Student Blog
International
Throwback Thursday ⟩
February 20, 2020, by Kaho
Admissions Externships Housing and Transportation International Life Hacks Living in LA What are OS/OT?
As I was brainstorming what to write for my upcoming blog posts, I found myself at a complete blank. Nothing came to mind. I thought, what unique information can I provide as a student? As an ambassador? Social media chair? Then, a lightbulb switched on. Why don’t I take advantage of the data I’ve learned to analyze this year and make a compilation of other amazing blog posts? So, here we are. Here are the top 10 most popular blog posts from past and current student ambassadors (from Jan 1, 2015 through today), according to page views by you all! There are some oldies but goodies and they’re all definitely worth a read, so check them out.
- How to write a personal statement
- How to explain what occupational therapy is
- A Leadership Externship experience in South Korea
- A breakdown of the workload/life of an OT student
- Pros and cons of living at Currie Hall
- Pros of living in OT House vs. Pros of living somewhere else
- A different Leadership Externship experience in South Korea
- Pros and Cons of living in OT House
- Incorporating yoga into occupational therapy
- The role of occupational therapy in oncology
Hope you find these helpful!
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The Building Blocks of the Pre-Master’s Program ⟩
February 14, 2020, by Japeth
Admissions Diversity International Videos
Coming from a country where English language is not the official language may be difficult for some students who intend to go abroad for continuing education. This is what I also felt when I was still applying to the program. Questions such as “Will I be able to speak confidently?” or “Can I express myself and my thoughts properly?” were always on my mind. International students also need to take an English Proficiency Exam (IELTS or TOEFL) and must reach a score that is accepted by the department. This requirement is difficult, to be honest! Aside from this, students who are planning to enter graduate school must also take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), which includes questions about analytical writing, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning. This exam is just equally difficult, if not more, as the IELTS or TOEFL.
For interested international students who might be worried on their performance on these tests, don’t fret! I am happy to share about USC’s Pre-Master’s Program, which aims to help students improve their performance and scores!
Below is a video featuring Yen Ting Ni and Yi Fan Lin, both went through the Pre-Master’s program before joining this year’s Post-Professional MA in OT cohort.
I hope this video is helpful to future applicants and students! Also, I would like to share with you about what changes the Admissions Team has been doing! The admissions team headed by Dr. Arameh Anvarizadeh, together with Dr. Kristin Nxumalo and Dr. Amber Bennett, has changed how admissions look like! USC Chan has moved towards what we call the “new admission holistic process”, where all components of the admission criteria are given equal importance and value.
Fight On!
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Wrapping Up with Thanks ⟩
December 3, 2019, by Kaho
International Living in LA
I hope everyone had a relaxing and long Thanksgiving weekend surrounded by friends and family! Students of the Chan Division are back for their final week of classes and are sprinting to the finish line as they prepare for presentations, final papers, and exams. It’s a time of high stress, but I want to try to soak in the warm soothing vibes from Thanksgiving for a little while longer.
I spent my Thanksgiving this year with my boyfriend’s family here in SoCal. My family is far, far away in Japan and the holidays can be a lonely time for international students like me, so I’m really grateful to have been able to get that home-with-family feeling with lots of home cooked food. My cohort, Cohort A, also had a Friendsgiving potluck that week. I found out that everyone is a master chef and we had like . . . a century’s worth of food. It was amazing. Our professors, Dr. Diaz and Dr. Gunter, prepared turkey and ham for us too, so I’m not exaggerating when I say we had a FEAST.
Dr. Diaz and my classmate, Daniel, cutting the turkey
My favorite cohort 😉
*Sorry for the blurry photos, my phone has terrible quality*
As this semester comes to an end, I’m reflecting on all that’s happened (classes, fieldwork in pediatrics, elective courses selection, OTD application, externship planning, student ambassador events, etc. oh my) and how quickly these past 4 months or so have flown by. To be honest, this whole year and a half since I started the program has flown by. I can’t believe that I’ll be done with my final immersion by the end of next week and I only have one semester left until I graduate. I know that next semester will feel even faster because it’s filled with exciting elective courses and I’ll be working lots of events. Although I have an indefinite list of things that I’m thankful for, this year, I’m especially thankful for the friends that I’ve made and become closer to through the program, the opportunity to pursue my passion and study OT at USC, my teachers and mentors, my family that never fails to support and encourage me no matter how far they are, my support system back in San Diego from undergrad, and my good health/able body. I’m heading home to Japan over winter break and my annual family reunion is waiting for me on the other side of finals. It’s been a whole year since I’ve seen them, so I’m beyond excited and motivated to get through these last two weeks. I hope everyone has a great holiday season and good luck on finals! Finish strong!
