My Fall Semester – class, football, and continuing job search.

A lot of my peers are meeting their senior year with a sense of trepidation: they’ve had so much fun the past few years, and they don’t want to move on from USC. While I have had an unbelievable time (truly, the best years of my life), I’m excited to wrap up my B.S. degree in biomedical electrical engineering and begin my job search. That said, I’m also taking great strides to make my last year at SC my best. Our incredible football program is certainly helping!

Fight on! Hanging out on McCarthy Quad before the first football game.

This semester I’m taking four classes: organic chemistry, molecular biology, optics and modern physics, and physical electronics. I’m sure most of you have at least heard horrified whispers of organic chemistry; synthesizing and analyzing organic molecules. I may be jumping the gun here, but it isn’t that bad thus far. It feels like Legos to the nth degree. I’m a big fan, and my professor is great at supporting students and explaining the material clearly. Molecular biology is the study of DNA, RNA, and proteins – how they’re structured and how they function. It’s name is incredibly apt; it’s safe to view it as micro biology. Optics and modern physics is the study of how light behaves as well as modern physics, i.e. quantum and steady state physics. Lastly, physical electronics (my favorite class thus far) is about transistors and diodes, and how they operate at a micro and macro level to make semi-conductor chips functional.

Outside of class I’m keeping myself busy with my Freshman Academy. This is my 3rd year as an academy coach, and I’m working hard to make it my best. I’m taking strides to get to know each of my students better than I have in years past, and to make their activities outside of the class the most engaging (beach trip to Santa Monica, anyone?) They’ve been a great class thus far. Outside of class I’m also working on my job hunt: resume development, cover letter writing, lots of perusing ConnectSC (USC’s job opportunity database), and of course keeping an eye out on all opportunities from Viterbi’s own Career Services.