<p>wow have fun there!</p>
<p>wow you saved up money to go there.. that is pretty damn amazing!!!</p>
<p>ooh, happy birthday (this is a bit late, isn't it?) but anyway, hope you had a great birthday. visit universal studios and umm.... disneyland? and the colleges, of course! you could also check out occidental, if you're interested. and hope you bump across someone famous in star-studded LA ;)</p>
<p>enjoy your break, you deserve it! :D</p>
<p>First of all- THANK YOU ALL for being so amazing! It was a little wierd being so far from home on my birthday. Here I woke up and even forgot it was the day until my mom called. So here's why this post has made me smile.</p>
<p>I visited USC Thursday night. It took us forever to find the school, but eventually I arrived around 17:00, I was dropped off somewhere near the campus, looked around, and it looked like there wasn't an absolute territory at the beginning, but then I saw like a street sign that said The University of Southern California... Imagine the excitement now! So there was like a gate and I entered the campus and honestly, it was everything I imagined it would be. I did have very high hopes for this place, but once I was there it felt incredible. There were people walking all over, lots of skateboards, lots of bikes, lot's of IPod's... I just walked around with no purpose... I just wanted to get the feel of the place. The dorms seemed nice, there was a marching band rehersing there for the game they have today, lots of places to eat, a bookstore that looked like a suvineer shop at JFK, but instead of NYC, put USC haha. There was a huge gym also, a big stadium. People seemed happy. Later on I met with a friend of mine who once came to volunteer at my base and goes there, he showed me his frat house and introduced me to some of his friends which was nice. Later, around midnight we went to eat Mexican food outside of campus, and yeah, lots of drunk people hanging around, the neighbourhood did seem a little unsafe to walk alone at night, especially for a girl. Then we went back to his apartment which is 5 minutes from the campus, we watched TV with a few of his friends and then I just stayed there to sleep because it was already too late to call the people I'm staying with to come get me. Then Friday morning I wake up at this place, not knowing anyone, totally forgetting it's even the 18th, and I suddenly felt very lonely. On one hand I really wished I had my family and friends from home to be with, but on the other, symbolically, it was amazing to be there at my birthday and realize it's not about what I do that day, it's about what I did in the past year to be where I am now, and where this will take me in the next. So I did feel very proud to be there at this time. Right now I have no doubt in my heart that this is where I wish to be, for countless reasons.</p>
<p>Any questions? :)</p>
<p>Happy Birthday. I hope it all works out for you. USC has a way of capturing hearts.</p>
<p>Saturday we drove through Malibu and I saw Pepperdine University, their campus is simpley BREATHE TAKING! I heard it's ranked very high on PR rankings for most beautiful campus, dorms like palaces, etc. But it really is amaizng!
I'm still with USC though :)</p>
<p>Wow, people, I thought you'd have more questions than that :)</p>
<p>I'm confused... why do you need a november SAT score if you are enrolled in USC?</p>
<p>Happy Birthday! by the way!</p>
<p>I'm not enrolled :) I'm applying</p>
<p>Oh! I see! I wish you best of luck! Don't worry too much!~ Enjoy the beautiful California weather.</p>
<p>Everytime I live outside of California, I wonder why on earth I do it to myself.</p>
<p>It's too HOT people! I don't get you! Some rain every now and then wouldn't kill anyone!</p>
<p>75-80, with a light inland breeze is too hot?</p>
<p>Pfft. Yeah right. :p</p>
<p>what's the student body like in USC?
diverse? cliquey? mostly wealthy? (i heard that heaps of people are really wealthy there, owning mercedez and stuff) friendly? do they seem to have fun?
oh and greek life is presnet there right? does it have a major impact on the school's social life?</p>
<p>The student body is very much like it says on every review. First fact you can't ignore, there are TONS of Asians. I think about 36% are. And you do see a lot of fency cars driving around, BMW's, Mercedez, Volvo... and even fencier stuff I can't evn spell. But to be honest, it's not as intiminating as I imagined it would be. Rich people aren't always snobby or self-centered. People seemed happy, which is the most imporatnt thing in my book. EVERYONE jogs there! Ut's unbelieveable! Everywhere you go, all day long, people jog and exercise! The people I met were overall friendly, but there was someone there I had already known before so I only met his friends. He is in a frat and his "brothers" were all nice. I wouldn't say they are the friendliest people on earth, they were a bit different fron what I'm used to, but it's a different colture so I can understand that. They were overall nice. Even the girls :) And we all know that girls are not usually nice to other girls for no reason. Peple seemed to have personalities. The Greek system also felt pretty diversed, which is good. You can't always tell eho's in it and who's not so it's a good thing. It means all kinds of people are a part of it and that's great. From what I've seen it's pretty big, but so is the school. And of course, the majority aren't in it. I didn't ask every single person about it, but the school is so big, and I think everyone can fit in anywhere. Inside or outside the Greek system!
Lot's of people where the USC sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, gloves, pants ugh what not?! The bookstore is huge and the school is really big on school pride, which means a great sense of community. And you get a great campus feel. I was so worried about the fact that many people don't live on-campus, but off-campus housing are 2 minutes walk from the campus, that you don't even feel like you left it!</p>
<p>For me it's awesome, but then again, I'm not the most objective person to ask, I'm pretty biased... I'm in love with this school!</p>
<p>Your posts are filled with enthusiasm!!! It all sounds so nice! I only wish California colleges gave enough financial aid to internationals:( Tell about everything you find interesting!</p>
<p>Yeah I know, I'm so passionate about it, everyone tells me that! Frankly, that's the only school I can see myself at right now.
And yeah, other than Stanford, USC, Pomona, Occidental and Pepperdine I can hardly think of reputable places here outside the UC system.</p>
<p>It's all about money, isn't it? :(</p>
<p>thanks cotton!!</p>
<p>Cotton_Candy,</p>
<p>Umm...Cal Tech?</p>