The wretched woes and learned lessons from Writing 150

By Terry Nguyen ‘20 

The writing requirement offered at USC is an undergraduate rite of passage: It is not explicitly stated so, but as a course requirement for all majors, Writing 150 is the epitome of freshman suffering.

The late-night essay write-ups and the inevitable low paper grade in one’s college career will stem from this dreaded course, but in certain circumstances, we must embrace the beauty within this collective suffering.

For those currently oppressed students taking this class — best of luck. Here are a few lessons learned and wretched woes you will experience from Writing 150.

Your first paper will be a C (or a B-)

For the self-righteous writers and scholars, the first paper will tear down your intellectual stability. You will question, for days on end, how you received a C on a carefully thought out (but hardly edited and rough-drafted) college paper, which you spent hours on eloquently formatting into cohesive paragraphs of thought. Your professor will mark suggestions and make edits on diction you hardly paid attention to and what you thought was explained comprehensibly was not written with enough clarity for your Ph.D. toting professor.

You will think very very deeply (sometimes, way too deeply) on your class topic.

By the time Writing Project #4 comes around, you will begin to feel like Aristotle whenever anyone brings up a subject that correlates with your Writing 150 topic. These issues will eerily begin to creep their way into your daily life, and you will question why everything is reminding you of the minimum 5-page paper due at the end of the week. As quoted from the Writing 150 course description, the class “is intended to provide students with a rich and rewarding intellectual experience during their first year,” which essentially is a euphemism that outlines one’s intellectual suffering throughout the semester.

The more you write, the better you will become.

This claim holds true to students who are not challenged to write on an occasional basis. To many, writing is the bane of one’s existence, but it also is an essential skill necessary throughout college and in the workplace. Schools and educators agree that students benefit from being exposed to writing classes and workshops, and although this is a hard fact to wrap your mind around, by the end of the semester, you will have learned a thing or two from your writing professor.

Or, you could have just proved the education system wrong by simply learning how to write a 7 page paper within a couple of hours (an incredible feat some have accomplished and managed to pull off a decent grade in the class). There is an alternative route to almost everything in life.

Have your professor and fellow peers edit your work.

Writing is a craft that requires commitment and constant refinement. Reach out to your professor outside of those required office meetings to have them help you improve your work. Many students are self-conscious, or even overly confident of their writing, and the logical way to improve is to have the person who is grading your writing read it. In addition, it shows effort on your behalf and creates a relationship between you and your professor that can be helpful when those wretched end-of-the-semester grades come in.

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