2025 College Rankings

The University of Southern California is the oldest private research university in California and a football powerhouse.

Activism plays a significant role in USC’s administration. The university has signed on to numerous extraneous commitments—such as an environmental protection pledge—that distract from its core educational mission. It also maintains a sizable Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy, with more than five employees for every 1,000 undergraduates and a Chief Diversity Officer overseeing the operation. In an incident that drew national attention in spring 2024, the school canceled its commencement ceremony, citing vague and unsubstantiated threats against its virulently anti-Semitic valedictorian. The administration’s decision earned widespread condemnation for disingenuously portraying the speaker as a victim. That fall, USC adopted a policy of institutional neutrality, offering hope that the administration might refrain from overt political interventions in the future.

The commencement fiasco was not the only instance in which USC has revealed a biased approach to anti-Semitism on campus. The university has become a hotbed of extremism on the issue. A significant number of faculty have called on the school to join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Student activists have joined the campaign, camping out on university grounds for 11 days during the 2023–24 academic year, in violation of school policy, before being dispersed by police. In 2025, the federal government announced an investigation into USC for failing to adequately address anti-Semitism on campus.

The school does not take free speech seriously. Only 16 percent of students tell the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) that it is “extremely” or “very” likely that the administration would defend a speaker’s right to express controversial views. The university uses a bias-response system, aimed at policing speech that some may find offensive. FIRE gives USC a “red” speech code rating, indicating that its policies explicitly restrict speech.

The faculty’s political views are similarly skewed. Students, when asked to place their professors on an ideological scale, give them an average rating of 2.7. In the 2023–24 election cycle, 96 percent of faculty campaign donations went to liberal or Democratic causes. Only a tiny number of professors belong to organizations that promote free inquiry on campus.

Students at USC are not especially balanced in their views. For every conservative student, there are three liberals. Overall, students show only lukewarm tolerance for opinions that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy, especially when it comes to campus speakers. According to FIRE, 32 percent say that it is “sometimes” or “always” acceptable to shout down a controversial speaker. Self-censorship is common: 52 percent of students report doing so at least once a month.

USC’s curriculum is weak. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) gives the school a C in its What Will They Learn? ratings, which assign letter grades based on how many of seven core subjects are required in the core curriculum or general education program. While students must take DEI-focused courses to graduate, the school neglects more academically serious subjects, such as history and government.

As an investment, USC is a mixed bag. On average, it takes just 1.9 years to recoup the cost of the education, slightly better than our overall 2.3-year benchmark. However, median annual earnings ten years after enrollment fall short of expectations, based on SAT scores and Pell Grant data, by nearly $4,500.