You meant USC? Haha.

I went to a small mostly unrecognized state school. So far as networking goes there isn't a major city in this country or Canada that doesn't have at least one alumni working there.

per j's suggestion, you might want to consider looking at alabama or notre dame. they have the most stoiried football teams in the history of college ball.

alabama may have bear bryant, but they don't have an architecture program.

...advertised program that is.. it's listed in the courses outline as "And Now Let's count to 20: A Book about Bigger Numbers".

I went to Oregon and moved out to Boston after I graduated. I got lots of interviews from friends of professors.

As far as motivation goes...you should be passionate enough to drive and push yourself. I will admit that there were people that I graduated with, that I believe shouldn't have. I pushed myself harder because those people were in my studio.

Look at the program and what you want out of it. Then look at what you can/want to afford. The key is being happy and working hard and everything will shake itself out.