<p>I know lots of people(in engineering) taking concert orchestra(as a class)</p>
<p>Dunno what that entails, but they're doing it. :) I'm sure jazz band is equally open.</p>
<p>Yeah, I can confirm that you can definitely take music classes as a non-major. But I don't know the exact details. Most people I know are in some form of a guitar class.</p>
<p>"D" wants to join an "honor's" sorority her freshman year. Any suggestions on which one? She is not a partier, but still wants to be social. Also, she would like to be a song leader. What is the best way to go about that?</p>
<p>MoMoney - there's actually this great group on campus called the Helenes. It's an all-female honors organization that's always busy hosting/taking part in philanthropic events that benefit either the school or the surrounding community. At the same time, they do plenty of really good social events too. I happen to know quite a few girls who are Helenes and they're all amazing.</p>
<p><a href="http://www-scf.usc.edu/%7Ehelenes/%5B/url%5D">http://www-scf.usc.edu/~helenes/</a></p>
<p>themegastud - Thanks for the info. I'll let her know.</p>
<p>What other kind of oragnizations like the Helenes are available? They look great, but I'm not sure I'm <em>that</em> service orientated.</p>
<p><a href="http://www-scf.usc.edu/%7Euscaha/%5B/url%5D">http://www-scf.usc.edu/~uscaha/</a></p>
<p>There are a lot of organizations under AHA. You will find a lot more when you get on campus.</p>
<p>alright...i'm gonna pack in the questions here...</p>
<p>can anyone give me a general outline of the social life of an engineer at USC? the consensus at all schools is that engineering majors drew the shortest straw when it came to living it up at college, at least compared to everyone else. but, i'd like to know how different it was at USC.</p>
<p>i put Birnkrant as my first choice, but New as my second with Cinema. i doubt i'll get Birnkrant from the looks of it, but if i don't get into Cinema in New, will they still put me in New? and on that note, i heard New is unceasingly loud...is this true? is it still possible to study in my dorm, or would i just have to jump over to Leavey to study and do work?</p>
<p>and on THAT note...i have to maintain a 3.0 GPA, or i'm in trouble (scholarship=gone, as well as big reason for being able to go to USC)...i kept straight As throughout all high school in my filled-out AP class schedule, though i won't hesitate to say i didn't always see the things the other more serious "smart kids" in my class did. so how feasible is it to do this, especially with an EE major?</p>
<p>I don't think engineering social life is that bad...dunno how it compares to other universities.</p>
<p>As for 3.0 GPA...I think I remember reading somewhere the average undergrad GPA (for the whole university) is around 3.0, so striving for a minimum 3.0 means that they will expect you to be a little above average. </p>
<p>I would be careful with class selection - make sure you're balanced each semester so you don't end up with a semester of really hard classes and profs, and don't overload unless you're sure of what you're doing.</p>
<p>But consider though, that the university obviously thinks that you can manage that (otherwise they wouldn't give you the money in the first place) Plus, the advisors are perfectly willing to help you plan to ensure you do OK.</p>
<p>Just in what I've seen, people don't usually struggle to keep their scholarships.</p>
<p>One more thing to note is that USC does allow scholarship students to have up to a year of probation if they have problems keeping the 3.0 GPA and/or 32 credits/year toward graduation, which is more generous than many schools. The info should be in materials they sent you. I also haven't heard or read about students having trouble maintaining their merit scholarships--none of the kids I know who attended USC lost theirs & several were engineers.</p>
<p>Electrical Engineering is pretty strict about the course selectoin & which APs will apply toward ANYTHING. This is something you may want to discuss further with your USC engineering advisor. A freshman I know is thinking of switching from EE to IT because he'll be able to apply more of his AP credits, but hasn't decided. He felt the APs he took in HS gave him good prep for USC engineering (very competitive HS), but 2nd semester was definitely more challenging than 1st semester. He lives in apartments across the street from USC.</p>
<p>What's IT? I'm confused...</p>
<p>I second somone else's question about maintaining good grades. I'm an honors student, but I am afraid the workload will be difficult, lots of papers, etc. How hard is it to maintain a high GPA? How does the workload compare to something like, AP US History (which was wickedly difficult in terms of workload) or any other AP/Honors class?</p>
<p>Plus, can anyone state ANYTHING about Fluor? I heard a lot of athletes live there. Are they cliquey? Do non-athletes live there that aren't in the culture floors? Should I just switch to Birkrant and get it over with?</p>
