Ambassador Caitlin's Experience Adjusting and Thriving as a Spring Admit

When I first found out I had been admitted to USC as a spring admit, I was thrilled. USC was always where I wanted to be and I was so excited to begin my journey, even if I had to wait an extra semester to officially join the Trojan community. With that excitement and the fast-approaching arrival of my first semester at USC, also came some anxiety and worry. Worry that I wouldn’t fit in or find my community as a latecomer and anxiety about entering my college experience as a declared undecided major. I won’t lie, my first semester challenged me. I struggled to adapt to living alone for the first time. I felt overwhelmed at such a large university, especially in comparison to my small high school experience, and throughout my first semester I didn’t have a clue about what I wanted to major in. This wasn’t without a lack of trying. I had a job on campus, I interacted with classmates, and tried to connect with professors, but nothing was really sticking.

In the fall semester of my sophomore year, I developed an inkling of what I wanted to pursue as a major. I had heard about the Public Relations program from a friend, and it intrigued me. It matched a variety of skills and traits I was looking for in a career and education: business, creativity, and a human/interpersonal element. I registered for PR250: Introduction to Public Relations and went for it. This was not only my first PR course, but my first time in Annenberg. The doubt and anxiety I had from my first semester vanished. I walked into that classroom of around 20 students, and it simply felt right. The small class atmosphere allowed me to get to know all my peers and form real, lasting friendships. I met other spring admits and for the first time since I started at USC, I had found a community. It was in Annenberg and the Public Relations major. By the end of that semester, I decided to commit to Public Relations as my major, and came to fully appreciate all that Annenberg had to offer and all it did to transform my spring admit experience into something I can fondly look back on. From Annenberg’s opportunities to pursue specific interests within the PR field through the wide variety of electives, to being able to serve the Annenberg community in a teacher’s assistant role, and now as an Annenberg Ambassador. I had not only found my place at USC, but through Annenberg, was also able to give back and hopefully help others who are facing similar worries and challenges that I did.

I do not say any of this to scare incoming fall or spring admits into thinking that their first semester or year will be rough or look anything like mine. Rather, I say this because as an ambassador the top traits I want to put forth are honesty, transparency, and truly speaking about my complete experience. It can be easy to see everyone’s college experience as perfect and become jealous that others seem to instantly find their groove, and if that’s you that’s amazing! But, if that’s not your experience, that is perfectly valid and wonderful too. While I may have not immediately found my community at USC, I accepted that as an opportunity to grow personally and it made finding my home within Annenberg that much more rewarding. Through Annenberg’s multitude of resources and clubs, professors that truly take the time to know you individually, the incredible internship opportunities, and the friends that I have made, I was able to find my place at USC and a community in Annenberg.