Orientation - 2nd Session, Stories??

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
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<p>Hi folks. My S is going to orientation tomorrow (me too) and I'd love any feedback, advice, suggestions to make the most of the time there. Since a batch of you must be home now from last week's orientation, any new thoughts? Have fun? Like your classes? The dorm?</p>

<p>Also, I'm most interested in advice about Thematic Option, since we have not received many specifics on the TO courses for next semester. Did the TO kids go to a special presentation? Did they give you a lot of info on the courses to choose from? Were they offering all the TO Cores or only a few? And how many different sections are there of each Core? Any more info would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Last questions: I've heard that certain majors might be requiring kids to take 3 TO classes (102, 104 + writing 111) all in the first semester? If this is true, are there ever exceptions made, like if the student is able to place out of some required cores w/APs? My concern is that 3 TO classes is a pretty heavy load for 1st semester!!</p>

<p>Thanks for any and all stories!</p>

2

<p>My son is at Orientation now (started tonight). We will just have to wait and see what our kids say!</p>

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<p>Hi -- I PM'ed you madbean, but I wanted to come online to say that it seems to me that loading up with three TO classes first semester, given that 102 and 104 supposedly have 2,000 pages of pretty heavy reading each, is not necessary even for Production majors. I think that what makes the most sense is for each student to look at how many required classes s/he has outside of the major before making that decision. Students should also know that the second TO writing class may be taken during junior year after the student has already started the Production sequence. (I phoned SCA and asked.) Some classes are two-fers (as with classes that take care of the social science theme and diversity classes), and others can be tested out of, such as language, the science theme, and the social science theme. In light of all this, it may be very practical for students to spread out their TO's more evenly over the first three semesters, and to take the final TO writing class even later.</p>

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<p>I would never advise to take an extremely difficult course load the first semester freshman year. The first semester is the best time to start making new friends, checking out the various campus clubs and activities, and transitioning into college.</p>

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<p>mdcissp -- I completely agree with you. I was really concerned that S would be pressured to take 102, 104 and 111 first semester and find it overwhelming. Very relieved that the TO advisors completely respected his decision to leave 104 until later.</p>

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<p>Nester - If there was any recommendation to take 102 and 104 at the same time, was that from the TO people or the film school people? I'm so glad to hear that's not being pushed - something both madbean and I picked up on from this forum, I guess. I assume it's quite normal to defer the second writing class until sophomore year. </p>

<p>mdcissp, did your H end up going to orientation? Hope everyone there is having fun!</p>

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<p>As far as I'm able to tell, the (relatively) normal TO Schedule is:</p>

<p>FreshFall: Writing 111 and CORE 102</p>

<p>FreshSpring: Writing 112 and CORE</p>

<p>Soph Fall: CORE</p>

<p>Soph Spring: CORE</p>

<p>Most freshmen do get the writing requirement out of the way freshman year. Some doubling up of the cores does occasionally happen- for me it always depended on the classes offered.</p>

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<p>Nikara -- This would definitely be the way to go in most majors, but for SCA production, as I understand it students can't begin the production class sequence until all four TO cores courses are completed. So if they take that 4th core the spring of soph year, they can't start production until they're juniors. This means that one of the first three semesters, they have to take two TO core courses at the same time.</p>

<p>FauxNom -- Yes, the suggestion to take 102, 104 and 111 the first semester freshman year came from the TO director to film students in some majors. But it was not pushed.</p>

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<p>Madbean- Very nice meeting you today at orientation! Hope it all went smoothly for you and your son.</p>

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<p>Hi cc411! I'm exhausted. lol. So great to meet you too. cc411 is one of the active members of the Parent Association and we met this morning at the PA sponsored coffee. So much fun to learn there is an actual person behind the college confidential posts. And a really cool person! Of course.</p>

<p>I thought today was very informative, for the most part, and my S is having a blast. My S's situation is probably relatively rare, but as he's in the CSA in a small (but mighty) major, and also in TO, and all advising sessions happen at the same time, turns out he couldn't attend both. The TO advisers insisted he come to their session, and the CSA adviser said, no, he should attend her session. Perhaps this is something they can work out for future students! As it was we needed the input from both as this material was the most important stuff from the point of view of planning his schedule. </p>

<p>He went to TO (he really wanted to get a feel for the courses offered and maybe make a final decision on whether he should go for it) and I went to the special session for his major. There were only two of us at that one! But in that hour I learned an awful lot.</p>

<p>For my s's CSA major--I really can't advise about other Cinema majors--they have a template of the courses to take each semester for all four years, with specific Cinema courses required for his major along with generic labels like "Elective" or "GE" or "Foreign Language" to hold the place of the course of the student's choice. Naturally, if a student places out of some of these they can fill the space with other Electives or classes to complete a minor. Still, it was very helpful to see this guide and I wish they had just sent it to us a few weeks ago so we could really get used to it. </p>

<p>Anyway, here's the shock: according to his CSA adviser, my s is to take two Cinema classes first semester! He is so happy. And as we know, according to TO, he is to take two TO classes (102 and 111) first semester too. Well, that about does it then.</p>

