University of Southern California Top Questions

Professors are great. They are very eager to help the students succeed and love talking to you in office hours. Engineering has a lot of hands on projects. I have built robots and loudspeakers for class. Students always study in groups. There's a lot of camaraderie. Graduates have no problem finding a job.

I would say that half of my professors know my name. General Education classes are usually in large auditoriums, so gettig to know the professor on a personal level is quite difficult. In my major, however, the classes are smaller and I can get to know my professors quite well. Currently, my favorite class is Linguistics, and my least favorite was Anthropology. Students who attend USC study a lot and take school work very seriously. As a transfer student, I have experienced two different college atmospheres and their difficulty levels, and can proudly claim that fact. Class participation is good, the students are often involved in the classroom and engage in discussions and lessons. Students do have intellectual conversations outside of class on a pretty regular basis. I can recall a couple of instances when I was walking by a group of people and heard a very serious and thought provoking conversation that I found myself contemplating the subject I overheard. Students are competitive but not so much that it would be intimidating. I would say the competitiveness is on an individual level and focused on grades and not on the other students. I do not spend much time with professors out of class, only when extra help or guidance is needed, which many professors encourage. I believe that if one goes out to lunch with their professor, USC pays for the bill. However, I am not positive if that is true as I overheard someone talking about it. The education at USC is challenging and not for those who stress easily.

Most of my classes have been small. It's strongly encouraged to go to your professor's office hours and/or spend time with them outside of class. I feel like the education at USC is for learning for its own sake as well as towards getting a job.

USC provides so many academic opportunities. The Marshall School of Business is one of the strongest business schools and provides many opportunities to network and tap into the Marshall family. Last spring break, I was able to travel to Beijing, China with 60 other business students and experience international business. This trip cost $950 and included hotel accomodations, airfare, most meals, as well as most transportation. Opportunities such as this are plentiful.

I am in the honors program, Thematic Option, which has smaller classes and supposedly the best teachers. This is sometimes true and sometimes not at all. I am in the film school also, and have truly enjoyed all of those professors. Most of the classes are very large (my smallest was 20, but my biggest was 300+) The TAs are definitely the luck of the draw.

professor name recognition: normally they do Students study: i dont know it seems like a lot Class participation common the longer you take classes Yes to many (drunken) intellectual conversations outside class Students arent too cutthroat in terms of competitiveness but im not in the business school Unique class: Leonard Maltin's Theatrical Film Symposium, you see movies before they come out and talk to the creators USC Academic requirements: not too bad Education geared toward getting a job or learning, whichever you set your priorities on. The emphasis on occupation may be more prevalent in other majors

Stay strong throughout because once you've given up, there really is nothing left anyone can do, so go to your ta, teachers, etc. They will help you because they want you to succeed.

Professors will know your name of you put the effort into your classes. Some will especially go out of their way to know your names, but if you aren't interested in the class, they will probably not know your name. Class participation is always common, with many of my classes triggered through discussions on the news, readings and other debatable topics in class. I think USC is geared to suit each person, with some classes preparing you for graduate education, some for learning, and some for getting a job. There's quite a wide range to accommodate each person.

One of the reasons I came to USC was because I knew it had a great journalism program. I knew I would be getting the best education possible in this field and I love the diverse programs the Annenberg School for Communications has offered me. There are other classes out of my field, however, that I have taken and I don't feel would be offered at any other university. One such class is the Theatrical Film Symposium taught by film critic Leonard Maltin. In this class, students watch films before they come out in theater and then get to here from people who made the movie. This class was very entertaining and enjoyable, but the tests weren't a cake walk; you pretty much had to remember everything the guests talked about. Another class is The Beatles: Their Music and Their Times. This is a great class all about the Beatles, what could be better? We listen to the Beatles' music watch their movies and learn about what went on behind the scenes. I don't know if I ever could have experiences like these at another university.

Overrated.