A Day in the Life of a USC Trojan

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>My name is Marcus Alvarez, and I am a senior in Texas. This whole process of writing college essays, submitting financial aid documents, and juggling AP classes with family responsibilities is definitely something to remember. But time can only tell who will eventually be admitted to the dream schools.</p>

<p>In order to pass the time, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to describe his or her experience at USC? What was your first day like? How are the people? How is the LA area? Is the campus as vibrant and beautiful as everyone says? What do you think about the marching band - and drumline? How is the food? What is there to expect at freshmen orientation? How are the teachers? What consists of a typical workload? What's a day in the life of a USC Trojan?</p>

2

<p>yes! I want to hear some. I’ve seen too many of the yt videos.</p>

3

<p>As a second semester freshman, my experience has been amazing! Welcome week was full of opportunities to meet people - I got to go to Venice Beach and Santa Monica both through USC-provided transportation in those first few days. Perfect weather. Also during Welcome Week, I started becoming close with my floor and now many of my closest friends at USC are my floormates. </p>

<p>The first day of classes was pretty tame because the professors just went through syllabi. My largest class last semester was chem and bio lectures: around 60 people (Freshman Science Honors program - FSH). </p>

<p>The people here are really diverse. Any kind of person you can think of, they’re here. And the nice thing is that (bragging a little here) you know everyone is smart and uniquely talented too, since they attend USC.</p>

<p>I like being in LA. Not having a car limits how often I can explore the city, but still, I’ve gone to restaurants and concerts by bus or cab. One thing I love is that there are so many concerts here! I have to pick and choose what I want to go to because everyone comes through LA.</p>

<p>The campus is beautiful, and not exaggerating, everyday I look around when I’m walking to class and feel lucky that I’m here. Especially when it’s warm and sunny, it’s an amazing feeling.</p>

<p>I don’t know too much about the marching band, except that my friends who are in it are really busy, but I love hearing and seeing them perform at games, rallies, and Primal Scream.</p>

<p>Food: General consensus is that Parkside is good, EVK not as good, BUT I think EVK’s improving greatly and it has the grill. EVK now has a chef making special pasta and new food options. I think both dining halls are getting smoothie bars soon. </p>

<p>Freshman orientation: You are placed in an orientation group of about 10-15 students, not sorted by major or anything. Last year, everyone stayed in New/North and the days are filled with workshops, presentations in Bovard, and school meetings (Dornsife, Marshall, Viterbi, etc). On the second day in the afternoon, people register for classes. I recommend looking at the schedule of classes to see what you might want to take beforehand so you’re not too slow during registration. Even though spaces are reserved, some classes still fill up quickly. Also, there’s no curfew and you can do pretty much whatever you want during down time, although there are social events planned in the evening.</p>

<p>My professors are awesome. I especially liked my bio professors from last semester, since they gave good lectures and talked about their own research when it was relevant to the course. As a part of FSH, we had the opportunity to go to Catalina Island and tide pools, which were both really fun, and we got to spend time with our professors outside of class.</p>

<p>The workload can range from all right to really stressful, but I’ve never had so much work that I didn’t think I could finish. These past few days, I’ve had to study for bio and chem exams, do a chem lab writeup, write a poetry essay, and read for my philosophy, poetry, and creativity workshop classes. The studying for bio and chem makes this week a difficult one for me, but otherwise it’s definitely manageable.</p>

<p>A description of my busy day yesterday! Had poetry (GE5) from 11am-12:15. Went back to my dorm until my next class, bio lab from 2-5 PM. Then from 6-7 PM, I had a Youth Exploring Passion meeting. From 7-9, I had a chem SI exam review (optional), and from 9-10 PM I had a Colleges Against Cancer meeting. After all that, I went back to my dorm to do my chem lab writeup and went to bed at 2 AM (writeup took longer than it really should have). I usually don’t go to bed super late, but I take naps during the day anyway so I get more sleep in college than I did in high school. You can choose how involved you want to get. Last semester, I didn’t do much outside class, and I had so much free time that I decided to join/apply to a lot of activities this semester.</p>

<p>Good luck, I hope you’ll be admitted and that you’ll attend USC!</p>

4

<p>USC just seems more and more perfect each day I research it. USC is definitely my top school choice thus far. Thanks for all the little details about your day (I know it took a good while to playback a typical day and to gush out all the beautiful details).</p>

