The University of Southern California

Date: May 08 2004
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
I am going to graduate this spring. Looking back at my experience at USC, it was NOT as great as I've expected. But first, let me talk about the good side about USC. The LA resources are good (but not as great as I've expected) in terms of internship. The weather..hmmmm..it's okay, but not as great as San Diego or Hawaii (where its mostly warm, beaches are great and folks are nice). Some of the instructors I've had were friendly, and wrote me letters of recommendation. Now on to the BAD side (which outweighs the good in my opinion) of USC - Marshall B-school in general. Marshall Bus school is simply horse crap. As some students already mentioned, the courses are based solely on rules and rote memorization. Learning shouldn't be this way. In addition, there's the 2.85 curve which lowers the number of A's given out to student. This grading curve is intended to "increase the reputation of Marshall."…pfft…yeah right. This actually hurts ambitious Trojans who want to advance to Med, law, or any grad-school programs. In fact I have been denied admission to many law schools this year because of my GPA (due to Marshall courses!). The damn businses courses is the main reason. Moreover, the students at Marshall aren't too friendly. Trust me, I'm a Cinema minor student, and the Cinema students and Comm students (because I had to take some comm courses) are much friendlier than the business technocrats. Marshall students are self-absorbed and competitive. It's all about 'sh*tting on each other's face.' Some of the professors I've met aren't very friendly, let alone, show favoritism toward certain students. This leads me to say that the student body at USC seem quite segregated. You have frat students only hanging out with each other etc… Social life at USC is centered around frats and sororities. If you're not a part of them (which they are NOT helpful at all except to learn how to drink and puke your guts out!) they won't care to talk to you. All in all, I regret choosing USC (Marshall to be specific…but it left me a bad impression of USC) over Emory, Georgetown, Brown, Berkeley, UMich and yes…UCLA. I think USC needs to further market its great academic (NOT football!) reputation out of state. I've been to New York, Texas, Washington State…and folks outside of the Orange County bubble STILL think USC is a party school. If I were to rewind my USC life back to my freshmen year, I would have majored in Communication, Cinema or Political Science to advance to a good grad-school program. Marshall B-school is a total joke, and was a waste of my time and money. I occasionally sob because I could have performed better at another institute academically. I could get the same kind of education at a state college, minus the crap that Marshall dishes out to its students.