The Perks of Being a Student at USC
by Ayman Siraj ‘18
There are many services you can avail for free or at a student discount while being a student here at USC. From free transportation, access to software and discounted tickets to amusement parks!
Careers
Vault.com is a site that provides students with insider tips on resumes, cover letters, networking and so much more. It’s a valuable resource to have as you start applying for internships & jobs. To get access to their premium content, follow this link and enter your @usc.edu email address.
The iNet Internship Network is an internship listing site shared by eleven selective universities including USC. It’s a great tool to find out about internships that are posted on the sites of these other universities that may not show up on ConnectSC. To register, follow this link.
Transport - Campus Cruiser
There are situations at night where you need to get somewhere around the neighborhood, whether it be getting home from a late night study session at one of our many libraries, getting to a friend’s to get some work done, USC provides students with a transportation service to get around. Campus cruiser runs every day from 6 PM – 2.45 AM. Cruisers can be ordered from the web app or from apps supported both on iOS and Android. For more info check out this link.
Transport - Uber
USC has also partnered up with Uber to let students use the service for free within the University Park neighborhood between the hours of 7 PM – 2AM. The service should only be used when campus cruiser wait times exceed more than 15 minutes. It’s a pretty neat service to have at hand if you’re in a situation where you need to get to a place and you’re alone or don’t feel safe walking around late at night! For more info please check out this link.
Car Rentals – ZipCar & Enterprise
If you don’t have a car and need to get around Los Angeles or travel up North for the weekender, there are two discounted options for USC students.
Health & Mindfulness
The Student Wellness Lounge at the Engemann Health Center provides students access to lots of free services & health supplies – pick up safe sex supplies, sunscreen & tea! Also there are massage chairs available for students to use!
Tickets
The surrounding Los Angeles area has many amusement parks around. There’s so many that I could list, the popular ones are of course Disneyland, Universal & Sea World. Get discounted tickets to these theme parks and many more. Also discounted movie tickets are available to those of you who love watching the latest movies. All available tickets are listed here.
Free TV
You can get free access to HBO, PAC-12 Networks & ESPN! NFL Sunday Ticket is offered to students for a discount. Check availability here.
Software
Microsoft Office
I’ve seen many students switch over to online web editors or free word processing software because they don’t want to splurge on a Microsoft Office license. Most of you don’t know that the whole Office suite is available to you for free! Check out this link for registration and download link.
Microsoft Software
Microsoft is a behemoth when it comes to creating useful software that is widely used. If you’re a Viterbi student or registered to take a class in Viterbi, you can get free access to pretty much all the software they have on offer including Windows 10. For further instructions visit the Microsoft Dreamspark page on the Viterbi website.
Adobe Creative Cloud
Photoshop and Illustrator are the two most powerful when it comes to editing your photos or creating vector graphics. If you are on an E-board for a club, they come in super handy to help making flyers and leaflets. Also if you just wanted to edit pictures from your latest study abroad experience, Photoshop is the perfect software to use. Annenberg students can download the suite on their personal computers by following the instructions listed here. For all other students you can access the suite on any of the computing centers.
Sophos Endpoint Security
It’s absolutely crucial everyone has an antivirus software installed on their computer. You never know when there’s something fishy snooping around your computer. USC provides you with free access to Sophos. Please follow instructions to download & install.
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