Student Blog
Getting Involved

My Work as a Student Ambassador Part 1 ⟩
December 3, 2020, by Liz

Getting Involved

Ever since I attended my first information session for USC’s OT program being a student ambassador seemed so cool! My interest in applying for a position was largely influenced by how great my experience was with my assigned student ambassador, Melissa. I appreciated how approachable she was and how willing she was to answer any questions I had. She responded to my emails very promptly and overall made me feel very supported as I waited to begin my first summer session.

The opportunity to apply for the position presented itself my first year during the spring semester. One of my favorite professors of all time, Dr. Celso Delgado Jr., told me about the position and encouraged me to apply. So, I went for it! It was definitely nerve wrecking because many of my peers were also applying, all whom I thought were also great candidates. After a bit of waiting, I was lucky enough to find out I was one of the students who had been selected. Woo!

Being a student worker through this position has been challenging, but manageable. This fall I worked 10 hours a week, but luckily because of everything being remote I was able to complete a few of my hours over the weekend and later on in the day. This position has also challenged me to stay organized. I have had to make sure to prioritize my school work, get work done for my fellowship, and also balance my personal life on top of working on my student ambassador duties. It’s been difficult at times, but I am grateful to have a wonderful team to lean on when I need help.

Every member of our team takes the lead on different projects, but we all work together as one to make sure our goals are met. Here’s a little bit of what I’ve done so far:

1. Write blogs!
Part of what I do is share my experiences as an OT student by writing blog posts. Our entire team does it! This is an awesome way for people who are interested in our program to learn about different people’s experiences and to connect with those whom they feel may have experienced similar challenges (e.g., being waitlisted, first-gen students).

2. Attend/assist during information sessions
You may have seen some of us if you’ve attended an information session before. Part of what I do is attend these sessions to answer questions as they relate to the student experience for students who are interested in applying for our program. It’s always so fun getting to know all of you!

3. Connect with current and prospective students
You may have also seen us on our website — we’re here for you! I stay in touch with current students to answer any questions they may have about certain classes/electives, how to best prepare for exams for classes I’ve taken before, or simply to listen and support during stressful times during the semester. I also stay in touch with prospective students to support them as well. My goal is to make prospective students feel welcome and provide guidance as they apply for our program!

4. Get OT’s name out there at grad fairs
Another thing that I do is attend different grad school fairs. At these fairs I present on our program and get OT’s name out there. Sometimes students who are already interested in OT attend, but students who have no idea what OT is will also come to our booth to hear more about it. My goal here is to convert the whole world into future occupational therapists! Just kidding, or am I? During these presentations I also share about my personal journey to finding OT. I answer different questions students have about occupational therapy/occupational science, about our program, about my experience as a first-generation, underrepresented student, etc. You name it, and I will answer it!

5. Support admissions
As you may know, the deadline to apply to our Entry-Level Professional Master’s Program just recently passed. We get hundreds of applicants, which means the admissions team has a lot of applications to read through as they decide who will be admitted. So, something I’ve done this year is help make that process a little easier for them. I’ve helped put together student applicant files, so that when admissions goes through to read everyone’s application everything can be ready and organized for them.

6. Bring new ideas
This year I’ve been able to add my own twist to presentations. Continuing to diversify our program is something that I am really passionate about. With that said, I began brainstorming on how this could continue to be done in new ways. An issue that I identified that many first-generation, underrepresented students face is that they simply don’t know about OT at all. For example, they may not have family members that work as/with OTs and they may not have access to or have ever received services from an OT.

I decided that I wanted to find a way to reach out to younger students to expose them to OT and to also serve as an example of someone who has been able to make it to grad school. When I was a younger student I definitely didn’t see grad school in my future for various reasons. So, I decided to collaborate with the AVID program at different LAUSD schools. If you’ve never heard of AVID, it is a program that supports first-generation students, many of whom are low-income, during their journey to obtaining a higher education. As a previous AVID student myself, I thought this would be a great way to reach out to younger students! I am happy that I have been able to bring new ideas to the team as we continue to work towards diversifying our program.

I hope this has given you all a brief glimpse into what I have done so far as a student ambassador. I decided to call this part 1 because the year is not over yet — stay tuned for part 2! As always, if there’s any questions you may have about my position as a student ambassador or anything at all please feel free to send me an email. Fight on and happy holidays to you all!

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Will I Have Time to Work During the Master’s Program? ⟩
November 4, 2020, by Savi

Classes Getting Involved

As the Nov. 1 application deadline has just passed, I have been receiving many questions from prospective students about balancing a job and graduate school. Although this experience will vary from person to person, I thought it could be helpful to give you all a bit of insight into my experience balancing work and graduate school!

The Entry-Level Professional Master’s program begins with a jampacked 8-week summer semester in which you complete foundation-based courses like Kinesiology and Neuroscience in an extremely short amount of time. This makes for a high intensity and fast-paced semester with class from Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:00pm and a few hours studying upon your return home each afternoon. I, therefore, chose not to work during the first summer. I had also just completed my undergraduate degree a week before beginning the Master’s program and hadn’t even found a place in LA to live yet! I was grateful to have a few hours on the weekend or on Friday evenings to apartment search, find a job for the fall semester in my new neighborhood, and get to know the fun city I was living in.

