In past years, I’ve written about why I chose to go to USC (you can read about my top reasons here). From an academic perspective, I’ve been challenged from day 1, but I’ve also had the support to help me tackle those challenges. Coming into school, I decided to go to school here over my other options because I knew I was going to be able to study abroad, incorporate a liberal arts-style education into my engineering curriculum — side note: I know this isn’t a super popular option for engineers, so just know that it’s something I chose to do via Thematic Option, and wasn’t required to –, and minor in a non-engineering discipline.
While all of those reasons still apply, there are so many more reasons that, had I known coming into college, would have made my decision to come here so much more automatic.
I know that a huge concern for a lot of incoming and prospective computer science students is a social life – as an engineer, are all the horror stories true? Will I be locked in my room every weekday, weekend, and week night? The answer is no – this is not the heads-down, siloed engineering school that people might be trying to scare you away from. You’re obviously going to be spending a good amount of time working, and some weekends, you’ll probably want to stay in and study or catch up on sleep – this is college, after all – but, you’re also going to have time to go out and be with your friends and take time for yourself. You’re going to be able to get involved with student organizations, design teams, maybe even the marching band. But you’re going to be studying engineering at a huge university with a lot of incredible events going on, and it would be a mistake to miss out on all the experiences you could have outside the classroom.
[/cs_text][cs_element_image _id=”5″][cs_element_image _id=”6″][cs_element_text _id=”7″][x_gap size=”25px”][cs_text]As a northern California native, I was initially hesitant to admit to myself how much I love living in Los Angeles. Now that I’m going to be leaving in less than a year, I’m going to miss being able to spend my mornings at coffee shops in Koreatown, working on labs and homework, then heading back to campus for class, before getting dinner in Silver Lake or going to a concert in Hollywood. Living in a city, especially this one, means that there are endless opportunities to explore. Even after three years, there’s so much left for me to do, and I don’t know how I’m going to be able to get through my entire list!
Aside these things, I knew that I wanted to be a student here the day that I visited campus. Everyone I met was passionate about something and were able to find ways to pursue those passions on campus. I can’t imagine there being a better place to meet genuinely interesting, smart, successful people, and to figure out what my interests truly are, and find ways to incorporate those things into my life and career.
[/cs_text][/cs_column][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/5″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_custom_headline level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”false” class=”cs-ta-center” style=”color: hsl(0, 95%, 18%);”]About the Author[/x_custom_headline][x_image type=”rounded” src=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/613D6621-3675-4485-965A-367F2B4FB09D.jpg” alt=”” link=”true” href=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/suveena/” title=”” target=”blank” info=”popover” info_place=”bottom” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=”Suveena CECS ’19”][cs_text class=”cs-ta-center”]Suveena is a senior studying Computer Engineering & Computer Science. Click above to find out more![/cs_text][cs_icon_list][cs_icon_list_item title=”@suveenat” type=”instagram” link_enabled=”true” link_url=”https://www.instagram.com/suveenat/” link_title=”@suveenat” link_new_tab=”true” style=”font-size:18px;”]@suveenat[/cs_icon_list_item][/cs_icon_list][x_gap size=”50px”][x_custom_headline level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”true” class=”cs-ta-center” style=”color: hsl(0, 95%, 18%);”]Check it Out[/x_custom_headline][x_image type=”thumbnail” src=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/hackathon.jpg” alt=”” link=”true” href=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/study/computer-science/” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””][x_button size=”mini” block=”true” circle=”false” icon_only=”false” href=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/study/computer-science/” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””]Computer Science[/x_button][x_gap size=”30px”][x_image type=”thumbnail” src=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/los-angeles_1.jpg” alt=”” link=”true” href=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/free-time/” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””][x_button size=”mini” block=”true” circle=”false” icon_only=”false” href=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/free-time/” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””]LA Life[/x_button][x_gap size=”30px”][x_image type=”thumbnail” src=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/USC-campus-Hahn-plaza.jpg” alt=”” link=”true” href=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/orgs/” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””][x_button size=”mini” block=”true” circle=”false” icon_only=”false” href=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/orgs/” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””]USC Campus Faves[/x_button][/cs_column][/cs_row][cs_row inner_container=”false” marginless_columns=”false” class=”cs-ta-left” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column bg_color=”hsla(0, 27%, 74%, 0.03)” fade=”true” fade_animation=”in-from-bottom” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_custom_headline level=”h2″ looks_like=”h3″ accent=”true” class=”cs-ta-center” style=”color: hsl(0, 96%, 23%);”]More From Viterbi Students[/x_custom_headline][/cs_column][/cs_row][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_recent_posts type=”post” count=”2″ offset=”” category=”” orientation=”horizontal” no_sticky=”true” no_image=”false” fade=”true”][x_recent_posts type=”post” count=”2″ offset=”2″ category=”” orientation=”horizontal” no_sticky=”true” no_image=”false” fade=”true”][x_recent_posts type=”post” count=”2″ offset=”4″ category=”” orientation=”horizontal” no_sticky=”true” no_image=”false” fade=”true”][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]