Now several days into Blue and Gold Week, the school spirit on
campus is almost palpable. Though traditionally UCLA’s
rivalry with the University of Southern California has focused on
sports, to some, UCLA’s feud with USC encompasses academics
as well.
In the past USC has not been on the same academic playing field
as UCLA, but in recent years USC has moved steadily up the college
ranking ladder.
Since the year 2000, UCLA has consistently ranked around 25th
among national universities in the US News and World Report college
rankings, but USC is catching up.
USC has gone from No. 42 on the list in 2000 to No. 33 in 2003,
and is now ranked 30th in the nation.
The shrinking distance between UCLA and USC in the rankings is
reflected in recent admissions statistics. UCLA has an acceptance
rate of 23 percent, while USC’s is at 27 percent, and UCLA
has a freshman retention rate of 97 percent, 2 percent higher than
that of USC, according to US News and World Report.
USC, however, has a student to faculty ratio of 10:1, while
UCLA’s is 18:1, and USC has higher average SAT scores for its
incoming freshmen.
Though much of the current focus is on the upcoming football
game, students say that there is year-round academic competition as
well.
“(The) numbers do make the rivalry stronger, because
people see (USC’s) numbers improving,” said Crystal
Hernandez, a fifth-year history student.
Another reason the rivalry between UCLA and USC, the two major
research universities in Los Angeles, is so strong is because of
their close proximity to one another, said Marcie Ortiz, a
fifth-year business economics student.
Both Ortiz and Hernandez said though many may perceive the
academic rivalry as stemming from athletics, the two should be
separated.
“There is a division between sports and academics, and
both the sports and academic programs at both schools are strong
enough to be rivalrous on their own,” said Hernandez.
Though most students at UCLA say they are aware of an academic
rivalry between UCLA and USC, the staff and faculty seem to
disagree.
Rick Tuttle, administrative representative to the Undergraduate
Students Association Council, said that he had never thought about
such a rivalry, and certainly had not noticed it among the student
body.
Adrienne Lavine, chair of the Academic Senate, said that she had
never considered the possibility of such a rivalry, but added that
if the students think it exists, it probably does.
The faculty at UCLA and USC actually do quite a bit of
collaboration on many different levels, which makes it hard to
recognize any academic rivalry, said Lavine.
Whether an academic rivalry between UCLA and USC is real or
simply stems from the two schools’ athletic competitions, USC
is rapidly creeping up on UCLA in academic rankings.