During my Fall semester in the Mental Health Immersion, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I was in class three days a week, completing my Fieldwork I one day a week, and had my Friday’s completely free! This allowed me more time to take on a part-time job as a gym receptionist and sales associate at a gym near my apartment. They allowed me to work extremely flexible hours, as they understood I was not available during most of the week. I worked the evening shift after school one night a week, the Friday afternoon shift, and a weekend shift, which all combined to approximately 20 hours a week of work on top of graduate school. Was this easy? No . . . it was really overwhelming at times and I did not have much time to participate in social or revitalizing occupations (such as sleeping a sufficient amount of hours every night!). I am very thankful that I was able to fit in some studying or homework during my work hours if we were having a slow day, that I loved spending time with my co-workers, and that I was allowed to take a free workout class during each shift. If this wasn’t the case, I do not think I would be able to commit 20+ hours a week to a job while completing my Master’s degree (also I wouldn’t recommend it regardless because it was TOUGH). I continued this workload during the following Spring Semester in the Pediatrics Immersion. It was nice to make some money and work on applicable skillsets for the OT field, such as adjusting your communication style depending on the customer, giving clear and concise directions, or staying organized and calm during chaotic or unforeseen situations.

At the end of my Spring semester, I was exhausted and I needed a change. I knew the Adult Rehabilitation Immersion was coming next and as a student interested in working in an inpatient hospital setting with adults in the future, I wanted to have more time to focus on all the valuable coursework. The Student Ambassador position became available and as a previous college tour guide, I was thrilled by the opportunity to step into a similar role for a program I love dearly. After applying and interviewing, I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the Student Ambassadors and was extremely thankful for the expectation that we were to work 10 hrs/week. On top of that, working for the Chan Division allows you a lot more flexibility with your hours, as the faculty you are working for understand the workload you are trying to balance. Thank you to Kimberly Kho, our AMAZING supervisor/boss, for being so flexible, understanding, and respectful of our busy and ever-changing graduate school schedules. Kim has always reinforced that academics takes priority and has allowed us to adjust our schedules to provide more time on particular weeks to study for exams, write big papers, etc. Visit Yna’s blog to learn more about what we do as student ambassadors!

From my experiences, you may have noticed a trend. Can you work in grad school . . . yes! It is doable depending on what job it is and how much flexibility it allows you. I am grateful to have had understanding bosses and incredible, fun, and kind co-workers in both of my jobs! Be sure to weigh the pros and cons of the job before you commit to it and make sure that you are prioritizing your physical and mental health! As Kim says . . . you are a student first.

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Life as a Student Worker ⟩
November 2, 2020, by Yna

Classes Getting Involved Videos

“Is it possible to work while studying?” This is one question that frequently comes up and understandably so, given the full-time enrollment and the intensive nature of the academic programs at USC Chan. The answer to this question is yes, it is a possibility for one to work while studying. Although it really depends a lot on the individual, I would say roughly about 10-12 hours per week is recommended. To give you a better idea on how this is dispersed throughout the week, I am going to share with you my typical work-study schedule and some of my duties as a student ambassador.

As a Post-Professional Master’s student, I am currently taking a total of 18 units for this fall semester, comprised of 3 core courses (8 units) and 3 elective courses (10 units). For a better visualization, here’s a table showing how my weekly class schedule looks like.

As you can see, you really only spend a few hours of your day sitting in class. However, do note that for each course, there are out-of-class activities and requirements that need to be worked on, which could take up a substantial portion of your time.

I schedule my work hours as a student ambassador around my class schedule, so I typically work on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the morning before my class, totaling to 10 hours per week. One thing that I really like about being a student worker at USC Chan is the flexibility in scheduling that they give students that allow us to move our time around in case we have exams or other requirements to prepare for. This is also made possible by the amazing team of student ambassadors who are always willing to help out whenever one of us is having trouble fulfilling our duties. Our supervisor, Kim, never fails to remind us on every team meeting to prioritize our academics and also take care of our health.

One of my tasks as a student ambassador is to liaise with Global Initiatives for certain projects. This is another area where I find the flexibility in scheduling really helpful, especially for time-sensitive projects, because you can choose to dedicate most of your work time to accomplishing it or even work on the weekend if you’re willing to. For example, for the recent World OT Day last October 27, we created a video that shows how people all over the world have reimagined their doings. Check it out below!

Sometimes, I also give informational presentations together with the admissions team, as part of our role to help raise awareness about occupational therapy and our programs at USC. Other ways we can disseminate information and share our experiences as current students and student workers is by posting to Chan Division social media accounts (check us out on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube!), writing blog posts about our experiences, and answering questions from prospective students. Lastly, student ambassadors also partake in certain steps of the admissions process, with the guidance of our Director of Admissions, Dr. Anvarizadeh.

