By: Antonia Le ‘22

It feels like from the very moment that COVID-19 forced all of us off-campus and back to our hometowns, there have been articles popping up left and right about how to stay productive during social distancing and what exactly to do when you can’t go outside. In fact, even Trojans 360 has published its fair share of such articles, and that’s great! Having something to do can give you a sense of structure when the world is changing in unprecedented ways. However, because the times are so uncertain, it’s impossible for everyone to be at the top of their game. If you’re feeling bad about not pulling a Shakespeare and writing the next King Lear in quarantine, read onward for a list of reasons why taking a step back is perfectly fine!

By: Antonia Le ‘22

As college students, it’s inevitable for us to experience burnout. Whether you’ve committed to too many clubs to this semester or your professors have decided that it makes sense for there to be multiple “midterms” for one class (or both), you’re going to hit your breaking point eventually. Though the grind never stops, there are some ways that you can find a way to slow down and take care of yourself.

By: Antonia Le ‘22

Ever since returning to USC for another fun semester of schoolwork and stress-eating, I have come face-to-face with an extremely uncomfortable truth: sometime between my last final in May and my first day of school in August, I had lost the ability to write. Once able to write pages upon pages of semi-passable work for WRIT 150 in one night, I now struggle to write more than a paragraph of coherent thought. It’s difficult to get back into any sort of formal writing when you haven’t done it in a while. However, over my lifetime, I’ve picked up a few tips and hacks for writing when you really don’t want to (or know how to). They’ve helped me get back into the groove of writing, and I hope they’ll help you too.

By: Antonia Le ‘22

Last weekend, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I had a rough draft of my WP-4 for my Writing 150 class due on Monday, but I was also coughing my brains out every five minutes, and the last thing I wanted to do was write. Everyone knows that the worst time to be sick is when you’ve got a big deadline or test coming up, and sometimes getting an extension just isn’t possible. Sometimes, when the forces of the universe conspire against you, you’ve just gotta pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get to work. I managed to do it this past weekend, and you can too. Here are some of my tips for staying productive on sick days!

By: Antonia Le ‘22

Every time I tell somebody that I am taking a 400-level Math class as a freshman, their eyes go wide. I don’t know if they think that I’m smart or insane, or some combination of both. I’m not even sure what I am. What I do know is that my particular class, Math 430 - Theory of Numbers, has challenged me in ways that no other math class has before. I spend twice the amount of time on my Math 430 homework that I do on my calculus homework, and at this point, I’ve begun arranging my schedule around Math 430. Taking a 400-level math class as a freshman, and one as difficult as Math 430 at that, is like diving into the deep end of a swimming pool with no swim experience. If you’re planning on taking a 400-level math class next semester, here are some things I wish I knew before taking the plunge into upper-division math:

By: Antonia Le ‘22

I’m going to keep it real with you: I had no idea what a freshman seminar (not to be confused with a mandatory GESM) was until a flyer was handed to me during orientation before my first semester at USC. I had planned out my four years at USC before I had even made my first tuition deposit, and nowhere in my four-year-plan did I leave a spot for a freshman seminar. That is, until a piece of paper landed in front of me telling me that there existed a 2-unit class at USC called “Writing to be Read.”

By: Samantha Romero ‘16

It’s that time of the semester again where after a sweet long break the end of the semester workload and finals pressure approaches. Here are some tips on how to turn that stress into success!

By: Felicia Zhu ‘17

It’s that time of the year: Finals Season. Sitting down to study for hours at a time is exhausting, and makes your muscles tense up. When it’s time to cram and there’s no time to exercise, why not combining the two? Studying while exercising.