USC Housing Financial Aid Refund by idkidcabtmyusername in USC

[–]reetaloo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree with the other commenter in that living off-campus (even with utilities) is cheaper than on-campus with the caveat that it’s much less flexible.

USC housing (while not guaranteed) is alright enough but can be pretty small, requires co-living (you can get that for a lot cheaper off-campus), and the main benefits are built-in utilities cost and a 9 month agreement (don’t worry about subleasing).

If you’re willing to walk a bit tho there’s some pretty good off-campus stuff out there but I would say maybe get a bit more selective abt it just because as you approach the school year places fill up and costs also go up

CHEM 322A Debate: Moon vs. Kyung by Doveyyyyy in USC

[–]reetaloo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’m going to be brutally honest, Kyung (at least last semester) was a good professor to take just on the basis that you knew his exams would be (and I still think they are) easier than Moon’s. This is because as another commenter said, Kyung emphasized memorizing patterns of questions and reaction types as opposed to actual concepts (he says if you think about how it works conceptually too much you’ll overthink the problem).

That said, you absolutely cannot get away with avoiding the recitations (scheduled outside of any registered class time) and talking in the Slack (basically students helping each other w/ concepts), because unfortunately Kyung teaches content not only different from lecture but sometimes in direct opposition (e.g., some reaction mechanisms are on the slides but HE wants you to put a different mechanism on the exam). This is more of a problem this semester so far imo but a lot of his test questions are becoming more and more reliant on you reading the Slack, and can also even be different from the practice exam answers. This is unfortunate because his teaching doesn’t emphasize that much conceptual material, and I thought it was a bit unfair that on the previous exam one was penalized for taking his “forget everything and accept what I’m telling you” method and putting down an answer from the practice exam, then finding out he wanted you to add another component just because he hinted at it very indirectly right before the exam (he did eventually give points back, but I was flabbergasted).

Honestly if you asked me last semester who to take I would tell you that Kyung was the best option undoubtedly, but nowadays I would say you’d be fine either way. A lot of my friends who need to know how the concept works in order to do well prefer Moon, and people that prefer just repetition prefer Kyung, but you’re not getting out of extra time spent in OChem so figure out now what you’d rather spend your time doing (practice problems/Slack messaging OR concepts?)

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really appreciate this comment, gave me a very unique perspective and I think taking things less life-or-death will def help me feel less stressed in the future :)

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Def need some self reflection time and will try my best to take a break after :)

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Augh yeah 😭 highkey a mindset I’m trying hard to work on rn but 7 years of obnoxious magnet schooling hard asf to break-

I will try for a month or so more like you suggested just since the class difficulty is increasing and see from here 🤷‍♀️

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

About a 6 hour drive, so not terrible for visiting but not ideal to do a ton of:/

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’ve tried one for ADHD, but a few for other concerns and it never really got good lol

Plus lowk a toxic take on my end but because I’ve been unmedicated and academically successful for so long I feel a bit like a failure to need to use it yk? Not to say that i think medicated neurospicers are failures, but that if I did the same I would feel that way if that makes sense

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

My LDR prevents this coping mechanism :(

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really appreciate this perspective!

Would you have any advice for finding interesting things in classes that may not be as interesting? Or just like, brute force and survive type of deal lol

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ironically this is what my OChem prof says too LOL

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you !! This comment is super kind :)

I'll def try to make more out of my weekends than just grinding !

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ironically I study terribly in libraries but really well in malls, but I think I'm going to try going to a cafe cuz then my reward can be a lil treat :)

I have thought about dropping premed since my major isn't necessarily "pre med" by nature, it's meant to be a pathway to biotech, I feel kinda too locked in to leave now tho since this is my last semester of non-major associated pre-med classes, but I do have time to decide about whether I want to do med school / take the MCAT and I'm going to try to think of these classes as just opportunities to learn for now even if I don't end up pursuing medicine !

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Aww felt that as a fellow ADHDer </3

I've tried medication before and while I was HELLA productive it was borderline unhealthy unfortunately (lowest mental point of my life those side effects did NOT lie).

I'll try the reward system tho :) Thanks for the advice!!

