UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
STUDENT BLOG
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Navigating Your First Year as a USC Trojan
by Lanie Brice
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Navigating Your First Year as a Spring Admit
by Lanie Brice
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How to Balance Your Social Life During Finals
by Donal Buckley
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Study Tips and Habits to Get Through Finals Season
by Lauren Liang
looking for something to read?
Work On It Wednesday: Improving your Resume
By: Emily Young MA ‘16
This week I choose to tackle the resume after attending an Annenberg Real World 101 Workshop on Building a Winning Resume and Cover Letter featuring Annenberg alumni Whitney Blaine. Whitney recently wrote a a book titled “Stop Doing What you Should” that explains some of the common misconceptions millennials purse in their career development. One of the main topics in her book is improving your resume.
What to Do to Ensure Your Future: A Professor’s Excellent Advice
By: Kelly Kinas ‘17
Professors. We all have them. We’ve had the good, the bad, the ugly, the monotone, the foreign accent, the adorable. The crazy thing is how none of us really keep in contact with them after we take the final.
SC Graduate School Fair: What You Need to Know
By: Emily Young MA ‘16
The USC Graduate School Fair is this Thursday, October 15th, along Trousdale from 11:00 AM - 02:00 PM. Attend the fair to learn more about graduate school, and receive information from over 75 schools including Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, NYU, UCLA, and USC.
Work On It Wednesday: Preparing for Midterm Season
By: Emily Young MA ‘16
It’s hard to stay calm and focused when one test is worth 35% of your grade. It’s even worse when you have four tests and a paper due all in the next two weeks.
Mental Health: What I’ve Learned
By: Paul Samaha ‘17
This past Friday, I attended and attentively listened to MINDS MATTER: USC Policy on Student Mental Health, a panel discussion on the topic of mental health and what it means to USC specifically. This event was a part of the USC ZYGO series, which is a student lunchtime panel series on ethics and medicine. What made this particular panel special was the variety of voices heard– from USC Student Body President Rini Sampath, to the Engemann Health Center Medical Director Dr. James Jacobs. As you can imagine, the approaches from each of the six panelist were all very different. But there was one commonality between them all: Mental health matters, and we all need to do more as a Trojan family to improve the mental wellbeing of our student body.
Get Fueled for the Week: 10 Smart Foods to Eat Before a Test or Major Presentation
By: Emily Young MA ‘16
Welcome to the Midterm season grind where nothing sounds better than a Cronut from Spudnuts and your bed. Don’t listen to your inner high-fat and high-sugar cravings when you are tired. Fuel your body with good fuel for top performance.
The DL on GZ: Spotlight on Colleen Patterson
By: AnnaLiese Burich ‘17
If you have a hankering for a milkshake at USC, you know where to go: Ground Zero. But Ground Zero is more than just a place for milkshakes—it’s an experience. There’s nothing quite like the ambiance: the hip dim lighting, the mood music, the constant whirring of blenders, and the oh-so comfortable couches. And, most importantly, there’s the stage. Night and day, there’s usually some sort of performance happening that’s cool, mindblowing, and all done by students.
Work On It Wednesday: Writing Well
By: Emily Young MA ‘16
Writing college papers can be a daunting task: the amount of writing, the standard that teachers expect, the level of research behind it—and did I mention it’s due in a week. In high school, we wrote papers about our thoughts and feelings on book we read in class. Now that we are in college, we’re expected to use the book we read in class to stimulate a topic idea, research the topic more, and present unique arguments and critical thought. Not only is this style of writing new, but on top of that different professors may want different writing and citing structures that you might not be familiar with.
6 Thoughts You Have During Your First 5k
By: Judy Lee ‘17
My mile time in elementary school was 9 minutes and 8 seconds. Nowadays, getting to a 10-minute mile is hellish. Since then, age and the freshman 15 have not done me any huge favors. So when I signed up for the Santa Monica Classic for $40 (roughly equivalent to almost FOUR Chipotle burrito bowls with guac), I knew the wager was enough to get me going.
Being a Transfer Student
By: Lauren Brose ‘15
To all transfer students out there….you’re not alone! Embrace being a newbie to USC and just do you. I was once in your position as a transfer student myself and I can happily say I’ve found my place of belonging in this great school. It didn’t happen overnight — it was certainly a process that lasted months — but it was an experience that personally challenged me. Enjoy the ride and get out there and make some friends!
You’re Officially a Trojan When…
By: Kelly Kinas ‘16
Kelly walks us through some examples of when she officially felt like a Trojan. What were yours?
Work On It Wednesday: Career Fair Frequently Asked Questions
By: Emily Young MA ‘16
Career fair networking is different than an interview; it’s more like speed dating. Instead of a half an hour or hour for a typical interview, you have two minutes to break the ice and determine if you are interested in the company and if the company recruiter is interested in you. Luckily, company recruiters (who do this for a living) are friendly and genuinely want to get to know you. They’re not going to make hiring decisions on the spot, but leaving a lasting impression will help pave the way for later hiring interviews.