The University of Southern California

Date: Mar 28 2008
Major: Biology (This Major's Salary over time)
USC promotes the idea of "breadth with depth," emphasizing the need for students to have foundations in varied fields to be successful in the future. I loved it, being a person who enjoys multiple subjects (i.e., I consider myself well-rounded). They make it easy to double major or have multiple minors in very different fields of study. USC aims to teach you how to think critically and creatively, so make sure you are someone who wants that sort of education. Moreover, there are many options to get financial support for research, overseas studies, community service projects, etc. The school is much more open-minded than I thought, as well. There are multiple programs that allow students to get involved in the local community and gain experience working with underserved populations. Some students are obviously from wealthy backgrounds and flaunt their money, but the majority of students worked hard in high school to get here. Thus, there are many "work hard, play hard" types. Finally, the faculty here are my favorite because they want you to be successful and many often want to talk to you and get to know you so that they can better tailor their teaching to you. You just have to be willing to make the effort to talk to them. The career placement resources are amazing as well, and you can use them for the rest of your life. They are also undergoing a huge renovation of the campus. They're adding new buildings (construction can be an inconvenience sometimes, but it's relatively easy to avoid) and housing so that students have a more convenient experience. The campus is ridiculously better than when I started there, and it's only going to get better.