It’s time to take sustainability up a notch! In response to the growing climate crisis, USC’s Office of Sustainability has launched Assignment: Earth, a framework for creating a healthy, just, and thriving campus and world, with goals of carbon neutrality by 2025 and zero waste by 2028. The university is striving towards these goals with new initiatives to eliminate single-use plastics, encourage recycling, and conserve water accompanied by the Green Week campaign every fall.

It’s never too late to find an on-campus job. Trust me, I didn’t hear back from my work-study job until Thanksgiving break of my sophomore year. Over the course of three months, I had applied to dozens of on-campus jobs to no avail. Between midterms and holiday stress, I was discouraged and defeated. I was convinced I wouldn’t find a job at all that year if I hadn’t secured one already. Out of the blue, I landed an interview at the USC Career Center. Two years later, I was promoted to Lead Student Engagement Intern. 

My college application process started in November of 2020 and ended around mid-January of 2021. Even with a clear goal, I applied to anywhere and everywhere – in-state, out of state, Ivy League, state schools, and so many places in-between. I was anxious to get my college decisions, but as rejections from the more prestigious schools, like USC, started rolling in, I grew apathetic to the new rejection letters that I received.

“You should be doing coffee chats!” –– everyone, as soon as you enter college.

Everyone is a big advocate for doing coffee chats, but in my experience, nobody ever tells you how to go about doing coffee chats or even what a coffee chat is supposed to be. If you’ve run into this same predicament, this guide is for you.

Attention all Marshall students! The Marshall Business Student Community (MBSC) has launched a comprehensive Marshall Handbook, a brand-new resource curated to enrich your Marshall experience. Who better to understand the needs and questions of an undergraduate student than a fellow student? The Marshall Handbook is a guide written for students, by students: the handbook ensures that every Marshall student has access to the collective wisdom of their peers.

Now that we’re well into the semester, you’ve likely run into the problem of going to one of the more popular study spots like Leavey or New Annenberg and finding that it’s completely full. Whether you’re stuck on campus between classes or can’t focus in your room, searching for an open seat in these places eats into your study time and leaves you with the worst spots. Next time you’re in this position, consider moving to one of these underrated study spots instead.

One of USC’s greatest benefits is that virtually any field of study that piques your interest is available for you to pursue in greater detail. While having access to so many different opportunities is exciting, it can also be challenging to narrow down and choose what discipline best suits you. Conversations with your peers and gaining insight from other students can help narrow down your search. That's why I’m here to share with you why I chose to minor in Documentary at SCA and specialize in Web Development at Viterbi!

Ahhh… that time of year strikes again. You’re balancing flu season, football tailgates, DoorDash fees, and, of course, all your classes that seem to have midterms that land in a two-day period. Although you can’t change your unfortunate testing schedule, here are some ways to live, laugh, and love through this nail-biting, anxiety-inducing, and heart rate spiking few weeks.

Electives are arguably the best part of the college academic experience, but choosing which ones to take can be incredibly stressful. For the longest time, I felt like every single elective I took had to directly relate to my career or building technical skills, even if I wasn’t at all interested in the elective. After all, USC’s tuition is sky-high –– why “waste” a credit on “useless” classes like The Art of Jaywalking (disclaimer: to the best of my knowledge, this is not a course at USC, and there is an art to jaywalking and not getting run over).

One of my favorite music-discovery easter eggs is finding out an artist whose work I love is a USC alum. Here are some of my favorites, straight from my playlist.

We have all complained about the GE system at USC. Whether it’s having to read tons of books as a STEM student or remembering how to do math as a musician, GEs often put us in uncomfortable spots, take up a lot of time, and feel entirely unrelated to both our current work and our future careers. There’s no denying that there are many flaws in USC’s general education system from just how many of these credits you have to take and the money you pour into them, the lack of options with pages worth of WebReg dedicated to classes only open to certain majors, and the amount of work and expertise that can be expected in a field you have no background with.

In my first year at USC, like many freshmen, I scrolled through the endless list of student orgs and clubs on campus and attended the involvement fair, but I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of clubs to choose from and the lack of substantial information about what each club entails. I ultimately found nothing I was interested in joining. It turns out that the best way to gain insight on clubs is to talk to people who’ve attended the meetings and paid the dues.