What Students Say About University of Southern California
If you are planning to attend USC to study theater, my biggest piece of advice would be to take advantage of your resources outside of the department. Los Angeles is not an easy place to get started as an actor, and school will incubate you from trials... Read More and tribulations of beginning a career. It's a great idea to get your feet wet while you're still studying. Go see productions at local theaters, and start cultivating relationships with working professionals as your mentors. Take a class over the summer at a professional studio (if you can afford to, or see if they have a work-study program that works for you), or participate in the LACCA internships. Start meeting people and building your professional skillset NOW, because it will serve you as a safety net once you graduate. Within the theater department, get involved in student productions. Classes and official SDA productions will give you exciting, near-professional experiences. But student productions will link you with your peers who are creating work from the ground up. They were consistently my most fulfilling experiences, and my connections from those independent productions are the same ones that have gone on to produce work (and hire me) after school. I also cannot emphasize enough how you should take advantage of studying abroad. Even if it is not with BADA (which I loved), go for a semester to just branch out and try something new. The best artists are often those who can incorporate a wide variety of perspectives and experiences in their work, and it's important to go out and live a full life. Going to another country will never be as easy and well-supported as it is within your school program, so find out early on what it might take to get to the place you want to go (for example, language classes, literature classes, or a long time-line on the application process), and find a way to make it work. If you're on scholarship, make sure you remember to apply your scholarship along with your general abroad application -- I didn't know I needed to do that with mine, and ended up incurring a larger cost than I needed to. For the star ratings on the questions below, please note that we had a different dean running the school when I was there (2010-2014), and I believe elements of the program have since changed. I'd look at someone's rating who graduated more recently than I did for a more accurate assessment. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS AT ALL, please feel free to get in touch with me, or other SDA alumni. We're a good group, and will be happy to help you in your choice.
The online MSW program at USC allows students from anywhere to access excellent professors and a fantastic alumni network. The program offers concentrations in a variety of areas, from macro practice to mental health to military social work. Professors... Read More are knowledgeable and passionate. The alumni network - Trojan Nation - is amazing and allows you to find job opportunities anywhere you go in the US.
At first I was hesitant because the program is only offered for online-distance learning students. But I find that this really benefits students who are not living near USC and want to become school counselors, and still want to keep their day jobs. I... Read More recommend to anyone wanting to enroll in this program to be good at self-discipline and have high self-efficacy skills. I love this program and wouldn't change anything about the way that I have received my learning, and I have gotten to know my professors and classmates very well (even those virtually!) I love the trauma informed focus that they teach, and how diverse the student and faculty body is.