<p>What do you think about the Webb Tower?</p>

5

<p>I’m glad I could help! Haha I thought I was just going to quickly answer all your questions, but as usual when people ask about USC, I ended up churning out long descriptions. I don’t know much about Webb because it’s all upperclassmen currently (will be a mostly freshman building next year), but it seems like a good place to live. Each unit has its own kitchen, which freshman dorms don’t have. Also, it’s right next to Lyon center, so working out would be easy.</p>

6

<p>I’m in the drumline. We are even cooler than the rest of the band.</p>

<p>Your day in the life will depend heavily on what your major is. Engineers, arch majors, etc have more work. Seniors and juniors have more work than freshmen. You have to learn to plan and budget your time.</p>

<p>Webb is amazing. I lived there Junior year and it was easily the best place I lived. All those freshmen coming in and getting Webb are so spoiled. Back when I was a freshman…</p>

7

<p>How is it socially? Living in an apartment-type complex, I think, is detrimental to the whole social aspect of college. You see fewer people.</p>

8

<p>Bookworm,
There are all sorts of options for freshmen housing including special interest floors, residential colleges, dorms in different locations, triples, suites, doubles and some singles. On the housing web pages are explanations of how the rooms are set up and what is included as far as furniture.</p>

<pre><code> If you check out the videos about move in day and orientation there are views of the interiors of some dorms. It will give you an idea how some of the rooms look when students come in August.
</code></pre>

9

<p>I’m a current USC freshman. Here’s some insight into my schedule (I sense this getting long): </p>

<p>MONDAY
I don’t have class until 2 on Mondays. I have a show on Sunday nights, so I usually use the extra time in the morning to catch up on sleep/get some exercise. </p>

<p>After class, I go straight to Monday Night Dinner. I’m a member of one of our 10 NPC sororities (want more info on sororities? Use greekchat.com, which is a very reliable guide to Greek Life and gives a lot of information about how sororities work), and we, along with the 24 IFC fraternities, have a weekly Monday Night Dinner and chapter meeting where we dress up and eat a meal with our sisters/brothers. One thing that makes SC’s Greek system somewhat unique is our deliveries system. On Mondays, members of fraternities and sororities send each other gifts (some completely real, others goofy…they can be pretty much anything) which get delivered during Monday Night Dinner. I have to say, I love deliveries. </p>

<p>After dinner and chapter, I usually do some homework for my Tuesday class, talk to my best friend (a Cal freshman) and try to catch Pretty Little Liars, if I can. </p>

<p>TUESDAY
I have class starting at 12:30 on Tuesdays, so I have to make sure I have everything I need organized on Monday night. </p>

<p>I’m done pretty early on Tuesdays (3 PM), so Tuesday is my main homework night during the week! I always work to make sure my Wednesday and Thursday assignments are done on Tuesday. </p>

<p>Additionally, I tend to use Tuesday as a “catch-all” day, since I’m free in the afternoons. If I needed to schedule a teeth cleaning, for instance, I’d plan my appointment on a Tuesday. </p>

<p>After doing some work, I usually exercise a little, grab dinner, see if I can catch the Pretty Little Liars I undoubtedly missed on Monday…</p>

<p>WEDNESDAY
I usually have a voice lesson on Wednesday. After that, I have class, and it’s a long class (4-hr lecture!), so I don’t really have as much time after class to do homework (hence doing my Thursday homework on Tuesday!). </p>

<p>After class, I grab dinner and relax. I’ve probably given up on PLL by this time in the week (that’s what the weekend’s for!), so I try to catch one of my beloved Wednesday shows (Hot in Cleveland, Revenge, Modern Family). If I’m in the mood to go out late, one of my sorority sisters and her roommate are huge Revenge fans, and I can go watch at their place! </p>

<p>THURSDAY
Another long day, but whatever! I have fun on Thursdays. I enjoy my Thursday classes. After class, I have a little moment of excitement-I don’t have Friday classes, so it’s the weekend! Yay! After a long, hard week, there’s nothing I’d rather do more than…</p>

<p>…some additional homework. Yes, I try to get work done on Thursday nights. Get it over with and out of the way. I usually do work from one of my Thursday classes. Just because it’s fresh in my mind. </p>

<p>And then I for sure reward myself by watching something I missed out on earlier in the week. And some extra exercise. </p>

<p>FRIDAY
Since I don’t have class, I plan a lot on Fridays. Past Fridays have included additional voice lessons, trips to Costco, mall trips with friends…and, of course, homework. For the record, I feel like I’m overplaying the amount of work I do. I don’t spend every aching hour doing homework; I have less homework at SC than I did in high school, and I feel like most overachievers would say that. I do, however, have more complex assignments that work better if I do them over time instead of in one long sitting, so I tend to plan lots of small intervals of study time to work on big assignments over a longer period. </p>

