My First Week at USC

By: Ela Rybak ‘25

I always dreamed of being a Trojan. I know it sounds cliché, but I truly set my heart on it as a young girl growing up in Los Angeles. However, those dreams seemed increasingly distant when I got a rejection letter as a senior in high school. Despite that, the rejection was not the end of the road for me as a Trojan. After a year at community college, I applied to transfer and was accepted for Fall 2022.

As a transfer student, my first week of school was slightly different from a freshman's since I wasn’t dorming. After moving into my apartment near campus, everything moved so fast. One second I was attending Convocation in my future graduation gown, and the next, I was sitting in my first official university classes. I couldn’t believe all my hard work finally paid off and that attending USC was finally a reality.

Prior to the official start of classes was the infamous Welcome Back ‘22 concert with special guest FloMilli. As my friends and I left the performance, we were lucky enough to run into Flo Milli in the parking lot where we took pictures and videos with her. The concert was the perfect start to the new school year. 

I tried my best to attend all the welcome events because they offered the ideal opportunity to meet new people and explore the campus. In fact, stepping out of my comfort zone for some of these welcome events helped me meet my current friends. You never know where you’ll find your next friend!

I enjoyed attending all four of my classes and was always excited to explore new buildings. I’d never attended an actual “in-person class” since spring of 2020, so I found attending all of my different sized classes absolutely exhilarating. From my accounting class of around 40 people to my marketing lecture with about 200, I felt that the professors did an exceptional job personalizing their lectures and discussions.

Although I began feeling homesick towards the end of my first week of school, I was so excited about everything that was in store for my first USC semester because I knew that USC would end up being my second home in time. Although there was a learning curve in my first few weeks, by the end of the first semester, I had a good grasp on the perfect balance between work and social life. During my first semester, I explored new restaurants downtown, visited different beaches, joined new clubs, and made new friends, all while learning more about my future career.

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