careerladder.fyi › Career paths › USC
How people got into master's at USC
What 31 people did before they enrolled in USC for a master's: where they worked, what they studied, which role they came in through, and how long it took.
31
people in our data got there
11%
had a graduate degree first (of those listing one)
3
typical years since first job
- The most common step right before: from other companies (68%).
- Of those who list their education, 11% had a graduate degree before arriving and 5% a PhD.
- The typical person arrived about 3 years after their first job.
How USC compares
- On these measures, USC is close to typical for degree programs.
Among people who list their education; places with at least 10 such people.
Show as a table
| People listing education | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| USC · Master's (this page) | 19 | 5% |
| Columbia University · Master's | 29 | 3% |
| Stanford University · Master's | 15 | <1% |
| NYU · Master's | 23 | <1% |
Show as a table
| Median years | ||
|---|---|---|
| Columbia University · Master's | 4 yrs | |
| USC · Master's (this page) | 3 yrs | |
| NYU · Master's | 3 yrs | |
| Stanford University · Master's | 3 yrs | |
| UC Berkeley · Bachelor's | 2 yrs |
What they studied before
Show as a table
| People | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Not listed | 15 | 48% |
| Computing | 14 | 45% |
| Other | 2 | 6% |
How much work experience they had
Show as a table
| People | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3 jobs before | 9 | 29% |
| 4+ jobs before | 8 | 26% |
| 1 job before | 8 | 26% |
| No work before | 6 | 19% |
What they did right before
Show as a table
| People | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| From other companies | 21 | 68% |
| Other | 10 | 32% |
Education
Among the 19 of 31 people who list their education.
Show as a table
| People | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Bachelor's | 17 | 89% |
| Master's | 1 | 5% |
| PhD | 1 | 5% |
How much experience they had
Among the 25 of 31 people with an earlier job listed.
Show as a table
| People | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 4 | 16% |
| 1-3 years | 8 | 32% |
| 3-5 years | 8 | 32% |
| 5-8 years | 3 | 12% |
| 8-12 years | 2 | 8% |
Where would your path lead?
Paste your LinkedIn or resume and see the ladders people like you climbed to USC, and how each step changes your chances.
Plan my path to USC →
Paste your LinkedIn or resume and see the ladders people like you climbed to USC, and how each step changes your chances.
Plan my path to USC →
Related
How these numbers are made. From 3k+ public career histories collected for careerladder.fyi (dated jobs, degrees and publications). The collection was built around particular employers, so people who reached well-known tech, AI and finance employers are over-represented: read shares as "among people in this dataset", not as hiring odds. Names are shown only when at least 5 people are behind them; smaller groups are combined into "Other". No individual profile is shown. Updated November 2026.