8 pieces of advice for Graduate Students at USC

By: Joshen Mantai ‘24 (USC Student Life Guest Blogger)

When I first got to USC as a graduate student at Annenberg, I didn’t know what to expect for my experience, especially at a university in the middle of such a big city. Would it be like my undergraduate experience at UC Santa Barbara, or did I have to prepare myself for a whole new environment with a separate identity?

I dug through many Reddit threads, articles, and tweets about graduate student life when I finally committed to USC and gathered information that my fellow Anenberg grad students hadn’t discovered yet. It was difficult to know how to get involved in graduate student life or get accustomed to student life at USC. I had to navigate how to find housing on my own and how to acclimate to student life at USC.

So, for any incoming or current graduate students, I’m sharing what I’ve learned through my first semester experience so far:

Look into graduate organizations!

The Graduate Student Government (GSG) is a great place to start looking if you are searching for student organizations for graduate students to get involved with or are looking for events to meet fellow graduate students at. The GSG has committees that are made up of student volunteers that plan events specifically for graduate students like subsidized trips to Dodger Games, tailgates for USC football games, and more. They also have resources specifically for graduate students like group therapy and childcare stipends!

Sometimes, individual schools have organizations for graduate students like Anneberg’s Grad Student Reps or general cultural grad student associations like the Latinx Graduate Student Association. These organizations can be great ways to meet people in your school or specific program. 

Join Facebook housing groups to look for potential roommates and housing solutions.

USC Graduate Students Looking for Housing on Facebook is the primary group I utilized for my housing and roommate search (I even met some people from my program on here!). Other helpful groups include USC HOUSING or basic Reddit threads about the apartment complexes around USC. My other piece of advice is to make sure you read Google reviews of the apartment complex before committing to an apartment to know if the leasing company is helpful or dismissive and if the complex has any persistent issues like noise or parking. Be sure to also get to know your neighborhood before deciding which area to search for housing in.

Public transportation is your friend! 

Traffic in LA can be horrendous between 7 am and 11 am and then 4 pm and 7 pm. The metro E line luckily stops right at USC and runs through popular places like Santa Monica, Culver City, Palms, and Westwood. Be sure to check the Metro maps to see the full stops and schedule. Riding public transportation not only helps the environment but also saves time and money. It costs $3.50 for a round trip on the Metro, and USC offers a Graduate Student U-Pass for $110 per semester, which grants access to all public transportation, including buses and rail lines, to help USC graduate students save money. 

For career tips, utilize your school’s career fairs and ConnectSC for on-campus positions.

There are graduate student career fairs held by specific schools or special sessions for graduate students with career counselors from USC. Annenberg holds several career fairs with exclusive access to companies for both undergraduates and graduates. ConnectSC is a good place to start for the job search, whether it’s for an on-campus job or an internship. This platform is great because you can filter for specific criteria, including by industry or whether it’s a paid position. I found my job in USC Student Affairs this way, and it was a graduate-specific position! 

Befriend your professors!

Before starting your classes, be sure to research the professors who are teaching sections of your classes and sign up for a class with the professor whose career aligns with your interests. This will automatically make you more invested in the class and make you more inclined to talk to your professors before or after class and at office hours. I recommend befriending your professors since graduate classes are so small, and they are much more inclined to give you one-on-one attention. I wasn’t afraid to ask my professors if they knew of any internships I could apply for in the entertainment industry, and they were more than willing to help!

Get to know your classmates!

When starting your program, the chances are high that everyone is looking to make friends since we’re all coming from different undergraduate universities and hometowns. People in my program are from so many different states and countries, so it brought me solace knowing that we were all in the same position. Be proactive in getting to know your classmates outside of the classroom, as you’ll probably find you have a lot in common with them in terms of career and personal life. Our cohort formed a GroupMe which led to group social activities like going to football games together. I also went out of my way to message students in my program on Instagram.

Be mindful of your class schedule. 

For Annenberg’s grad programs, most of the program offerings tend to be at night to accommodate those who work full-time. Our classes are also once a week for two and a half hours, so they can feel draining at times. Make sure to fit your classes in with your work schedule and other priorities so that your classes work for you. I personally stacked two classes on Monday and one on Wednesday so that I could be done with my classes early in the week, which proved to be fruitful for my productivity. While it’s important to take classes with professors whose interests align with yours, timing is even more important.

Find the best methods for self-care.

There are many free events at USC that prioritize self-care like yoga, dog therapy, or meditation sessions. Be proactive about finding these events and be intentional about fitting them in your schedule. Graduate students can feel burnout very quickly with how many things we have going on, so self-care is of the utmost importance. Personally, I find self-care in my moments of enjoying USC’s campus and eating outside, getting Starbucks, or socializing with my classmates before class. 

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