I really was not convinced about coming to USC until I visited campus. I’m originally from Florida, and I applied to USC because it has an incredible academic program and a lot of opportunities for success after college. However, many of the schools I applied to had these kinds of reputations, and also were a lot closer to home. It wasn’t until I visited USC’s campus on Explore USC that I realized no school could ever compare, and USC is where I needed to be for college.I heard a lot of people tell me their stories about choosing colleges; most of them somehow included the phrase, “I just knew the second I stepped onto the campus.” This hadn’t happened to me at any school, and truthfully, it didn’t happen with USC either. It wasn’t until weeks after I visited campus that I realized I was comparing every other school to my experience at USC.
I kept thinking to myself…”This school says this, but USC said that and that sounds better”, or “This school says you can study abroad, but Viterbi offers its own program”, “This school says you can take classes outside of your major, but Viterbi says you can actually complete a minor in addition to your major”. Every single factor of my decision became a comparison, and USC was always winning.
Most of the information that I heard on campus was information I could read online, but visiting campus and hearing these things directly, and being able to ask my own questions and address personal concerns was the most beneficial factor of my decision. It helped me realize that all of the things I could read about really existed. I saw real students who were actually examples of the things that Viterbi promised. I got to hear a well rounded perspective by talking to Viterbi faculty, admissions officers, and students.
I whole-heartedly believe that my visit to Viterbi was the key factor in my decision to come to USC. It is so easy to fall in love with this school, and what this school believes, and how this school functions in order to prepare its students for future success. I would highly encourage any prospective Viterbi Admit students to visit campus, and to get a holistic view of how they could fit in here.