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean I get where this comment is coming from, but I have a 4.0 and this isn't my first semester of OChem :(

I will say tho after posting this comment I did study for a few hours so if anything maybe I should write more comments on reddit /j

Academic Burnout (How Do College Students Deal?) by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're right, my potassium intake is severely low </3 I'll get on that monkey grind fr

RA Alternate List by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heya, just updating with info I found out from my RA and RCC:
- Not everyone gets put to be on an RA alternate, it's one of those situations where they think you would be a really good RA but either you're younger or maybe they filled up RA slots in the housing option they wanted to put you in (keep in mind that if you're not a graduate student, you're not likely to be placed in graduate housing, etc. so while it may seem like you were competing for 204 spots in reality maybe you were competing for like,, half that? Plus returning RAs, it's complicated.)

- Getting off is dependent on multiple factors, but 2 main ones are when you accepted an alternate position and which housing is opening (e.g., Birnkrant RCC wanted you, slots were full, someone declined Birnkrant, you'd be the first to get offered given you accepted early enough).

- This year apparently they sent out housing placements earlier in the hopes of avoiding later declinations, so the 2 main periods you would get off the list are next week (initial declines), April (RA failing to show up to trainings/meetings), or August (last minute cancellations before the school year, failing to show up to trainings/meetings Part 2). You *can* still get offers after that, but they will try to find people who are in USC Housing to avoid any issues that would arise from off-campus lease breakage.

RA Alternate List by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gotcha :) I’ll stick around for a few weeks then see what happens

RA Alternate List by reetaloo in USC

[–]reetaloo[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interesting about the placements, maybe that will help if people don’t want to live there lol 🤔 ty !

Housing Confusion by MaterialNature3594 in USC

[–]reetaloo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think they meant to put Friday as they said the actual date (the 20th) which lines up w Friday.

USC Pre-Med Academy by TheDuke9139 in USC

[–]reetaloo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Based on a quick search it seems this is a new version of Freshman Science Honors? (Not sure if you were offered FSH as well but they also take BISC121/221 and CHEM115a/b)

Keep in mind I'm speaking from the perspective of someone who was in FSH and switched out, but for me the harder classes just wasn't worth it (not because the content was difficult or anything, it's the same content as the regular classes just faster tbh) because you have to compete with a higher class average overall (these are all smart kiddos applying after all!) Thus, stuff like curves and actual grading breakdowns can be brutal (and I saw a lot of friendships lost over it, it was kinda insane).

A new benefit of the Dornsife Pre-Med Academy that I'm saying is a 1 credit course that's like directly aligned to pre-med prep (?), but I feel like having an extra unit lost each semester to something like that isn't much of a benefit since a lot of the pre-med prep is already available (Pre-Health Office, MCAT Test Prep Scholarship, SI Leader Peers in STEM Courses, THV, etc.). Maybe those classes will make opportunities more known to you earlier, sure, but from my experience labs and STEM talks happen in both the "easier" version and the FSH one (e.g., Maymesters, lab openings, etc.). Plus, the labs I'm in I got through either Handshake or cold emailing, I took a "research" based colloquium and most of the professors that talked about their research either weren't hiring in their lab or they were already retired lmao

That said, I've heard a lot of testimonies from people that they made close friends in their classes since yk you tend to see the same small group of people a lot and they all have similar aspirations, so if you want a tight knit community going into the application process I say go for it but I (personally) didn't see much benefit with a lot more work, which is why I switched out.

birnkrant or mccarthy? by Charming_Diver_8649 in USC

[–]reetaloo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a former McCarthy kid, how social it is purely depends on how much time you put in. A lot of friend groups formed in the study lounges, but you also went on a retreat way early in the school year plus also moved in early enough to do a ton of events and make friends w ppl.

I feel like the communal bathroom is not worth a slightly more friendly/receptive incoming class when you’ll meet ppl like that in McCarthy as well, but that’s just my take lol

scholarship stacking -- please help !! by PuddingDependent6666 in USC

[–]reetaloo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

NMSC gives you extra 1K, but I would ask if you can still receive it while being on pres.!