Hopefully this glance into my life as a student ambassador answers some questions you may have about being a student worker! If you have any questions, you can reach the ambassadors at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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Second-year Students Are Here for You Too! ⟩
October 15, 2020, by Liz

Getting Involved

The end of my second year as a master’s student seems so close, yet so far away. So exciting! I feel as though it was just yesterday that I moved out to Los Angeles and sat out on the CHP patio waiting for orientation to begin. As I reflect on how close I am to the end, I can’t help but think about all of the wonderful support I’ve received these past two years.

Something that is unique about our program is how willing our faculty is to support their students. Check out Calvin’s most recent blog post about finding faculty mentorship—he has some great tips! With everything going on and classes being held virtually I can imagine how difficult and intimidating it might be to reach out for mentorship at this time. Another good place to start is to reach out to students! I can say so from experience.

Last year I was seeking more than just attending class, studying for exams, and working on things I felt like I HAD to do. Fortunately enough, our very own Daniel Padilla made an announcement on our Facebook page regarding a program he and his colleague, Ceci, were leading together — Vivir Con Diabetes. In his announcement, he expressed his hopes of recruiting some student volunteers to help with his program. The program was designed to cater to the needs of the Spanish-speaking community of Boyle Heights, many of whom are low-income. The main goal was to improve the diabetes management of this population by improving their habits and routines, all while providing culturally sensitive interventions.

Immediately I was intrigued! This program was something that really hit home for me and a way in which I felt as though I could give back to my community. This is something that I am really passionate about. I immediately thought about my grandmother who always thought the best way for her to improve her diabetes management was by replacing regular coke with diet coke. Sounds silly, I know. But, she really believed this! I thought, if I could give back to the community in any way and work with people like my grandma I would. So, long story short — I volunteered. Now that Daniel and Ceci are onto bigger and better things, I am leading these sessions along with one of my best friends in the program, Stephanie.

I consider Daniel to be one of my mentors! Because I reached out to him due to my interest in this program, I’ve been able to take the lead on it this year. He also provided me with a lot of support as I applied for the OTD a few weeks ago by looking over my resume, practicing some interview tips with me, and in general has been nothing but great vibes! Daniel if you’re reading this, you’re awesome!

While applying for the OTD I also reached out to Marylin. I was nervous to do so given that she is now at her residency site, full of work and other responsibilities. But, she took the time after her long work day to also give me some feedback on my resume. I appreciated that so much! I thought, “Wow, even after a long day of work she still set aside an hour to help me out!”.

What I am trying to get at here is that students who are farther along in the program are also very willing to provide some support for you all. I can think of 7 off the top of my head: Savi, Calvin, Bethany, Yna, Lamoni, Daniel, and myself. If there’s any way in which we can support you, help you connect with faculty, and/or serve as mentors for you to grow while you’re here we are more than happy to do that. So, if you’re nervous to reach out — don’t be! Us second-year and alumni folks are so willing to help. With that said, please feel free to send me an email at any time to chat about school or anything in general!

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Staying connected ⟩
September 23, 2020, by Yna

Getting Involved

As an only child, I spend a lot of time hanging out with my friends, probably topping my list of favorite occupations. Although over the years I’ve appreciated being able to have my own private time, I also find a different kind of delightful companionship from them. And so without being able to go out due to the stay at home protocol currently in place, and adding the factor of being away from home, feelings of loneliness do arise from time to time. What definitely has been a huge support for my situation are the various (virtual) social events being held regularly at school, which I think students could really use especially during this time of limited socialization opportunities.

Global Initiatives, for one, hosted an International Student Welcome Celebration Zoom party, where students were allowed to gather virtually (in our pajamas!) and have time dedicated to just catch up, share experiences, and have fun together.

One of our activities was called “Bake a Wish” where we made paper fortune cookies. We picked out a quote from a list of inspirational messages that were provided by the students ourselves, to provide encouragement to our fellow students. My quote of choice says: “The goal is to be better than who you were yesterday,” to inspire me to keep going especially for when the more challenging times come.

Additionally, here is a photo of me with some Post-Professional Master’s students Elmo, Amy, and Ahmed virtually hanging out on a Friday night over Zoom. We played some games and really spent time talking to each other about life and many other things.

Despite the busy schedule, it is nice to have some time dedicated for socialization. Besides, what better way to destress after finishing 3 weeks of the fall semester than celebrate it with my fellow international students? After all, we, humans, are innately social beings; and social participation is one essential area of occupation that we must also fulfill in order to achieve a healthy balance.

To wrap this up, I want to highlight the importance of finding creative ways to make our presence felt to our friends and loved ones even though we’re socially distanced from each other. Each of us carries our own personal challenges, apart from the multitude of things currently happening in our society that may or may not be directly impacting us, so making it this far is really something to be recognized in itself. During challenging and unprecedented times like these, it is through each other where we can find support and draw strength from, so definitely reach out and seek support! Fight on, everyone!

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