Hey everyone!
When I first thought of what advice I’d give to freshmen, I immediately thought back to my first week or two on campus.
I have really fond memories of my first couple weeks at USC, and that’s mostly because I signed up for almost every event Welcome Week had to offer! I lived in Birnkrant Residential College (see my blog about it here), and we had the opportunity to move in two days earlier than all the other freshman for a special retreat. It was really cool to be able to get to know each other and the campus a little bit before campus got full and hectic again. One of the events during this retreat was to go see Itzhak Perlman at the Hollywood Bowl. We got to hear some really impressive music, get to know LA a little, and experience our first of many USC-sponsored arts and culture events.
Here are some other quick highlights of my first week at USC:

Walking a dog from a shelter near campus as part of Friends and Neighbors day. This is how I first learned about volunteering at animal shelters nearby!
Long story short, I highly recommend you make the most out of Welcome Week, and not just because you’ll get to do a lot of fun things. It’s your opportunity to get to know the people you’ll be living with – I still live with people from my dorm freshman year and am pretty good friends with others from the floor too! It’s also a great chance for you to learn how you might like to get involved – I learned about volunteering at animal shelters and even took a microseminar in physics from a professor who I would later take two classes from!
They’re cliches for a reason: meet new people, try new things, and have fun!
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