You can't spell USC without US!

Hey guys,

Today I wanted to talk about the reasons why I chose USC. While there are plenty of other reasons, which I will get into later, the main reason why I chose USC is because of the academic culture here. While visiting, I became aware of the fact that Viterbi is not like most engineering schools; there is a genuine and concerted effort in fostering a collaborative mindset during class. Instead of simply working out problems on your own, it is often encouraged to work with others which helps not only with understanding the concepts, but also with understanding different viewpoints or ways of approaching a problem. Some of the first ways I saw this was in my freshman fall semester during our engineering academy class. By getting partnered up with all types of engineering majors, you gain a vast perspective of the types of things that you will be working with other people to achieve. In the real world, rarely is it seen that one project is handled by one engineer; rather, a team of engineers come together to tackle a certain issue. During the class, we were constantly grouped up to solve different problems in class or to put together a presentation for the class. This helped teach me more about communication between people as well as expose me to other majors in engineering. Here is a picture from my current class, a group of 16 people learning with students from around the world!

Some of the other reasons why I chose USC are because of the social aspects. Being completely honest, I was a little scared at first to come to such a big school. Where I grew up, there were less people in the entire town than there were undergraduates at USC. I was scared that it would be really easy to get lost. That being said, after arriving at USC, I found that it was completely the opposite. Although there are a lot of people on campus, there are a lot of small communities (like Viterbi) where you can become very tight-nit with people. On the other hand, getting involved with other activities can help you meet different types of people with the same interests as you. My freshman year I became very close with people in my residence hall. Here is a picture of a secret santa that we put together for all of us.