Student Blog

Where Should I Live? Part 2: University Housing Edition ⟩
January 29, 2016, by Joe

Housing and Transportation

Earlier this week, Ariel wrote a great post about housing and her deciding factors when looking for a place to live. Her post is very thorough, so click that link to check it out. I’m chiming in to give the flip perspective as someone currently living in USC housing near the University Park Campus (UPC).

I’m originally from NY, but I’ve been living in LA since 2003, and pretty much lived all over it: West Hollywood, Silverlake, Downtown LA, and Monterey Park/San Gabriel Valley . . . and now back to USC housing. I don’t live in the OT house, but I live in another graduate student apartment building across the street from it. This gives me all the same benefits that Ariel mentioned (gotta love sharing books!), but I also get my own space in my one bedroom apartment. You can read up on more of the university housing options and amenities, such as internet, premium cable, etc, on the housing website. UPC is ~15 minute drive to the OT building (or take the USC shuttle, which is really convenient!), and is conveniently located next to several public transit options as well as freeways to connect to the other parts of the city.

I went to USC for undergrad, so I’m already very familiar with the campus and its resources. I first came back into USC housing last year as an RA (Resident Assistant); I really enjoyed doing the whole RA-thing with my sophomore kiddos, and the free housing and meal plan were a nice bonus. However, I decided to stay in USC housing for a few specific reasons:

#1 Easy Access to the University Park Campus

I love living close to the University Park Campus and all of its resources. There’s tons of art & cultural events, free movie screenings, sports matches, and all sorts of great events. I also volunteer on campus with the Office of Wellness & Health Promotion as a Wellness Advocate, facilitating meditation workshops; I also volunteer with the Lambda LGBT Alumni Association where I mentor undergraduate LGBT students in all areas of life, particularly professional development.

I just love the energy on this campus from all the different types of people (students, faculty, staff, etc), and the different disciplines/fields that people are a part of. Football tailgates and other social events are a great time, and we often walk over from the OT House en masse to the free events on campus. Through the Visions & Voices arts initiatives on-campus, I’ve seen spoken word performances, Ira Glass do a live podcast, live broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera in NY, and seen free shows at the LA Philharmonic, Pantages Theater, and Ahmanson Theaters.

Oh, and I love swimming and the various athletic options at UPC. I’ve gone dancing with the salsa club, gone shooting with the archery club, and taken free yoga classes.

#2 Leasing Follows the Academic Calendar

This is a big bonus for me. Since I’m from out of town, I knew coming into the program that I would want to do my Level 2 Fieldwork experiences outside of LA. Since the USC apartments are tied to our academics, I don’t need to find subletters for the months that I’m out of town on fieldwork. They simply ran my lease August-May when I was in class, then let me out from May-August when I was at Level 2 Fieldwork. The same thing will happen this year, and for my OTD year, I don’t know where I’ll be because I haven’t confirmed a residency site/dates just yet . . . but whenever I do confirm it, the university will adjust my lease accordingly (whether that means staying shorter or longer).

#3 The Trojan Family

USC students & alums form an incredible community known as the Trojan Family, and being near UPC is a great chance to feel a part of this larger Trojan network. Whether you’re near campus or out in LA, you’re a part of this amazing family alongside A. Jean Ayres, John Wayne, Shonda Rhimes, Neil Armstrong, over 400 Olympian athletes, among others. Make the most of your time at USC, and . . .

Fight On!

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A Sneak Peek into our SChedule and Classes! ⟩
January 28, 2016, by Rashelle

Classes School/Life Balance

Here’s a visual representation of our semester class schedule!

To break it down for you:

Mondays
We are typically all together in the lecture hall, learning core elements that are essential to our profession (ex: health and wellness, behavioral neuroscience, adulthood and aging, clinical reasoning & therapeutic use of self).

Tuesdays
You meet with your cohort in your semester-specific practice immersion (either Adult Physical Rehabilitation, Mental Health or Pediatrics), in a room that holds about 1/3 of your class, or about 45 people.

Wednesdays
Last semester, when this screenshot of my schedule was taken, I had my fieldwork day on Wednesday! We spend a full day at a site, relevant to our practice immersion, which offers us a chance to observe treatments with people in real life.

Thursdays
Every week for 3 hours, you will be enrolled in a lab that matches your practice immersion. This lab contains ½ of your cohort, or about 22 people, and gives you hands-on experience to practice certain assessments or techniques on your fellow classmates! You will also have another core class emphasizing the importance of research, so that we may incorporate evidence-based practice in therapy.

Fridays
Days off! People use this time to work, research, or relax. This past Friday was actually our annual OT Vegas Trip! It was so nice to participate in ALL my favorite occupations as we hiked, ate at buffets, danced, and socialized throughout it all!

Shout out to the MA-I students who are from various countries, and taught me so much about international OT practices! So happy I got to bond with you all this trip!

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Where Should I Live?: OT House vs. Off Campus Housing ⟩
January 27, 2016, by Ariel

Housing and Transportation

When I was first admitted at USC for my masters in occupational therapy, my first thought was “I’m so friggin’ ecstatic!” My second thought: “Where should I live???”

As a bay-area native, I was looking at uprooting myself from my post-undergrad living situation (read: my parents’ basement) and relocating to sunny Los Angeles. The OT department offers a house (The OT House) for occupational therapy students to live in, if they so choose. Alternatively, I could find housing off campus on my own.

As a student ambassador, lots of newly admitted students ask me about what factors influenced me in making my own housing decision. Here are my thoughts:

Each housing situation comes with its own set of considerations. When making the decision, it’s important to think of which of these factors is most important to you.

