<p>So USC is sending me hordes of colorful mail about invitations to apply to various programs. These two programs seem like they're really worthwhile, and since I plan to go to med school, it would be much better to be in a school where I can stand out and where I actually know my professors and can get good recs. I never really considered USC before, it was always Berkeley or UCLA, but I'm now wondering if it's worth it for these programs alone. What have you heard about them? Are they as good as they look?</p>
<p>USC seems to be slowly moving up my college choices, which is obviously their aim with all this mail. They're definitely doing a good job of reeling in students. My question: is the bait as attractive as it seems?</p>
<p>Great question...their goal is to be in the top 10 soon and given what they did with their football team over the past few years, I think they will succeed...but will I risk it for myself? Spend all my hard earned stats on promise? Maybe! The issue in the east is that virtually no one kknows it is a strong private university...evryone thinks it is a UC...and state schools are looked down upon out here. That makes coming back with a USC degree a question mark...What you say about standing out for med school makes tons of sense tho...imagine trying to get in from an Ivy?!</p>
<p>aim78, when did u get the invite to the freshman science honors program?? i got the invite to thematic option, but the fsh sounds interesting too...</p>
<p>My question is: Is thematic option worth the excruciating pain?</p>
<p>I'm going into biomedical engineering and planning to minor (or double major) in Spanish. If I went with regular general ed. I could weasel my way out of a few classes via AP credit...thus freeing up my schedule for Spanish and making it slightly easier to maintain a high gpa (a necessity for med school...which is difficult with the deflated gpa of an engineering major) Plus some of the classes for normal general ed. really interest me. But thematic option would probably improve my writing, expand my analytical thinking, etc. Then again it requires a great deal of reading, writing, and so forth which is enlightening but not so enjoyable. </p>
<p>Does anyone who has been through the program have any suggestions?</p>
<p>"Credit is given for advanced placement as it is for all other students at the University" </p>
<p>I think it will look good on a med school app that you challenged yourself and I doubt it willbring down your GPA much if at all. </p>
<p>I am still somewhat concerned though because I have heard it called the
"Traumatic Option". It sounds great on paper, but I am wondering what it is like in reality.</p>
<p>the vast majority of TO students come out glad they did it. the quality of the classes is amazingly high, the writing courses are INFINITLY better (plus you can finish the reqs freshman year instead of having to wait for junior year)..... it really is a lot more work, but there is a very handy grading curve that makes it very very hard to get anything lower than a B. meeting other student superstars can be both awesome and annoying (arrogance is practically a program prerequisite) but getting to know the the best professors at the University very well (in classes of 35 instead of 150) isn't too shabby, especially when the time comes to apply for grad. school.</p>
<p>From everything I've read and what the directors of the program tell, it's an enormous amount of reading, writing, and intense professors. The lists of required reading look fascinating though. To me, literary analysis = a great nuisance. But I'm sure this would be heads and shoulders above the pathetic english classes that I've encountered thus far. My "excruciating pain" comment was mostly in reference to TO's nickname "Traumatic Option."</p>