<p>How hard is it to write for the paper if you're a freshman non-Annenberg kid?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I second somone else's question about maintaining good grades. I'm an honors student, but I am afraid the workload will be difficult, lots of papers, etc. How hard is it to maintain a high GPA? How does the workload compare to something like, AP US History (which was wickedly difficult in terms of workload) or any other AP/Honors class?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's tough to say. I know that often (especially in competitive high schools) courses like AP History tend to involve hours on hours of homework, and that's what makes the workload hard...</p>
<p>But college can be very different - and this is true most places - most of the workload is study and preparation related, and creating the "end product", not turning in each nights homework every class session. On contrary homeworks tend to be short and you have a week or two to do each one, though there are very long (and time-consuming) labs/projects/papers/etc. </p>
<p>For example, one course I'm taking this semester, the grade is based on two midterms, a term paper, and the final exam. Not really any homework at all. But no assignments means you're on your own - you've got to be self-motivated enough to keep prepared.</p>
<p>That might sound scary, but it's not. The <em>biggest</em> risk of grade trouble, by far, comes from 1st-semester freshman in a class like I mentioned above, because some of them think, hey, no homework (or HW is only 10% of grade) so they can slack off - then they bomb the midterm and bam, 30% of their grade is already wrecked.</p>
<p>My final message is - don't stress about the grades, but don't slack. You have to be self-motivated, keep in contact with the professor and TA, go to class, office hours, and discussion so you have a good picture of if you're doing OK or struggling. Professors are very, very willing to offer suggestions and let you know how you can improve your grade as long as you just <em>ask</em>.</p>
<p>yes, slacking off does not work well in college. the main trouble I had was adjusting to the college grading system jbusc mentioned, meaning your final exams acount for most of your grade. you need to really change your study habits and become self-motivated to work because how hard you work truly determines your grade (little E.C. and little grade inflation).</p>
<p>With that said, I finished high school with a 4.25 cum. GPA with about 5 AP classes and finished this semester (BME major with 18 units this semester) with straight C's so far. *sigh engineering is definitely not easy street.</p>
<p>About Fluor...the athletes that live there are the swimmers and water polo players (its right next to the swim stadium)... I have a couple friends that live there and they love it (one lives on the latino floor, one on the quiet floor). I have never heard anyone ever complain about living there - it seems like a great community that everyone loves</p>
<p>Question for those that live in campus apartments (or anyone who would know): would someone get kicked out of housing if they painted a room a "calming" low key color? I imagine they would make you paint it back white at the end of the year but are there other consequences?</p>
<p>The university housing contract explicitly prohibits this. </p>
<p>"The Resident under no circumstances shall be permitted to paint or adhere stickers to any part of the Premises, including without limitation, woodwork, ceilings, doors, furniture, appliances and vinyl-covered walls. Any such painting or damage shall constitute a breach of this contract and entitle the university to exercise its remedies set forth in Section "P" below [Remedies for Breach of Terms of Contract]. The resident shall be obligated, on demand, to reimburse the University for the cost of repainting..." </p>
<p>So basically they can kick you out of housing for repainting. There are health and safety inspections twice a year, and officials would likely notice the unauthorized color. Even if you were not caught during the year, how confident are you that you can match the original texture and color of the room when you repaint? After you move out, the room is inspected and you are billed for any damages or cleaning charges.</p>
<p>The walls are a standard white as it is. Perhaps you could use colored lamps or posters to change the feel of the room?</p>
<p>Furniture, bedding, curtains, as well as posters are all good ways many have used to change the "feel" of their "space" without violating housing contracts. It is amazing what you can do with the right fabrics & you can take it all with you when you move to a new place as well. Think carefully about this & look at some decorating/home improvement magazines. There are a lot of great options out there--be creative!</p>
<p>HImom</p>
<p>All USC residence halls have a nice, large bulletin board on each side of the room so you can tack whatever you want on it without the worry about damaging the actual room walls. They also provide everyone with some really nice tacky putty to hang whatever on the other parts of the room.</p>
<p>Painting is definitely out of the picture, but I've seen some fairly impressive dorm redecorations this past year.</p>
<p>Word of caution about "damages." My brother's roommate used tacks or nails to hang things all over the walls on his side of the room and my parents were stuck with 1/2 of the bill. The 1/2 was somewhere in the $1500 range.</p>