The University of Southern California is best known for its strengths in film and media, business, engineering, public policy, and computing. While it offers more than 200 degree programs across 22 schools, a handful of disciplines consistently place USC among the top programs in the country and define its academic identity.
Film and Media Production
USC’s School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) is arguably the university’s most famous program and one of the most respected film schools in the world. The school covers film production, television, animation, interactive media, and game design. What sets it apart is its deep integration with the entertainment industry, particularly given its location in Los Angeles. An Office of Industry Relations connects students directly to jobs and internships in film, television, games, and interactive media, while organizing networking events and Q&As with entertainment executives.
SCA also runs a Festivals and Distribution Office that helps students and alumni develop festival strategies and negotiate distribution deals for projects they produce at USC, with past student work landing on HBO, iTunes, and Amazon. For students interested in the business side of entertainment, a joint program between SCA and the Marshall School of Business offers a Graduate Certificate in the Business of Entertainment, covering entertainment finance, marketing, and the role of agents and managers. The school’s alumni network reads like a Hollywood directory, which reinforces the pipeline between USC and the entertainment industry.
Business and Accounting
The Marshall School of Business ranks among the top business schools nationally, with several specialty programs that stand out. For the 2026 academic year, U.S. News ranked Marshall tied for first in the country in both accounting and business analytics. It also earned top-10 placements in entrepreneurship, executive MBA, finance, information systems, international business, management, and marketing, with additional top-12 rankings in real estate, supply chain and logistics, and production/operations.
That breadth of top rankings across nearly every business discipline is unusual. The accounting program in particular has held its top position for years, making USC one of the most reliable pipelines for students aiming at major public accounting firms or corporate finance roles.
Computing and Artificial Intelligence
USC has made computing and AI a central institutional priority. The university launched Frontiers of Computing, a more than $1 billion initiative focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science. The goal is to embed computational skills across all 22 of USC’s schools, not just the engineering programs. Anchoring the effort is a new School of Advanced Computing housed within the Viterbi School of Engineering.
The initiative has already produced concrete programs. The Center for Generative AI and Society studies how AI is reshaping culture, education, and media. A joint program between the Viterbi School and the Marshall School focuses specifically on AI in business. USC researchers are applying machine learning to practical problems like improving Alzheimer’s diagnoses, detecting deepfake videos, enhancing earthquake safety for water systems and power grids, and reducing bias in text prediction tools. The Viterbi School’s broader AI for Social Good initiative involves over 50 faculty members working on applications in health, energy, sustainability, and security.
Public Policy and Urban Affairs
The USC Price School of Public Policy has been ranked among the five best public affairs schools in the country by U.S. News for ten consecutive years, holding the No. 5 spot for the 2026-2027 period. Within that, the school earned a No. 4 ranking in urban policy, No. 5 in health policy, and No. 8 in homeland security. USC’s location in one of the country’s largest and most complex metropolitan areas gives its urban policy work a natural laboratory for research on housing, transportation, and city governance.
Biomedical Research and Health Sciences
USC operates a large research enterprise with particular depth in biomedical sciences and health. The Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience houses the Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization, where researchers work on bio-sensing, proteomics (the study of proteins in cells), and protein engineering to characterize individual cells at the molecular level. The Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering focuses on moving biomedical innovations from the lab to commercially viable medical products.
Aging and brain health are another area of concentration. USC’s Alzheimer Disease Research Center conducts observational studies and therapy trials involving exercise, medications, and vaccines. A separate research group studies the effects of urban air pollution on brain development and healthy aging. These efforts reflect a broader institutional focus on medicine and health as one of USC’s core research pillars, alongside engineering, sustainability, and social and behavioral sciences.
Communication and Media Research
The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is another flagship program, combining media scholarship with professional training. The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative functions as a leading global think tank on inequality in entertainment, tracking disparities across gender, race, ethnicity, age, LGBTQ+ representation, disability, and mental health depictions in film and television. Its reports regularly make national headlines and influence industry hiring practices. The Annenberg Center for Collaborative Communication brings scholars together across institutional and geographic lines to address global communication challenges.
Taken together, USC’s strongest specializations cluster around entertainment and media, business, computing and AI, public policy, and biomedical research. The university’s Los Angeles location reinforces many of these strengths, particularly in film, technology, and urban policy, and its size allows it to run large interdisciplinary initiatives that smaller institutions cannot easily replicate.