I’m in the process of researching grad schools to earn my master’s degree and i’m interested in working in Japan in the future. From what I understand, UCLA has a very good reputation in Asia. Is USC (Southern California) recognizable/considered prestigious at all?
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By who?
Only recently learned about UCLA and don’t really know USC. That said, I’ve been told unless it’s recognisable names like Harvard, Cambridge, Princeton, Stanford, and Oxford most places won’t immediately recognise your university. That said you could possibly inform them about the competitiveness of your course during the interview.
USC recruits heavily in China, so that’s more where they’re well-known. Pretty sure it’s the same for UCLA. I don’t think non-Ivy US schools hold much weight in Japan, S. Korea etc. as they do in China.
However, there is a chapter of USC alumni in Japan — I’d say it’s a mix of Japanese and foreign residents, with most being grad school / business school etc. graduates vs. undergrads. Depending on your job and/or field, some people might be familiar; I’ve worked with some people who knew of the school, mainly because I came from a well-known program.
You should ask the USC sub.
Anyone who’s aware of US universities will know USC. The general public might not though – they only know the most prestigious of names.
Hiring managers at decent companies will know USC though.
i’m interested in working in ~~Japan~~ US in the future.
Is ~~USC (Southern California)~~ TIT (Tokyo) recognizable/considered prestigious at all?
/s
USC alum here, nobody knows USC. We have a good alumni network in Tokyo, though.
Most people here don’t know many American universities, for example most people don’t know about my home university, but when I tell them I did study abroad at Tohoku University, i get an えーーーーいい学生 or something, even though my home university is ranked higher lol
It depends on what you are getting your masters in. Several US universities are known within the crcle of that field.
Sure, the general person knows Harvard and Yale and maybe NYU as good or “status” schools. However, if you happen to work in music, then a lot of musicians and managers know University of North Texas (as it is the #1 school in the US for jazz musicianship). If you are going for IT, then IT people know Purdue.
From what I’ve seen, among US universities, Ivies for private universities and Berkeley/UCLA for public are considered recognizable. Everything else are kinda the same.