University of Southern California | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Jizoyce

Class: Senior
Major: Neuroscience
Gender: F

High School: Mary Carroll High School
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

USC is an awesome school. Anything you want to do or learn about can be done at USC. Being in L.A., this means that any kind of food you want to eat any kind of show you want to see is 20 minutes away from your dorm (without traffic, lol). When you tell people in L.A. that you go to USC they automatically say "damn, that's a good school." People are nicer to you when you say you go to USC. They ask you do you go to football games? What's it like going there? Etc. Being from Texas where a lot of people think USC stands for University of South Carolina, I was shocked by how much prestige USC has in Southern California. There is a ton of school pride at USC and you will feel it the first time you attend a football tailgate on campus. People who went to SC' a million years ago show up to BBQ and party before the game. At the Coliseum people paint their bodies and yell until they loose their voices. You'll find yourself high-fiveing people you just met 10 minutes ago. The Alumni network is so great, especially if you are a business student. Companies in every field recruit SC' students. Graduating from SC' gets you a lot of perks.

Academic Life

How well your professors know you depends on your major and if the class is a general education course or for your major. As a Science major all of my classes were 100+ and up to 300 people. The professor only knows you if you make it a point to go to his/her office hours or ask them questions after class. This means that you should get to know them if you want a letter of recommendation down the line. My favorite classes were Ballroom Dancing, Tap, Exploring Cultures Through Film, Film, Power, and American History. How much students study depends on their major. Science and Engineering kids have to study a lot to keep up, but most other majors can study right before midterms. Pre-health students can be competitive. Dance As An Art Form was the most unique class I took because I learned about dance from a world prospective instead of just a Western perspective. Neuroscience is pretty cool because there are only 5 classes that you absolutely have to take and the other 6 are up to you. 11 classes allows you a lot of room to do another major or a couple of minors. I think the education is geared towards learning for learning's sake> They try to make us well-rounded individuals, so you can't graduate without learning a little history, science, sociology, etc. I think the Social Issue requirement is good because it requires privileged people to at least learn about what life is like for the less privileged and it just might stir up some compassion in them.

Student Body

There are people from EVERYWHERE at USC. I could hear 3 different languages walking to class my freshmen year. I think we are #1 in the country for having the most diverse student body and international students in the country. The majors however are not as diverse as the overall school. The Schools of Engineering and Computer Science are mostly Middle Eastern. The Liberal Arts are mostly white kids. The School of Social Work is mostly African American, and you can find Asian people just about anywhere. All the ethnicities have their own student body assemblies and have centers they can hang out at. The Row (where all the Fraternities and Sororities are) are mostly white. They only let black people into their really big parties if they are athletes. Most of the people who are greek on The Row are white except for an Asian house and a few other non-whites sprinkled into some houses. I don't think anyone can feel out of place at USC. There is a niche for EVERYONE. Whatever interest you, will also interest at least one other person. Another thing about SC is that people wear everything under the sun. It's not like high school where everyone looks like a clone and they got to wear brand X. People have style hear. Some styles I don't really understand, but they all have their own flavor. The girls put together outfits I could never think of. Others though keep it simple and wear USC sweatshirts everyday (USC sweatshirts and gear are a MUST HAVE no matter what your style is). People interact, especially freshman because roommate assignments are random and this exposes you to many different types of people. Most Students are from California, but there are students from everywhere here. Texas is well represented and so are the other surrounding states. There are a lot of kids with money here (parents who are big in the entertainment industry, etc) but I think there are more well-off kids than poor kids and more middle class students than all of them. Some students are more politically aware than others. Quite a few are apathetic. But there are a lot of political organization like CALPIRG, who are always out petitioning for one cause or another. The business students talk salary a lot.