<p>Anyone else receive the invite today and considering it? </p>
<p>If anyone has any experience with the program and would share it that would be great too!</p>
<p>i got an invite too!
i talked with a friend whos at usc right now
and he thinks its an honor to be in it?? but you do take different classes from other freshmen, which could distant you from roommates and such??
im not quite sure.
yeah i second that up there.. if anyone knows anything more about it,
please let us know! :)</p>
<p>How did the invite come? If by mail where do you guys live?</p>
<p>Ya I got this today also, does anyone know how many people they send it too?</p>
<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I'm a current student in the Thematic Option (we call it TO) and I'd be happy to tell you all about it!</p>
<p>I absolutely love this program and feel like it has really defined my freshman year here at USC! The teachers are AMAZING (they handpick the best for you!) and genuinely care about your intellectual enrichment. The students are equally AMAZING because they're all motivated students who actually THINK and present thought-provoking questions/comments, unlike my non-TO classes. Thematic Option hosts a conference every spring for its students, to provide them with an opportunity to publish and present their papers in front of an audience. In short, TO provides its students opportunities unavailable elsewhere at USC (awesome field trips, STRONG rapport between teachers and students, spring conference, and just the general environment). Don't get me wrong, there's MUCH more benefits to TO than just this!</p>
<p>Now, surely you couldn't think that TO is just all perks, right? Let this be a warning to you: there is A LOT of reading and writing involved in Thematic Option. I mean, LOOOOOOOOOTS. Now if that didn't scare you off, maybe this will: Thematic Option is commonly known as TRAUMATIC Option among students, because of the workload. But, as a former IB student in high school, I found the workload pretty manageable and wasn't too traumatized by all of the reading and writing (;</p>
<p>Regarding the logistics of TO... yes, we do take different classes from other freshman. But, I don't think this would necessarily "distance" you from your friends. For General Education (the "regular," non-Thematic Option route), students need to take SIX classes + TWO writing classes (Writing 140 Freshman year, Writing 340 Junior year). If you do the math, that's EIGHT classes total. As for Thematic Option, students need to take SIX CORE classes (what the TO classes are called) + TWO theme classes (one in social science and the other in natural science). Two writing classes (CORE 111 and CORE 112) are included in the six CORE classes you are required to take.</p>
<p>I guess the main difference between Thematic Option and General Education is that GE classes can be taken for Pass/No Pass (you "pass" if you get higher than a C), whereas none of the TO classes can be taken for P/NP. In addition, whereas Writing 140 MUST be taken freshman year and Writing 340 MUST be taken Junior year (the two writing courses for General Education)... Thematic Option allows students to take both of their writing classes during freshman year! Hence, I took CORE 111 (first writing class) during my freshman fall semester, and I am currently taking CORE 112 (second writing class) during my freshman spring semester.</p>
<p>Hope this helps, and please feel free to ask if you have any questions!</p>