The University of Southern California (commonly referred to as USC, SC, Southern California, and incorrectly as Southern Cal ), located in the University Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, USA, was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university.
U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,550 of the 33,754 who applied for freshman admission in 2007 for a 25% admissions rate. According to the freshman profile, 18% of admissions were associated with legacy preferences. USC was also named "College of the Year 2000" by the editors of TIME magazine and the Princeton Review for the university's extensive community-service programs. Residing in the heart of a global city, USC ranks among the most diverse universities in the United States, with students from all 50 United States as well as over 115 countries. campdiv_brief.php" target="_blank">Campus Ethnic Diversity: National Universities, U.S.News & World Report: America's Best Colleges 2008
USC is also home to _Nobel Prize winning Chemistry Professor George Olah, director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute. The university also has two National Science Foundation–funded Engineering Research Centers—the Integrated Media Systems Center and the Center for Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems. In addition, The U.S. Department of Homeland Security selected USC as its first Homeland Security Center of Excellence. Since 1991, USC has been the headquarters of the NSF and USGS funded Southern California Earthquake Center.
USC is the largest private employer in Los Angeles and the third largest in the state of California and is responsible for $4 billion in economic output in Los Angeles County; USC students spend $406 million yearly in the local economy and visitors to the campus add another $12.3 million.
USC men's and women's athletics have won 87 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships, listing1.html" target="_blank">http://www.ncaa.org/champadmin/champs_listing1.html, NCAA Sports History Website, Accessed December 5, 2006 third best in the nation, trailing only _UCLA and Stanford. The NCAA does not include college football championships in its calculation. Though there are multiple organizations that name national championships, USC claims 11 football championships. Excluding football, USC men's teams have combined for 86 NCAA championships. The women have won 27, all since 1976. In addition, USC has 347 Individual NCAA Championships, second-best in the nation. The men's 296 Individual Championships are best in the nation and 50 ahead of second place Michigan.