OT House Considerations

• geared towards students, lease available by the semester (if desired)
• I wouldn’t have to worry about running around to open houses around LA to try and find the right spot/roommates
• built in OT study buddies!
• OT professor on my floor, who I could potentially make a great connection with
• facilities are nice considering the cost
• free shuttle that takes students to and from the health science campus (where we have almost all of our classes)
• opportunity to partake in weekly events with ENGAGE, a program that works with at-risk youth by giving them opportunities to participate in activities from arts and crafts to cooking to science experiments.
• right near the USC OT department’s Center for Occupation and Lifestyle Redesign (a beautiful Victorian house where we have department events and can study)
• close proximity to the USC main campus, which gives easier access to student life, campus events, screenings, performances, etc.
• a bit further from where we have classes every day

Off-Campus Housing Considerations

• flexibility in choosing which neighborhood I’d like to live in and who my roommates are
• (relative) flexibility in determining how much I would like to pay each month
• ability to live closer to the health science campus, where we have classes every day (or right next to the beach, if that’s your priority!)
• more homey environment/less of a dorm-like environment

Ultimately I made the decision to live in the Echo Park/Silverlake area; I really liked the feel of the neighborhood, found a spot with really great roommates (all USC alums!), and got incredibly cheap rent. I love it because I have autonomy, and I appreciate coming home to people who are not in our program, since we spend the majority of our days with our classmates! The apartment I chose is a 9-minute drive to the Health Science campus without traffic, and rarely more than 15 minutes even in heavy traffic.

In terms of actually finding housing, I didn’t have too much trouble finding a spot as soon as I started. I actually found a few fellow soon-to-be OT students through our class’s Facebook group and we all did some neighborhood-hunting together during the Admitted Students Reception weekend. The main neighborhoods I considered heavily (due to proximity to campus, cost, and “walkability”) were Pasadena, South Pasadena, Echo Park, Silverlake, Los Feliz, and Downtown LA. Friends of mine chose to live in areas like Culver City, Santa Monica, Venice, and Glendale. *Pro tip for incoming OT students*: Sometimes the graduating second year OT students post in the incoming class’s Facebook group because they’ll be leaving their apartments around the same time you guys will be moving in!

However you choose to approach the housing hunt, make sure you research the neighborhood and the opportunities available to you in each location. Talk to others who have gone through the same decision-making process, and don’t let yourself get too stressed out — we all found housing in the end!

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New Year, New You ⟩
January 22, 2016, by Joe

Classes What are OS/OT?

It’s the start of my last semester in the MA program, and in some ways it feels totally new.

One of the unique parts of our program is that during this final semester, we get to take electives in addition to the required leadership & occupational science course. A lot of my classmates are using this opportunity to get started on specializations and certifications, such as fellow ambassador Heather who is immersed in hand therapy courses.

I’m a bit more eclectic in my approach . . .

Therapeutic Communication for the Healthcare Practitioner
I’m loving this experiential training course for learning Motivational Interviewing (MI), a really powerful communication tool to help clients settle ambivalence and motivate them towards behavior change. We spend a lot of time in class actually practicing MI skills, which has been so helpful that I find myself using it even among my friends.

Lifestyle Redesign
I came to USC OT because of my interest in helping people live better, healthier lives through changing their habits & routines. Lifestyle Redesign is a signature practice of USC, and I feel really shows the power of OT in helping people sustain a healthy lifestyle. We are paired with a partner for the semester to use the Lifestyle Redesign intervention approach. I’m really excited for both myself and my dear friend & fellow ambassador Rashelle will come out of the semester with even healthier lifestyles as well as strong Lifestyle Redesign skills.

Independent Study Project
I’m also working with Dr. Jenny Martinez on developing a diversity-related initiative with two of my classmates;we’ve only had one planning meeting so far, but our goal is to develop a project to support “best practices” with clients of diverse backgrounds.

Social Entrepreneurship
For our electives, we can take some courses outside of OT, so I elected to take a course from the Master’s of Business Administration program. Social Entrepreneurship essentially looks at how to develop a business model to address social change in social justice, environmental, and/or healthcare fields (or more!). So far, it’s been one of my most exciting classes, and I’ve been generating so many ideas on different ways to deliver healthcare services, and ways non-profit and for-profit models can balance each other for greater social good.

It’s an exciting semester! I can’t believe the program is almost done!

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It’s That Time of Year Again! ⟩
January 14, 2016, by Jodie

Admissions

Hello everyone!

As you have probably already read from the other ambassadors’ blogs, we are back from our month long winter break! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season with their family and friends. :lol: I can’t believe that this is our last semester before we graduate in May and then complete our last level II fieldwork! It has been very exciting meeting current applicants and prospective students visiting our campus.

I remember when I was waiting to hear back from USC in regards to my admission status, I was so anxious and nervous. I must have checked my emails at least 20 times a day and my mailbox sometimes twice a day (even on Sundays when we don’t get mail! :ohh:). When I received my admissions letter in the mail, I remember I couldn’t stop crying because this was my biggest dream come true and all the hard work really felt like it paid off. For those of you who have applied to our program and are currently waiting to hear back about your admission status, try your best to just enjoy this time you have now that you’ve completed and submitted your apps. That in itself is such a great accomplishment and you should definitely reward yourself by doing something to relax!

My parents always remind me that “what is meant to be, will be” and I think this is a great motto to always keep in mind, especially when waiting to hear back from schools. Don’t forget that the student ambassadors are always available to you and you can reach out to us anytime with questions or concerns you may have about student life here at USC OT! Best of luck to everyone who has applied to our program! I hope to meet many of you within these upcoming months :cheese:.

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