Established in 1880, the University of Southern California is one of the most well known schools in the Los Angeles area. Located in downtown Los Angeles, USC provides quality education to California natives and out-of-state students alike, with 3,200 highly qualified full-time faculty members. USC is considered a first-rate private research university, with 430 million dollars worth of research every year.

Special Features at the University of Southern California

Since USC is located in California, the school has a natural interest in being on the cutting edge of the film industry. USC's Robert Zemeckis Center is the first facility for digital filmmaking training in the U.S., giving USC students the best opportunities to create groundbreaking work in new media over the coming years.

USC believes in fostering the body, as well as the mind. The university has one of the most storied and dominant football programs in college athletics. The Trojans have won more national championships than almost any other college team, most recently in 2003 and 2004.

USC was selected one of Princeton Review's "Colleges with a Conscience" in 2005, for its record of involvement with the community. Some of USC's most successful community service programs include "Best Buddies," which pairs college students with those with intellectual disabilities, "Clash of the Trojans," which teams up USC students with local young people to compete in various fun sporting events and "Doctors Out to Care," which sends dentistry students to discuss oral hygiene at local elementary schools.

University of Southern California Curriculum Highlights

-33,000 graduate and undergraduate students were matriculated at USC during the 2006-2007 academic year. 4,269 bachelor's degrees and 5,274 advanced degrees awarded.
 
-USC's College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, located on the main campus, offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in disciplines ranging from African-American Studies to Clinical Psychology to East Asian Languages and Cultures to Physics and many more.
 
-USC features 17 professional schools, including the USC Leventhal School of Accounting, the USC School of Medicine and the USC School of Pharmacy.
 
-USC's School of Cinematic Arts has graduated filmmakers as prestigious as Judd Apatow, Ron Howard, George Lucas, Bryan Singer and Robert Zemeckis.
 
-USC offers over 100 minors, the widest selection of minors in the United States. Students can minor in subjects ranging from 3-D Animation to Coastal Ocean and Watershed Science to Dental Biotechnology to Video Game Programming.

-The USC Core curriculum includes a diversity requirement, which can be met with a wide range of courses, allowing students the opportunity to learn to understand groups of people with cultural attitudes and customs different from their own.