The location was Los Angeles. It's an amazing city in one of the most beautiful states in the USA. USC is one of the best colleges in the world to do any degree in especially engineering. The opportunities are immense as long as there isn't a global pandemic affecting your chances.
Course Curriculum
My course was structured from absolute essentials to advanced. The essentials give you a good base to overcome the gaps you may experience from your education in India. My coursework was extremely relevant to the world today. Yes, I received extensive research experience as my coursework itself contains a few "points" for research. You are encouraged to work with a professor on an ongoing or upcoming technology and write a paper on it.
Exams
GRE - 314 Verbal 157 Quant 157 Writing 3.5 TOEFL - 105 Reading 26 Listening 30 Speaking 23 Writing 26
Placement
A large number of companies attend the university for what is called a "Career Fair". There are many companies who visit throughout the year with opportunities. As the kind of companies are from all industries, you will need to read up on a company to see if it accommodates what you have studied or not. The concept of "placement" doesn't exist and it is considered a job search where the University has no tie ups with the company and you have to peddle yourself to the company as if you applied to them at a regular job fair. You apply either online or through someone already working in the company, attend a phone interview and then a whole day of interviews onsite. It's a straightforward process for engineers. The salaries for engineers are usually great. And varies from state to state due to the cost of living.
Internship
No
Fees
For my curriculum, you are required to complete 28 units. Courses are assigned units based on their popularity and work load and you must "pass" a course to gain those units. When I joined, the cost per unit was $2085. By the time I left, it had risen to about $2175.
Scholarship
No
Faculty
The faculty to student ratio varies from stream to stream and course to course. I have had courses where the student to faculty ratio was 75 to 1. I have also had courses where the ratio was 10 to 1. The choices you receive and how to plan to use the knowledge determines which course you take up. All of my faculty were Masters students with a minimum of 10 years of industry experience. Some had been teaching for over 20 years. They are incredibly well versed and all assigned a minimum of an hour per week for you to approach them and clear your questions. One of the professors was Prof. Young Cho. He taught me Processor Design and Networking. He was 'eccentric', in that, he barely followed the text books and would provide relevant knowledge every class. But his real talent came in identifying concepts that are relevant for the future and designing projects to work on. I learnt a lot in that course.
Campus Life
Campus life is extremely different from life in India. There is a real sense of independence and competition on campus. When you share spaces with some of the smartest minds in the world, you get a sense of how much you really know. USC is a beautiful campus, centrally located in Los Angeles. You will meet people from all over the world and learn incredible perspectives. There were events on campus throughout the year. Free food, free merchandise and activities all the time. Campus had some incredible places to hang out as well as eat. Although a little on the expensive side, they were of top quality.
Hostel
Accommodation is cheaper off campus. On campus accommodation is based on lots and you can throw your for a place on campus. But it costs a little more than off campus. The prices vary year from year so asking current students will give you the best price.
