I used to teach TO at USC in the early 2000s. Basically, it’s an interdisciplinary honors level program, comprised of faculty from different departments, as well as writing instructors. In the past, students would attend a lecture with a USC professor. Then, they would also attend a writing seminar and write rhetorical analysis based on the lecture materials, led by a USC composition instructor. In addition to lectures, and small composition classrooms, there are also evening activities, like movies, and discussions, or debates, and field trips. In the past it used the core curriculum model and classic literary and philosophical texts. It also meets the composition requirements and some GE requirements at USC.
From the website: Each year, 200 freshmen participate in this interdisciplinary core curriculum. “T.O.” - as it’s commonly called around campus - offers small classes with some of the University’s best undergraduate teachers and a hand-picked group of writing instructors. The classes are stimulating, and the faculty are brought together with students for a variety of evening events including films, dinners, speakers, performances, and field trips. The intellectual community fostered by common coursework and evening events helps bright students find their peers and a sense of their own place during those crucial first few freshman weeks.
Thematic Option’s curriculum consists of honors-level interdisciplinary courses taught around distinct themes, through which you will satisfy USC’s general education requirements. Your T.O. classes will ask you to consider the big questions, such as: Is there such a thing as human nature? How have conceptions of justice changed over time? Is there order in history? How do we define progress? What is the nature of truth? Where does knowledge come from? As you pursue possible answers, you will learn about broad ethical issues and approaches to historical change. As issues of epistemology, representation, and social construction emerge from your studies, you will be challenged to reconceptualize the world and your role within it.
Thematic Option’s writing program consists of two writing seminars supplemented with biweekly one‐on‐one tutorials. The first semester writing course focuses on the relationship between critical thinking and analytic writing. The second course is aimed at developing your capacity to address specific audiences and convey complex ideas persuasively.