What I Wish I Knew Before I Transferred to USC

by Lanie Brice ‘24

When I transferred to USC, I had no clue what to expect from the university or LA. I was honestly so shocked and excited that I got into such a well respected school and niche program that I didn’t think twice before accepting a place at the school. Having only been to college on Zoom for freshman year, there was a lot I had to learn about being a college student and USC all at once. Despite all my fellow sophomore peers starting on campus for the first time at the same time as I did, our experiences ended up being largely different because I transferred whereas they started at the school from the beginning. Since I can’t go back in time, let me give you the wisdom on transferring I wish I could tell my past self before she committed. 

Live On Campus If You Can

I know, the allure of your own apartment is real. The idea of a communal bathroom or roommates that are total strangers are all less than enticing. Since USC doesn’t guarantee housing to transfer students – even sophomores despite sophomores having guaranteed housing otherwise – it can seem like the path of least resistance to scramble to find an off-campus apartment when you find out in May or June you’ve been accepted. That’s what I did. With the low inventory of nearby apartments during the summer, I ended up in a studio a mile walk off campus up Hoover alone. 

Looking back on my three years at USC, this is the error everyone pinpoints when I talk about how disconnected I feel from the school. Having such a long walk back and forth to campus that I didn’t feel safe making after dark meant that I had very limited options for getting to know people at my new school. Fryft didn’t work as well as USC advertised, even before it began the mega-disaster that is Shryft, so getting back and forth from campus at night was less than ideal. Nearly all of the social activities happen late at night at USC. Many club meetings are at 8 or 9 p.m. to avoid clashing with class schedules, and USC’s main form of connecting students through activities not at the dorms – Late Night ‘SC – is obviously well after dark. 

Beyond that, being in a residence hall or student apartment offers a first set of friends in your roommates. Regardless of how it goes with them down the line, they will give you a default group to start exploring the school with, and you’ll feel less isolated than I did by simply having people nearby. Everyone in my classes spent the first few weeks only making plans with their roommates, so without some of my own, I felt like I was never going to break into USC.

Even if the housing lottery looks bleak, hold on to hope! Even getting assigned to Gateway will make it easier to participate in campus activities. 

The School’s Location Can Be Very Isolating 

USC is close to Downtown and Koreatown, but, otherwise, the school exists in a somewhat sealed off pocket from the rest of LA. When you’re considering moving to the city, you might be thinking of the beach or Beverly Hills or even somewhere like West Hollywood or Hollywood itself. Many of the concerts, events, and opportunities I moved to LA for are in these neighborhoods, and they can be incredibly hard to access from USC with or without a car. LA traffic is no joke, so it can take an hour to get to relatively nearby (by miles) neighborhoods, and parking is always staggeringly expensive. If you don’t have a car, you’ll likely find many LA events and areas inaccessible. 

Ubers have only gotten more expensive and unreliable since I’ve been in college too. Recently, I had to skip a book event I was super excited for in West Hollywood because my friend who was set to drive dropped out, and an Uber both ways would’ve been over $100 before tip. The metro rail train doesn’t even get close to that area of LA, and the buses mean that trips in that direction can take hours. While it’s unfortunate for events, it’s a reality that you should more concretely consider in terms of opportunities like internships and networking events. 

I struggled to find internships I could feasibly take on because offices were often in places fairly inaccessible without a car like Westwood, Santa Monica, or the Arts District. I ended up only taking remote positions despite moving to LA because it was the hub city for my hopeful career path. Unlike cities like New York or even Chicago, the neighborhood you’re based out of goes a long way towards dictating how accessible opportunities will be.

While the Metro E line can get you to parts of Santa Monica and a few stops on the way West or to Downtown, getting out of the USC area and into the rest of LA is not as easy as you’d imagine. 

It’s Hard to Feel Like a Member of the Trojan Family – Despite What The Brochure Claims

I find that USC doesn’t do enough to reach out to transfer students and help them integrate into the community. I’ve seen more fliers recently for student clubs for transfer students to connect, which I would’ve loved when I started, but there isn’t a great way to hear about opportunities like this. You’re really thrown in the deep-end without any of the specific events that freshmen get by way of dorm events and orientations. While you’ve been to a college before, you’ve never gone to school at USC, and there should be more effort on the part of the university to help you understand how everything works as you’re acclimating to a new school and city. Be prepared to figure it out for yourself. 

There Isn’t Much Room to Change Your Mind or Your Path Without a Hefty Bill

I got lucky that I transferred just after my freshman year, so I wasn’t required to complete a fifth year of school (or a super senior semester) to graduate from USC, but they will try to do everything in their power to make you complete that fifth year (or part of it). While transfer students don’t have to complete freshman writing and seminar, don’t count on any classes you’ve taken at your prior university transferring to fulfill certain credit requirements. Everything I took at my prior university counted as elective credit, which helped maintain my grade level but left me with no wiggle room in my schedule to actually take any electives. 

For instance, I’d taken a musicology class at my prior university but had to take another one to fulfill a particular GE and major requirement at USC, and my Intro to Journalism class didn’t count as a prerequisite to take any higher level journalism courses. I’ve heard rumors that you can appeal this to fight for your previous courses to be properly classified, but this is something I only overhead, and I believe there is a very narrow window to petition. 

Because of this and the staggering number of GE requirements, I’ve been able to take one course in my entire time at USC that didn’t directly contribute to a requirement. It also meant that as I realized the program I transferred into wasn’t the right fit for me, I had to stick it out through two more years because it would be wildly expensive and time consuming to make up all the major credits I would need for a new major. One of my friends who started as a freshman decided to change majors after his first year, and he was easily able to move to a new school and stay on track for graduation. It was sad that the academic self-discovery portion of college was non-existent for me because of this lack of space in my schedule. 

USC Will Probably Not Be Vastly Different Than Your Prior School 

Going from a tiny liberal arts school couched within an art and design school in New York City (well, via Zoom) to USC seemed like it would create a world of difference. I was underwhelmed with the rigor of most of the classes at my prior university, and so many assignments seemed like they couldn’t actually be college-level coursework. It turns out that many USC classes and assignments felt the same. While I’ve had challenging classes and great professors at USC, I’ve also had professors who had absolutely no clue what they were doing (or even expected us to actually teach the class ourselves, giving lectures to our peers in rotating groups) or who gave meaningless assignments. USC is a much higher ranked institution than where I started, but it’s made me wonder whether the rigor of classes actually changes that much. There are good and bad professors and programs at every school. 

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