Hey guys,
It seems so weird that next year I’m going to be a Junior; time really does fly when you’re having fun!! I bet it feels even weirder knowing that you guys will be freshman in college next year, but get excited– there are so many awesome things to come during your freshman year and beyond.
That being said, here is some of my best advice for you coming to USC in the fall.
Check out where your classes are before they start.
I personally still do this every semester. If you don’t know where your class is, go check out where it is supposed to be ahead of time so you know where it is come time so you’re not late. The best way to make a good impression is showing up on time to class!
Meet everyone you can!
Leave your door open. Head to ground zero with a group. Attend those first week programs. Although it might feel weird being in a new environment and not knowing that many people, really take advantage of that first week and go out and meet some people. Realize that everyone is going through the same thing coming to college for the first time, and the best way to make that transition is with other people going through the same thing. Try to meet some older students (we don’t bite!). We’ve been there before, and we’re here to help!
Find a way of doing assignments that works for you.
Work in college is a lot different than work in high school. To this day, I am still finding out different ways to approach doing an assignment. As you go through college, you are not just learning material for a class; you are also learning how to become the best version of yourself. For me, especially for classes like Writing 140, really go out of your way to start that essay that’s due in three weeks on the day it get’s assigned (or soon after). The hardest thing about an assignment is usually getting started, so just put that first thirty minutes in and everything will go smoothly after that.
Explore what activities there are on campus.
There are so many great ways to do this; every spring and fall there is an involvement fair on Trousdale that usually has over four hundred tables of student organizations that are actively involved in campus life. You can find whatever you are interested in there, or perhaps even become interested in something new.
This one is a little more technical, but change your USC email account to forward to Gmail.
Seriously. Do it. I didn’t change this setting until the end of my freshman year and boy do I wish I had done it sooner. The USC portal for email only holds ~1 gigabyte of information, which gets used up pretty fast and you have to go in and delete old messages to make sure new ones don’t get bounced back due to inadequate space. Gmail, on the other hand, has ~25 gigabyte capacity which makes it easier to archive old and important messages (and you can get push notifications from it to be even more on top of things). You can do this by checking out the instructions on my.usc.edu.
For these and other tips, be sure to check out other blogs or contact me!
