On Sunday Viterbi hosted the Discover USC event for prospective students. In a nutshell, Discover USC gives prospective students the opportunity to meet and talk to many USC students and see what they’re doing on campus and what they like about USC. At Viterbi, we had an awesome turn out of student orgs – everything from the Associated Students of Biomedical Engineering to Rocket Lab, many of the clubs and students that make Viterbi great showed up for a fun afternoon of meeting and chatting with prospective students. I thought I’d use this blog post to talk about a couple of common questions that came up in my conversations.
1) What is your favorite part about USC?
What I love best about USC are the opportunities it offers. When I was looking at colleges, USC was really the only one where I saw everything I wanted in a college. While Viterbi is an excellent engineering school, USC offers one of the best social college experiences you can find. I love the high-caliber guest speakers USC attracts (highlights I’ve seen include Jane Goodall, Larry King, Obama, and the Dalai Lama). I love the campus spirit and the game days. Los Angeles is a great city to explore. The list goes on!
2) What is your favorite part about Viterbi?
What I love about Viterbi is the how great the support network here is. Being an engineer is hard. You’re taking on one of the most rigorous course load you can find. It’s not easy, but I’ve got a great support network. People in my classes are friendly, so putting together study groups or getting help on tough homework problems has never been an issue for me. Students here like collaborating. I’ve also got an academic advisor who’s worked with me to change my schedule to make my semesters as manageable and balanced as possible. And of course there’s always Freshman Forgiveness, VARC, and a bunch of other great services offered to Viterbi students. To me, it’s always felt like it’s tough to get in, but once you’re in, the school cares about you and wants you to succeed.