<p>No, actually. They are also encouraged to sign up for 2-unit Pass/Fail fun Freshmen Seminars, if they want. Don't know if he'll do that, but just figuring out which classes to take within this strict template is proving challenging. There are so few sections of some of these courses (two of them are only offered once!), that his favorite TO 102 class is not an option anymore. Ah, the joys of college scheduling. I remember it all now...</p>

<p>So that's a quick recap of the latest news. And, oh yes. I just loved how everyone kept telling us that we were all (parents too) part of the Trojan Family. So much warmth and welcome given to these new students, I was charmed.</p>

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<p>My daughter will be going to the orientation a few days after we return to California. I would love to get an idea of what is recommended for the CSA students ahead of time! My daughter is a production major. Can anyone help me out?
I thought that as a freshman, she would only be allowed one film class.
At any rate, I am all ears at this point. Wish I would have brought my USC guide here with us. Madbean, glad to hear that the staff were welcoming and eager to help out.</p>

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<p>I am delighted that my son is happy at Orientation. USC is the right fit. My husband is also very pleased at USC.</p>

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<p>Mine was the 12th-13th, if your kids are having even half as much fun as we did they will love it. You guys sound like the chill parents that let their kids go off with the other students which is good, I didn't come with mine on personal choice, but alot of the students that were happy were the ones who chose when to go with their parents rather than their parents smothering them. Anyway, we had a ton of fun watching the game and just meeting a crazy amount of new people. You'll hear stories when you get back lol.</p>

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<p>My son is happy with the USC orientation and has an excellent schedule for next year. Also, for those of you parents who are undecided about going to orientation-my husband was happy he went. It sounded like orientation ended around 4 PM.</p>

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<p>suenos, I hope a CSA Production student (or parent of) gives you the specifics for your d's major. The various departments don't provide any of this to incoming students before orientation but it would have given kids a little time to absorb the requirements before they have to select classes, which many students do late at night and/or in about an hour or two right before they register the second day. As it is, there are scheduled events from 7am until very late on the first day of orientation! Everyone is pretty much toast by the time it's over, but really happy toast. </p>

<p>hyakku, you make a great point about parents letting their kids go off with new friends. This is not just a time to select classes, but also a time to get excited about the amazing kids that are in the USC class of 2012. And just an observation--I saw more kids smiling and saying hi to more strangers than I think I ever have before. It may be the nature of orientation, but kids were exceedingly outgoing, happy, accepting, and friendly. Definitely a cool time for students to take names, Facebook new acquaintances, etc. </p>

<p>My s got a great schedule, all the classes he needed and at the days/times he wanted, but there were challenges involved in registering. Complications of getting conflicting advice, but eventually all was sorted out. But he had the double whammy of signing up for TO which must be done with a TO adviser and also a very specific major adviser, and the twain didn't quite meet. lol. So, imagine my s sprinting from adviser group to adviser group, cross campus, to get into the system in time to catch a spot in some very popular classes! He felt great when he got it all to work. And he left campus saying he "loves" SC, met great people, and is really excited about college. No parent could ask for more.</p>

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<p>That's great to hear. I've heard nothing but good things about orientation, and it's hard not to get excited about USC - even if by proxy!</p>

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<p>From the first time my husband and son went on the tour of USC, everything from USC is very well run. I only hear great things about USC-the tour was the best, Viterbi Engineering looks the best, the orientation was great, etc.</p>

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<p>We just came back from orientation. Here is my two cents.
First of all for those parents who can't go with their kids: there were a lot of kids without parents and they seemed to do just great.</p>

<p>For those parents planning on going to orientation: it is definitely worth the time and money. We enjoyed seeing our daughter becoming familiar with the campus, making friends and developing USC school spirit.
A lot of information was given in the sessions. Some sessions were better than others.
The Health Services lady was really entertaining, the rally with the USC band was awesome, and the "letting go" session made a lot of parents cry (even though the people in the panel were not very well informed).
We skipped the bookstore session (we were soo tired the first day).</p>

<p>Registration for our daughter was a breeze (even though she changed majors/school on the spot!), she got all the classes she wanted and was finished by 3 pm.</p>

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<p>I met my husband and son at the airport upon their return from USC orientation. My son was really happy and likes everything about USC. He likes his program, met nice kids, the food was great, likes his dorm and was just happy with everything. My husband was also upbeat and happy about USC. He feels USC looks after their students and provides a very successful college experience.</p>

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<p>Tuitionsaver, what major/school did your D switch to? And did she already sign up for any classes in her new major?</p>

<p>It was very odd to be surrounded by so many parents and kids who were all having such similar positive experiences for two days. I enjoyed talking to many parents (met dads from Connecticut and New Jersey, moms from Palm Desert, San Diego, Seattle, and Texas plus Northridge, Pasadena and Orange County), all of whom talked about how USC had been a dream school for their kids, and I heard of many turning down other great schools to come to USC. </p>

<p>After all the hard work over four years in high school, all the ECs and activities, all the effort put into applications, tests, and essays, all the stress waiting for the results, it was like these two Orientation days were a mass celebration of these hard won USC admissions and the parents were invited to witness the joy.</p>

<p>Hope more kids and parents chime in with their reactions.</p>