<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm a junior who has a very good chance of getting the NMF Presidential Scholarship (~$20,000/yr) next year. If I manage to get it, USC will be at the very top of my list for matriculation. I had a question about academics, specifically the English department: is anyone familiar with the USC English Department? More specifically, the Creative Writing major? Are there opportunities for those who want to write fiction and screenplays to get their work known and/or read around Los Angeles? Also, does anyone know about the International Relations Department and how its faculty is regarded?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>-dec</p>
<p>Yes indeed, I know the English department.</p>
<p>We’ve got some really great authors among our faculty ([USC</a> College Department of English](<a href=“http://dornsife.usc.edu/engl/people/faculty.cfm]USC”>http://dornsife.usc.edu/engl/people/faculty.cfm)) and of the professors that I’ve had from that list (sixish) I’ve been impressed, enlightened, and thrilled to have them as teachers.</p>
<p>That being said, I’m not sure about opportunities for publication/production. There’s a lot of student orgs that do promote student literature, such as Palaver Mag ([:::</a> palver :::](<a href=“http://www-scf.usc.edu/~palaver/]:::”>http://www-scf.usc.edu/~palaver/)) and various events that take place at, for instance, Ground Zero Cafe ([Ground</a> Zero Performance Cafe](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/gzcoffee/]Ground”>http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/gzcoffee/)) and they’re always posting up opportunities to submit to literary magazines in the English department, but there’s not, as I know it, a formalized, ready-built system to get your work published. </p>
<p>However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t opportunities everywhere. I worked at the Daily Trojan for a while (you get paid, it’s awesome, though it’s mostly journalism people in there…still a friend of mine who was primarily English stayed there for quite a long time) which is great for a literary resume. My friend who is an English major minoring in multimedia studies (or something akin to that) is putting on an original play this semester for her senior thesis, and I’m her stage manager. There are lots of contests both on and off campus, there’s a LA Writer’s Group ([LAwritersgroup.com</a> - Join a Writers Group in Los Angeles](<a href=“http://www.lawritersgroup.com/]LAwritersgroup.com”>http://www.lawritersgroup.com/)) that is also in our radius, and last November I was instrumental in helping run a NaNoWriMo group at USC (<a href=“USC NaNoWriMo 2010-2011 Public Group | Facebook”>USC NaNoWriMo 2010-2011 Public Group | Facebook). </p>
<p>There’s lots of stuff to do English-wise, case in point.</p>
<p>Don’t know a thing about the IR department. If you want, I can get you the email of a friend who is in it, however. PM me about it.</p>
<p>Thank you very much! That was extraordinarily helpful. :)</p>
<p>I do realize that to get anything published, I’m going to have to my own searching. But it sounds like there’s lots of opportunities already available on behalf of the university. And it’s good that you like the faculty a lot - the quality of professors is important, since I’m already sure that it’s what I want to major in. As for IR, no email necessary, I did some thorough research and found everything I needed to convince me of its impressiveness (lol).</p>
<p>Thanks again for the response. :D</p>