Hey y’all. It’s the beginning of August, which means that school is almost back!! Target Back to School catalogs are coming in the mail and I’m very excited. Whether this means that you’re going into your junior/senior year of high school or you’re coming into the USC Class of 2021 (!!!), I wanted to share a few awesome differences between high school and college to get you excited!

I got to get free Chinese food in downtown with fellow Birnkrant residents!
- You have a ton of free time. You only have class a few hours a day, so you can spend all of the hours in between doing whatever you want! This can mean chilling with friends, doing homework, working out, or doing extracurriculars.
- You have freedom to pick what you want to do. This goes along with the first point. With tons of extra time compared to high school, you are free to spend it on what you really enjoy doing and are passionate about. There are over 500 student organizations at USC though, so it still takes some narrowing down!
- Your assignments are super spread out. You won’t get homework due every day like you do in high school. This is great, but also you have to plan your time well so that you finish bigger projects by spreading your work out over time. I recommend implementing a good to-do list and an awesome Google Calendar!
- Theres a ton of things to do all the time. USC provides events for students practically every day. Whether it’s a famous politician coming to speak or our Welcome Week or Spring Fest concerts, you can always find things to do. Refer to number 8 for the perks of this ;).
- There are people from all over the world. Our undergraduate student population is 0ver 10% international, so you can meet students from countries all over that are living in the same dorms and attending the same classes as you! There are also students from every state in the US, so get ready to learn some new cool slang words.
- You’re away from your parents. For some, this may seem scary but trust me it’s a really great experience. You learn to appreciate your family more, as well as learn a bit more about who you are by being apart from them.
- You take classes in what you’re interested in! In high school you probably had some electives, but mostly had required classes. In college, you can pick your major and all of your general education and elective courses. This means that you’re genuinely interested in what you’re learning and it makes school waaaay more fun.
- There’s always free food. Coming back to the frequency of the events put on by USC, most of them have some form of free food. Your dorms have lots of catered study sessions and club meetings usually have some refreshments. College can be stressful sometimes but some yummy snacks can almost always cheer you up!!
- You live with your best friends. Even though you have never met them before Welcome Week, you become incredibly close with the people you live with. Seeing each other through highs and lows and from early morning to waaay too late, you form a bond like no other.
- No one controls how you spend your time! This goes back to some of the previous points, but in college you are fully independent and have control over what you decide to dedicate your time to. This means that you can figure out what kind of schedule you like, what kind of activities excite you, and even when to have class.

With my free time, I go to concerts.
I know that I was super nervous upon going off to USC last year, so I hope that these cool perks of college can get you excited for the great times you have to come. Have a great rest of your summer and, as always, fight on.
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