<p>An additional note on homework: what you’ll be doing every night varies based on the kind of classes you take, but I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll be reading a lot. Depending on the type of class, you’ll probably do a decent amount of writing, too. There are also math/science kind of classes, with problem sets and such, and I’m only going based on the assignments my friends and I have on a frequent basis. I’m sure there are more. </p>

<p>THE WEEKEND
Yeah, more homework, rehearsals and meetings with the producers of my show…oh, and the show. And I tend to be involved with my extracurriculars a bit more on the weekends. </p>

<p>There’s stuff I’m not including for a few different reasons (I’m new and don’t know what my time commitment will be, or I’m about to take on a new time commitment and I don’t know where or when), but this is pretty much my week-to-week schedule. </p>

<p>Let me know if you have any questions!</p>

10

<p>A Day in the Life of a USC Trojan Alum:</p>

<p>M-F: Daily grind, 9am - 7pm, sometimes 10pm-midnight. Friday night: Take a cab from work to the nearest bar and start drinking heavily with co-workers who are also working late.</p>

<p>Saturday: Get up late, grab large coffee due to a hangover, maybe come into work around noon depending on if there is stuff I need to catch up on. Do more drinking throughout the afternoon and night.</p>

<p>Sunday: Get over hangover from Saturday, see friends, rest up before Monday rolls around.</p>

<p>Enjoy your time at USC guys, it is all downhill from there lol</p>

11

<p>That is So Funny! You are right, college seems stressful, but it can be heaven compared to the real world. Bottoms up!</p>

12

<p>This is a great thread! I’m currently a freshman at Penn State who applied to USC to transfer and I really hope I get in. If anyone knows, how is the gay life at USC or in LA in general? I’m originally from Seattle, but WA is much different from CA. I haven’t really been to CA, but I drove through LA and I loved it. I love arts, culture, music, and everything creative. How is LA? I’ve checked out the USC website and noticed that the community seems active and strong - there’s a gay frat, too, I see.</p>

13

<p>USC has the ideal college atmosphere everybody wants. I mean, Los Angeles is literally in USC’s backyard. There are so many interesting places to visit, so many opportunities that many universities would not, at least for a while, offer. The school blends academics and the arts beautifully as well. I keep on reading all the posts of a typical Trojan day, and I just see myself at USC more and more and more…</p>

<p>I am contemplating on whether I should bring my truck or not. What do you think?</p>

14

<p>DJpsu2015, I think the gay community here is active. There’s groups like Freshman Advocacy Board, which is for first-year and transfer LGBT and ally students to basically socialize. My roommate, who’s gay, has a lot of friends from FAB, and she’s starting an LGBT outreach group. Oh, and there’s the Rainbow Floor in Century Apartments, which is a special interest housing floor for LGBT & allies. I’m not sure about gay life in LA in general, but I bet it’s active. Finally, I don’t think there currently is a gay frat, but people have been trying to create one!</p>

15

<p>MarcusAlvarez, I didn’t bring a car and I think that was a good choice. Even though I’d be able to explore LA more easily, parking costs about $400/semester. I don’t have a job that requires me to drive to work and I don’t go places that require a car that often. I’ve taken the bus to restaurants, cab for concerts and shopping, zipcar for day trips, and friend’s car for other outings, so I just don’t think having a car would be worth it for me. Maybe one of the next few years…</p>

16

<p>Are freshmen allowed to have cars?</p>

<p>Sent from my SGH-T959 using CC App</p>

17

<p>My gay son spent the summer at USC. They have a full-time director of their LGBT center, but it’s pretty hard to find. Pomona had a great center! They also have a “rainbow” floor for gay students! USC is rated 5/5 for gay-friendly, and let’s face it, it’s LA!</p>

18

<p>@jseo12–yes, freshmen are allowed to bring their cars</p>

<p>Here is a link to information on parking:
[Parking</a> // SCampus 2011-12](<a href=“http://scampus.usc.edu/parking/]Parking”>http://scampus.usc.edu/parking/)</p>

19

<p>Yes. I think the best option, at least for freshmen, is to not bring a car to USC. It’ll be cheaper and there is bound to be somebody with a spare car if we really need it. Just thinking about being in the heart of Los Angeles is exciting!</p>

<p>In regard to the gay life at USC, there are the Century Apartments. The Rainbow Floor Applications are due as soon as possible. It’s really short and sweet, but you might want to finish it before slots run out.</p>