Oh, Y’all Different Different: USC vs. Howard As An Exchange Student
By: Alexandria Frank ‘21
As a more formal introduction, my name’s Alexandria Frank and I’m an exchange student at USC from Howard University by way of Corona, CA. I’m born and raised in California but as far as my college experience goes, it’s been East Coast and it’s been Black. That’s because Howard is a historically-Black college/university (HBCU) located in Washington D.C.
In other words, it’s very different from USC.
I was in an article for the Daily Trojan in which I discussed the differences between my two schools, but I may have come across as bashing USC in the process, or as though I wasn’t enjoying my time here, which I absolutely am. Therefore, this post will go into a little bit more detail concerning the differences (good and bad!) that I’ve spotted between Howard and USC.
The Amount of Black Students and Professors
Let’s just start with the obvious. There are just more Black people at Howard. Obviously. It’s an HBCU. But the low percentage of Black folks at USC (less than six percent) doesn’t help the comparison. It also didn’t help my transition into the university, as I found myself the only Black person in some of my classes and being taught by no Black professors.
However, the Black community at USC is special. They are close, welcoming, passionate, and kind. The Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs (CBCSA) is truly helping me out with meeting people, making friends, and just finding a safe space to voice my opinion or lay low and watch Netflix.
The students in CBCSA and the alumni and the staff make that room a family and I’m growing to love them.
Connection to Professors
USC has some really top-notch professors. In my Television Symposium class (*cough* which I’m not technically registered for *cough*), my professor is a TV critic for the LA Times. She currently writes for the LA Times and then comes to teach us about the things she’d been writing about for the past decade.
Like that’s crazy.
Don’t get me wrong, Howard has some stellar faculty. For instance, my journalism professor was a chief editor for the Washington Post (shoutout to Queen Shirley Carswell!) and we’ve had the likes of Toni Morrison amongst our previous professors. But it seems as though almost all of my professors at USC are currently involved with their craft and killing it.
But I also don’t know them.
At Howard, I knew my professors and they knew me. The previously mentioned journalism professor actually helped me land a project with the Miami Herald this winter, and my Classics professor has vowed to write all my recommendation letters because we’ve become so close. On the other hand, I can’t even talk directly to my Television Symposium professor.
And according to a current history professor, USC students just don’t go to office hours that often, which is wild because some of the best networking students can do is with their professors. So if the students don’t want to talk to professors and professors aren’t making themselves available to their students, then what are we even doing?
Emphasis on Arts
I also really, really love music. Before I even stepped foot on Howard’s campus, I’d linked up with a bunch of incoming freshmen and we started Sunday open mic nights in front of Ira Aldridge Theatre with groups of 5 people to over 30 people in attendance and performing all kinds of acts.
And as I sat in the USC Village, watching a video on Twitter of some of my classmates spontaneously playing instruments and singing on the steps of Howard’s Fine Arts building, I realized I had no musical connections at USC.
That’s a gif of me waiting for someone to invite me to a jam sess.
Now, that’s not to say that there’s no musical community at USC. I just listened to a performance by some Jazz students, so they clearly exist. I just don’t where they are, and I certainly don’t know how to get in touch with them.
So uhhhh hit me up and let me know where they are, please.
Poppin’ Downtown Area
The Village is the most lavish display of university wealth I’ve ever seen and I’m a capitalist pig for enjoying it so much. You can live on top of Trader Joe’s. Like, the luxury. That’s it.
My Dorm/Apartment
To follow up that last point, I really do love living in luxury. The dorm I stayed in my freshman year was a small two-person single with no kitchen and barely any room to move around. I did get lucky, though, that I wasn’t shoved into an even smaller room with three or four girls.
Sophomore year wasn’t much better, but at least I had a tiny kitchen.
Now??? I’m living in a fully-furnished apartment in Century with a living room, hella closet/drawer space, and a huge kitchen. Apparently, it’s the model room, so it’s newly renovated, but the point is that never have I ever seen college housing so (and I repeat) LUXURIOUS.
The Number of Wild Orgs
Y’all have… so many unnecessary clubs and I love it. Seeing Trousdale flooded for days with different organizations was so crazy, I almost joined all of them. There’s intramural Quidditch. There’s a club for going out and eating together. There’s an e-sports club. There’s like 10 different Christian orgs. There’s like 40 different improv groups. I think I joined all of them. My email is flooded.
The. Food.
There’s not good Mexican food near Howard or in DC, period. I miss In-N-Out. I miss Thrifty’s ice cream.
However! The black vegan community in DC is strong and Howard students can use dining dollars at NuVegan (vegan soul food) which is now on campus. It’s truly a give and take.
And that’s the thing with all of this. There’s good and bad with each university. Do I regret coming to USC? Absolutely not. Do I love and miss Howard? Absolutely yes. But that’s the game of new experiences, and I’m loving this new experience.
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