Ask a USC student anything! - Page 5

burgler09 · 05-06-2007, 03:12 AM

where do transfer students usually live? is student housing offered or am I required to find my own house.. I will be coming from out of state so I am not going to know anybody. Will I be a weirdo 21 year old living in dorms?

kkgirl · 05-06-2007, 04:09 AM

you'll probably be in an off campus apartment, and it probably won't be weird. apply for housing early, because as a transfer student, i'm not sure you'll get housing. technically, only freshman and sophomores are guaranteed housing (yes sophomores, new policy... sophomore guarantee):
they usually live in places like:
cardinal n'gold
cardinal gardens
founders
sunset
troy hall/troy east
windsor
etc etc

http://housing.usc.edu/building/allBuildings.aspx

socal? · 05-06-2007, 02:23 PM

okay. i've got a lot of questions, but my MAIN concern is grades. i'm a strong student and right now i've got a 3.8+ at a four-year... but i would think that pretty much everyone is a strong student at usc. how hard is it to get a 4.0? impossible? i need to keep my grades up for med school, so:

1. what's the deal with curving at usc? my mom said it was often a gpa-wrecker. how hard is it to come out of classes with a's?

2. what are the science courses (particularly o chem, biology, and physics) like? what about basic calc? how big, how hard, resources available?

3. how hard is it to get to know all of your professors? are they at least accessible? are office hours really busy? i'm at a huge school, but all of my professors know me by name... which is a big plus when i think about med school rec letters. is that possible at usc?

4. how hard is it to get research positions (as in... actively participating, not just cleaning up) as an undergrad? particularly in neuroscience?

5. do you know anything about college-keck programs? i would imagine they have stuff for undergrads. and do you know if keck is open to the idea of taking in usc undergrads, or do they aim for diversity?

money · 05-06-2007, 03:37 PM

I'm wondering the same thing as burgler09. Where do trasfers usually stay?

HImom · 05-06-2007, 03:53 PM

socal?
What is your major? Lots of the biomedical engineering students are pre-med. They have internships where you can get paid at least $20/hour while you're doing the internship. It may take longer to graduate if you do an internship, since you'll be mostly off campus for a summer + semester. That will get you a LOT of hands-on research experience if you choose the right opportunity. There is an internship office just for engineering majors at the engineering school, as well as a job placement center just for them.

I imagine if you have gotten to know your profs at a huge school, you'll have an even better chance of getting to know them well at a smaller place & in smaller upper division classes at USC. For example, in engineering, there are only 200 freshmen & you see each other in a lot of courses. I suspect the group gets pretty close & has good opportunities to get to know the profs well.

I'm not sure how this all works out if you are in Letters & Sciences instead of engineering, as its much larger & has all kinds of majors & students.

awelex · 05-06-2007, 06:40 PM

@proudtrojan:
You said that many people double-major at USC. Where can I find information about double-majoring in general? There's nothing on the USC homepage. How and where does one apply, how does it work?

jbusc · 05-06-2007, 07:19 PM

It's not really that official. If you look in the course catalogue you'll see some guidelines/rules, but frankly, sometimes they're hard to interpret.

Really if you decide to double major in the college (letters arts sciences) you can just go to your desired major's department and tell them you want to do a double major and they can just give you advisement and punch it in the computer right then. It can be done anytime and no need for an application or anything.

If you want to do one in a professional school and you haven't been admitted to that major yet then you have to go through whatever procedure they have to be accepted into that major. But nothing special from then on to get into a double major, just see your advisors like usual and they can punch it into the computer.

HImom · 05-06-2007, 07:51 PM

Warning about double-majors:
If your primary major has a LOT of requirements (like engineering), think very carefully before deciding about double-majoring. It may require you to have additional term(s)/year(s) of school to meet all the requirements. When we asked during orientation, they recommended that engineers just take some courses in areas of interest as there are already so many requirements for engineers. Architecture & some of the other schools also have a lot of requirements as well.

burgler09 · 05-06-2007, 08:29 PM

Does the college you are applying to make much of a difference (i am a biochemistry major applying to letters arts and sciences) I always hear about people talking about how hard marshall is to get into and don't hear much about clas. Is there a significant difference in the two colleges?

jbusc · 05-06-2007, 08:34 PM

I haven't ever heard of anyone having trouble getting in to clas. I think that everyone at USC who's not on academic probation can change majors into or add a double major in clas automatically, without any applying or anything.

burgler09 · 05-06-2007, 08:51 PM

sorry i wasnt completely clear, I am transferring from out of state not within the school. I was wondering how much of a difference it is applying between clas and marshall or viterbi?

jbusc · 05-06-2007, 09:10 PM

I dunno really, but basically, if you get into the university at all, you'll get into clas, essentially.

diehldun · 05-06-2007, 10:06 PM

Yes, I too am curious/worried about the grade curving at USC, particularly Marshall:

How "hard" is it to maintain at least 3.3+ in Marshall, freshman year at least? I have heard quite a few horror stories, specifically Marshall, in regards to GPA and curves. Is it really that bad? A 3.3+ do-able or not? Thanks!

HImom · 05-06-2007, 10:17 PM

I'd strongly suggest you ask your HS college counselor how other students from your HS with similar profiles to yours have done at Marshall. S/he would have a better feel for how well kids from your HS transition to USC & particular departments there. At our HS, kids do really well when they go to USC (or most Us), whatever major/school they choose. It is a point of pride with the HS that kids are able to handle whatever academic rigor they meet & often find it easier than HS. (Personally, I think it would be nice if they toned down the academic rigor in the HS, but that's not going to happen.)

tumblweed32 · 05-07-2007, 01:55 AM

Well, my brother goes to SC right now, and he doesn't think GPA is worth worrying about unless you just... completely don't show up to class or whatever. He says in at least every class, theres a bunch of slackers to carry the heavy end of the curve... as long as you pay attention and study, it doesn't really matter what ranking you are or anything =)