The University of Southern California

University of Southern California

Motto	Latin: Palmam qui meruit ferat
Motto in English	Let whoever earns the palm bear it
Type	Private Sea-grant Space-grant
Established	October 6, 1880 (1880-10-06)
Academic affiliations	AAU NAICU APRU
Endowment	$4.6 billion (2016)
Budget	$4.4 billion (2016)
President	C. L. Max Nikias
Academic staff	3,945
Administrative staff	13,216
Students	42,469
Undergraduates	18,740
Postgraduates	23,729
Location	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Campus	Urban 308 acres (1.25 km2)
Colors	Cardinal and Gold
Nickname	Trojans
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I FBS – Pac-12 ACHA (ice hockey), MPSF
Mascot	Traveler
Website	www.usc.edu

The University of Southern California (USC or SC) is a private research university located in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1880, it is the oldest private research university in California. USC has historically educated a large number of the region's business leaders and professionals. In recent decades, the university has also leveraged its location in Los Angeles to establish relationships with research and cultural institutions throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim. An engine for economic activity, USC contributes $8 billion annually to the economy of the Los Angeles metropolitan area and California.

For the 2014–15 academic year, there were 18,740 students enrolled in four-year undergraduate programs. USC also has 23,729 graduate and professional students in a number of different programs, including business, law, engineering, social work, and medicine. The university is one of the top fundraising institutions in the world, consistently ranking among the top 3 in external contributions and alumni giving rates. Multiple academic rankings list the University of Southern California as being among the top 25 universities in the United States. With an acceptance rate of 16 percent, USC is also among the most selective academic institutions in the nation.

USC maintains a strong tradition of innovation and entrepreneurship, with alumni having founded companies such as Lucasfilm, Myspace, Salesforce.com, Intuit, Qualcomm, Box, Tinder, and Riot Games. As of 2014, the university has produced the fourth largest number of billionaire alumni out of all undergraduate institutions in the world.

USC is home to the world’s most powerful quantum computer, which is presently housed in a super-cooled, magnetically shielded facility at the USC Information Sciences Institute. The only other commercially available quantum computing system is operated jointly by NASA and Google. USC was also one of the earliest nodes on ARPANET and is the birthplace of the Domain Name System. Other technologies invented at USC include DNA computing, dynamic programming, image compression, VoIP, and antivirus software.