The Best School for You

There are two pivotal moments I remember: the moment I knew and the moment I knew without a doubt.

The moment I knew that the University of Southern California was the school for me happened during the fall of my senior year of high school. I was on a tour of USC and hadn't expected it to be much different than the other tours I'd gone on. However, from the moment I stepped on the campus I could feel that this school was different. Every college tour guide I'd encountered had emphasized that students should choose the school that makes them feel at home. I tried to imagine myself at every school I had visited and was unsuccessful. But as I looked around USC with its beautiful brick buildings, huge green trees, and throngs of students on bikes who looked genuinely happy to be on campus, I just knew USC was for me.

I did however realize that even though I had this overwhelming intuition that USC and I were made for each other, I had to be practical. USC may have been beautiful and the students may have seemed friendly and approachable, but the truth is that application fees are expensive and in order for me to decide to apply to USC it had to meet some important criteria.

Major/Area of Interest: Although you may not know exactly what you want to do when you graduate, it is important to think about the subjects you love and the careers you can picture yourself pursuing when applying for schools. If you are interested in medicine and can imagine yourself as a doctor, a nurse, or an advocate of public health, then you should look for schools that have diverse health programs. As a teenager, I was very interested in media and entertainment. USC has one of the best Communication and Media schools in the country with many opportunities for internships. So, although I wasn't exactly sure what aspect of media I wanted to pursue, I knew that USC would give me plenty of options.

Location: Not only should you think about the type of atmosphere you want to spend your college years in, you should also think about where you might want to live after college and what kind of job opportunities might be available to you in the city each school is in. As I mentioned before, at the time I applied to college I was interested in media and entertainment. I knew that applying to a school in Los Angeles would be a perfect fit for me because I would be minutes away from record companies and movie studios. I decided toward the end of my college career that the entertainment industry wasn't for me, but I wouldn't have been able to realize this about myself if I didn't have access to entertainment internships.

Diversity: This is especially important for us Brownstone girls. College is amazing because you are exposed to people and experiences that you may not have been exposed to in your home town. However, it's always nice to be able to walk through campus and see familiar brown faces. It was important to me that I went to a school where diversity was not only noticeable but celebrated. While on my campus tour, I learned that USC had several different "diversity floors.” One of these floors was targeted toward African Americans. Students who lived on this floor boasted of the strong support system they had and the lifelong friendships they made. If a minority presence on campus is something that's important to you, then make a point to research the quantity and quality of the minority population at each school you apply to.

The moment I knew without a doubt that USC was the school for me happened the summer following my campus tour. I had chosen to go to USC and was on campus for my freshmen orientation. As the USC Marching Band began to play our victory song "Conquest," I felt a surge of pride wash over me. It was the first time I really felt that I was a part of the Trojan family and would be a Trojan for life. At that moment I knew without a doubt that I had made the right choice. The fact that USC met all of my college criteria combined with the overwhelming sense of home I felt whenever I was on campus led me to apply to the school and ultimately decide to attend. I know the process of applying to schools can seem daunting, but as long as you think critically and wisely about the criteria you want your college to meet, I'm confident you will find a school as perfect for you as USC was for me :)

-- Karissa Allen

Guest Blogger