University of Southern California Top Questions

My classes from my major have been very interesting. I think of Comm as a degree that covers entertainment, the economy, news, public speaking and writing skills and much more. Most of the classes ask you to critically think and want you to look at the way the media shapes the world that we live in and how it has affected the ways in which we perceive things around us. Everything is encoded with meaning. Some teachers despise mass media, others love it. Pop culture or past culture, Comm classes have always kept me interested. My classes for my GEs have been less interesting to me because they don't necessarily apply to my major (umm, Buddhism?) but I think they are helping me become a more well rounded person and are certainly increasing my curiosity in other subjects, such as Anthropology, which I hasn't even begun to consider.

Classes at USC are very intellectually stimulating regardless of what one's area of study is. Not only that, but there are also an array of really fun classes at USC that can only take place at a school like this one. Where else would you be able to take a class where you screen new movies before they come out, and have Q and A sessions with the members of the production staff? What other school can bring you classes with Hugh Hefner, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorcese? As far as the major classes go, USC is staffed by a variety of experts and professionals, from theatre to engineering. In the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, all of the journalism professors have worked in the field, many of them have even won Emmy's and Pulitzer's for their work! Being able to learn from people like this gives us an extra edge over other journalism students. In regards to class size, since USC is a private school, all major classes have very small, intimate numbers. The average class size is 15:1 student to professor, which means you really have the opportunity to get to know your instructors since you aren't competing with so many thousands of other students. At a school like UCLA, a public school, you are just one undergrad in a sea of thousands. Even the general education lecture halls rarely have more than 150 students, compared to 300, which is the standard size for the UC schools. The other good thing about USC is that all of the classes are guaranteed. You never have to worry about not being able to get into a major class because of availability, something that is ALWAYS an issue with the UC schools. Sure, you may not getting to that crazy popular GE class, but you will always be able to get into the classes you need to graduate.

I am a freshman, so my first semester classes have been mostly General Education courses and other requirements. My two general education courses are large lecture halls that break up into smaller discussions. However, not all classes at USC are this large even though it is such a large university. My Spanish 3 class only has 19 students, which is smaller than the class size at my high school where some classes had up to 32 students. This makes a huge difference in a language class because there is the availability for the professor to give individual attention to students and all students can participate so that they can improve their speaking skills. I was intimidated by taking a college language course originally because I was always self-conscious about speaking in front of my classmates, but my professor was very encouraging which made it an enjoyable experience. Now, I am even thinking of minoring in Spanish and I am continuing with it even though I finished my requirement. My fourth class, Writing 140, was also small with only about 17 students. This class is known to be very challenging, but the professor is able to give individual attention and was very accessible to help outside of class. Overall, my classes were challenging, but enjoyable this semester.