Job security at USC

Introduction
Definitely one of the perks of USC is job security for certain majors. Everyone says the school is really expensive, but it’s worth it, because I’m going to have a job and in a couple of years, and if I have loans, I’ll be able to pay them off. Maybe not in a couple of years, but I wouldn’t be worried about it.

Campus Life and Social Life
The study body is completely apathetic. Even in terms of the war. There has not been a single protest here. There are a lot of fraternity and sorority people just interested in drinking beer and having sex, and that’s all.

There is not a lot of effort to get kids involved in the arts. USC has this thing called the Trojan Network that it is really proud of. Where all the alumni are really help you with getting a job and getting out there and stuff but it’s only true for certain majors like accounting or business or cinema, but there is not a lot of help for other people I feel like. Like I have been seeing a career counselor and she has no idea about anything to do with art history. She has been helpful with writing a resume. But in terms of actual connections, I’ve tried to contact some alumni through this whole family program and no one responds and no one is interested and there aren’t even very many people out there for me to contact. Academics
I’m jealous of UCLA of being in their area around campus. They have all these nice restaurants and it’s safe to walk in the streets. Our campus is nice and beautiful. It’s not a good area to be in. I do a lot of stuff around campus, so I don’t really get out that much to the rest of LA. But I know there is a lot of neat stuff around here. I can’t stand the traffic to LA. Things are more expensive here from where I am from. I don’t think I’m going to stay here, but I’m really happy I got to stay 4 years here and see how it was. I just get to see the city and say that I lived here…even if it was for a short time.

Student Body
Everyone has a car. You need a car. Maybe not freshman year. People here are crazy drivers.

I don’t like it because one of the reasons that I was looking at LA was because LA has all these museums and stuff but it takes like a full day to do something because you don’t know if it is going to take you 15 minutes to get somewhere or like 3.5 hours to get somewhere. So you really can’t plan it. Also we are in a terrible part of LA. Right around our school it’s just ghetto. The only food around here is just fast food. The other places to eat around here just aren’t good. There aren’t any bars to go to around here. There is one bar and it smells like throw-up -- The Nine-o. There is nothing to do. You are afraid to leave because you don’t have time to go anywhere. But you don’t want to stay.

The stores around here are not good either. The produce is bad because it’s in a bad area.

In Closing...
We’re really close to downtown, but we are not close to downtown. It closes down after all the business people leave. I think that the other areas that are a lot farther away are a lot neater. There isn’t a lot of stuff.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that being at LA means being at the beach. We are not at the beach—we’re in the desert. It takes a long time to get there.

I feel safe that is because I don’t think about it. But it’s really not safe at all. There is like a gang that lives on my street, and that’s not safe. I won’t walk to my friend’s house late at night. I have to drive.

I don’t feel that much in danger. We automatically won’t walk alone. It’s not a safe area. I don’t really feel in danger. I probably should be more careful. You can’t live your life being in fear. I wouldn’t be able to find it in my purse fast enough even if I did. You just have to have a good head on your shoulders and you’ll be fine. We get these emails that list the dangers.

I do think they put a lot of money into trying to make the campus safe. They have DPS, which will take you home if you are drunk and you need a ride. Or you can call Campus Cruiser where you can just call and get a ride if you don’t want to walk from one place to another so you don’t have to walk by yourself. So that is nice. But it does take like a half hour to get a ride.