Michigan vs. UCLA vs. USC

[KangarooCourt13]

Wait...USC is essentially a full ride?

Dude I would take that. Others are thrown off by this URM stuff...I don't know. At USC you could really be top of your class, if a place like Harvard takes you (as another has suggested) you risk being another body.

That's my two cents.

This is dumb, keep the change

Are you this pleasant IRL

Probably less

It's alarming to me that you would say something like this because people might actually believe it

The OP really could be top of the class at Harvard. Or at USC. Or bottom of the class at Harvard. Or at USC. There is nothing to suggest the OP would do better at one or the other, and even if the OP is likely to do better at USC than at Harvard, I don't think it's near as stark as top of the class vs unwashed masses.

Anyway, to me it's all about average outcomes. If the average outcome at USC is fine for the OP, then fine. But going with the expectation (or whatever it is you're trying to say) that he/she will bink top of the class grades is dumb.

Okay. This is true - what I said is totally speculative. I admit it. But there's just not much to lose at USC with a full ride right? I think if he goes to Harvard he could end up average and with tons of debt. At USC the worst case is he loses three years of his life.

[Big Dog]

reapply for Boalt. But if you must go now, ask UCLA to match/beat their cross town rival.

[BigZuck]

there's just not much to lose at USC with a full ride right? I think if he goes to Harvard he could end up average and with tons of debt. At USC the worst case is he loses three years of his life.

92K debt makes the worst case worse than you're painting it. That's still a lot of debt to me.

I'm not categorically writing off USC. But honestly I'm not focused on any of those options. I think the OP needs to figure out if they are indeed a URM and/or what exactly went wrong here. If it's fixable, then I would retake/reapply.