How To Have The Best Time in College

By: Emily Young ‘16

Since I am reaching the end of my five wonderful years here at USC, I thought it would be great to share my college tips for having the best college experience!

1) Talk To Your Professors—They’re Actually Pretty Cool.

It baffles me how many people go through college without ever going to office hours or conversing with their professors and teaching assistants outside of email.  USC is a research university, our professors are engaged in research to raise USC’s ranking, advance their field, and make the world a better place.  They do this, all while teaching the next bright minds, us.  It’s not their job to go out of their way to learn your name or babysit you like in high school.  

Most professors do hold office hours because they do genuinely want to get to know you and want you to do well.  You should take the time to get to know your professors because they are awesome individuals, doing leading-edge research and have a great perspective on life.  And besides, you’re paying tuition so you should get the full educational experience from your professors right?

2) Don’t Stress….As Much.

College is packed with so many things to stress about: school, career, friend/dating drama, meeting expectations of your parents, …let’s just stop here, as we pause for air. The first response we get from others is: “Don’t stress.” “Relax.” Which seems so easy for someone else to say then they don’t live your life and know how many stress monsters are hunting for you.

My advice is to learn from it.  Three examples:

a) Freshman year, I took Calculus and I called home to my mom after I thought I did horrendous on my first test.  I always valued my performance on tests and getting good grades in high school and the pressures of being a college freshman were mounting.  

Mom: “Let’s not freak out until you get the test back.  There’s nothing else you can do right?”

Moral: Tests are designed to be hard in college.  Welcome to the curve system. I believe I ended up getting a B on the test….didn’t want to stress you out.

b) About to take a microeconomics midterm.  I turn to my friend next to me and asked what he did to study for our midterm.  He had already taken AP Micro in high school and shared that he spent the entire week studying since all his other midterms were done.  I had maybe been able to allocate 3 hours, aside from going to class and doing the reading and all those other things you are supposed to.  I ended up with an A in the course.  

Moral: Study smarter, and say on top of your courses throughout the semester.

c) My junior year I applied to over 21 different places online and yet by late April, I still had not secured an internship.  I started panicking and stressing to a point where I was grinding my teeth and wasn’t sleeping at night.  I had this expectation that I needed to get a good junior year internship at a great company that would hire me after graduation senior year.  (This was of course before I decided to pursue a master’s degree.)  Desperate, I had a conversation with a person that led me to one of the best internships I’ve ever had.  

Moral: Keep talking to people, keep applying online, and eventually something good will come your way.  

So the overall moral here: You will stress, but if you have a little faith that everything will work out, you’ll stress a little less.

3) Make Friends.

Everyone says welcome week is the best time to make friends.  I say anytime is a goodtime to make friends.  All you have to do is put yourself out there.  Put down your phone that’s shielding you and say hello.

I met George when my friends left at halftime of a football game.  He’s now one of my best friends.

Technology and texting have made it so easy to ensure that we always have a friend with us.  Check out Facebook to see who is all going to an event, text a friend to go to the dining hall with you, etc.  I challenge you to say hello to someone new.  At the worst, nothing may come of at or you may meet your next best friend or someone you’ll call 20 years down the line with a consulting question.  USC has so much diversity, but you’ll never experience it if you don’t make new friends. Join clubs, attend different events, do different things that will get you out of your comfort zone.

4) You Get Out What You Put In.

Your days are numbered at USC, whether you are a freshman or your hats are in the air. Ultimately, your college experience will be what you put into it.  Make the most of it.  It pains me to see people that are being too cool for school or refuse to take part in the experience.  

a) Go to a variety of athletic events and show school spirit.

You need to buy at least one student football ticket and go.  Please.  Don’t graduate without going to a football game.  And stay the whole time.  Don’t bail at halftime.

b) Know you’ll always have more fun when you fully embrace the theme for an event.

I know I did.

c) Attend university events, they are super fun!

I pressured my friends into attending a vision and voices event to go to the Walt Disney Concert hall. Will we ever go to an opera again? …Never.  But we still had fun.

D) Actually Go To Those Networking Events You Keep Putting Off.

You’ll thank me.

E) Heck, go to Lyons center.

….gyms aren’t free when you graduate.  

5) Fight On Forever

 College is a chapter in your life.  It’s not the whole book.  Add some fun stories so that you may always look back on USC with the fondest of memories. Take pictures, other than the ones that delete on Snapchat just in case your kids even think of going to that blue school.  Write down your experiences, hopes, and dreams so that you may laugh about them later and share them with the ones you love.  You won’t remember how many hours you studied, only the friends that surrounded you and adventures you went on together.  The Trojan Family and your experiences at USC will live in you forever.  And to that I say: 

FIGHT ON!

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