If the SDN rankings are based just on feedback, then I'll assume that the bad ranking is due to the fact that the USC Med School is located in a somewhat grubby part of LA. And as someone mentioned above, the med school isnt located on the main campus but on a separate off-site campus called the Health Sciences Campus which just happens to be smack right next door to LA County Hospital (which means that if you dont speak spanish, you might have some difficulties during rotations). I'm pretty well familiarized with it, and I'll be the first to agree that the location does indeed suck. On-campus housing is pretty much non-existent, making the school mostly a commuter school with students driving in from nicer areas like South Pasadena, Alhambra, Monterey Hills, etc. Their Norris medical library is also something of a joke and the on-campus food is tolerable at best. The SDN rankings might be higher if the med school was located on the actual USC main campus, which makes a better impression by being "prettier" and having better housing/eating/library facilities, but then it would be about a 20 minute commute (without traffic) to places like county hospital or USC university hospital.
Also LA County Hospital itself can throw an intimidating shadow on anyone considering going to USC. It's huge, dimly lit and serves the poorest of the poor in LA. You'll see cases like severe burns on children because their mom decided to throw a vat of boiling water on them or burn them with cigarette butts. But it's definitely training that you won't be able to get working in, let's say, Cedars Sinai.
That being said, I know students at USC who couldn't be happier with their education. The student body seems to be well-knit and supportive despite the commuter atmosphere due to long hours spent in the same classrooms and on-campus together. Faculty are very approachable and research opportunities are pretty abundant.
Of course UCLA is still my absolute dream school, but I'd be more than ecstatic to be accepted into USC and to be able to stay in SoCal for med school. But that's just me.
