to SDSU or UCSD yet.

Of all of them he actually liked Cal Poly the most.  He noticed that at Cal Poly the kids were sitting in groups of 3 or 4 eating lunch or working on schoolwork, while at UCLA for example the kids were all wearing headphones and staring at devices.  Also two of his cousins recently got rejected by Cal Poly so they went to UCSB instead.

EDIT: I asked him what are the most popular schools among his classmates. He says, "Cal and UCLA are the reach schools. Everyone talks about wanting to go to USC but it's known to be really expensive. Cal Poly is popular with kids who want to do engineering. Community college is really popular; at least half the kids are thinking about going to JC for two years for free then transferring. Some kids are even taking JC classes now so they can transfer after one year. Nobody mentions the Ivies or Stanford because they're ridiculous to get into."

[cctop]

When my older son was applying to colleges, I suggested USC because, you know...good school. He replied "I'd rather go to a JC."  

When my younger son and I were returning from SoCal on a trip, I convinced him to tour the USC campus because, you know...good school. We were on the campus for all of 11 minutes when he turned on his heel and headed back to the car. I said "Wait, don't you want to see the public service building?" Without breaking stride, he called over his shoulder "you can, if you want. I'm not going here..."

My younger son, currently a high school junior in San Francisco, tells me that USC is one of the hottest schools among his classmates.

He is both baffled and amused by the disdain his mom (a UCLA grad) and I express for the place.

This past summer we visited a lot of California schools -- Cal, Stanford, Cal Poly, UCSB, UCLA, USC, the Claremont schools.  Didn't get to SDSU or UCSD yet.

Of all of them he actually liked Cal Poly the most.  He noticed that at Cal Poly the kids were sitting in groups of 3 or 4 eating lunch or working on schoolwork, while at UCLA for example the kids were all wearing headphones and staring at devices.  Also two of his cousins recently got rejected by Cal Poly so they went to UCSB instead.

EDIT: I asked him what are the most popular schools among his classmates. He says, "Cal and UCLA are the reach schools. Everyone talks about wanting to go to USC but it's known to be really expensive. Cal Poly is popular with kids who want to do engineering. Community college is really popular; at least half the kids are thinking about going to JC for two years for free then transferring. Some kids are even taking JC classes now so they can transfer after one year. Nobody mentions the Ivies or Stanford because they're ridiculous to get into."