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I am thankful for . . . ⟩
November 25, 2019, by Japeth
International Living in LA
November is thanksgiving season in American culture, and what better way to celebrate it than by having dinner with friends at the USC Chan division? Last Friday (November 22), the Global Initiatives team was thoughtful enough to organize an early thanksgiving dinner with the students and some faculty and staff of USC Chan. It was a wonderful way for us to de-stress and be with everyone. Everybody found something to do to help as we prepared the food!
Before doing the meal prep, its always best to start it by taking a group photo while doing the Fight On pose! In this group photo, Dr. Emily Ochi, the MA1 Program Director and Bianca Ojeda, USC Chan’s social event program coordinator, showed the inner Trojan in them by also doing the fight on pose!!
Katie Miller, MA2 student and also a member of USC Chan’s Global Initiatives together with MA1 students, Raffy Wagas, Lin Hung-Yi, Pan Yen-Wen, Hasmin Palo, and Yvonne Lin (from L-R).
MA1 students designing their own cookies! That’s me right there!!
Here’s my photo showing the cookies that I designed . . . well I am not artistic to begin with and that’s the best that I could do! LOL
MA1 ladies showing their “girls just wanna have fun” look! Indeed, they look like they’re having sooo much fun!
Of course, this is everyone’s favorite — turkey!!
I asked my friends who grew up here about thanksgiving and their answer in a nutshell is . . . it’s a time for us all to think of what has been great and why you’re thankful about it; some may also consider what did not work out or what failed if they see it as a blessing in disguise.
Honestly, when you’re facing a lot of stress and tons of schoolwork to do and on top of that, life gets in the way — what is there to be thankful about, right? But again, how we perceive things greatly affects how we feel and how we react to them. Last week too, while I was hearing the mass, the priest was preaching on how to live not on the ‘what if’, but live on the ‘even if’. Is this the universe trying to intervene? Hmmm.
With that being said, I took some time to do a thanksgiving reflection, and what I realized is something that I cannot discredit myself: one thing that happened to me this year that I am most thankful for is being able to take my MA and being able to thrive in a totally new environment. It’s difficult but it’s doable, especially if you are with the right people!
Life may be difficult at times, but being with the right people helps a lot. To me, these are the right people and I am so blessed to have them!
If I may ask you, what are you thankful for?
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We don’t want tricks; we just want treats! ⟩
November 13, 2019, by Japeth
International Living in LA
As someone from the other side of the world, I haven’t had a legit Halloween experience. So when my cohort asked if we were down for some trick or treating, we immediately said yes! Everyone was just so excited because it was something that’s new to most of us.
Last Halloween, we had two celebrations: the first one was during our Quantitative class and the second one was when we went to Pasadena to do trick or treats. Dr. Myka Persson organized a potluck lunch for the MA1 cohort. We brought our food to share to everyone and Dr. Myka baked Halloween pumpkin cookies using their own family recipe! It was really delicious . . . like I ate 4 of it. I love how our professors at USC Chan practice occupational balance.
Now this is the part that I always look forward when blogging – sharing with you all the pictures!
This is Andrea Abad channeling her inner Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson!
This is one of my personal favorites! These classmates of mine are actually married to each other and for their first Halloween experience, they decided to dress up as each other! Mr. Lin Hung-Yi dressed up as Ms. Pan Yen-Wen and vice versa!
The guy in red is Elijah Ramos, a target salesperson; and the lady is Prutha Satpute, dressed up as student loans!
Reuben Raynes as Kikkoman and Czaria Biagtan as a sushi. This made me crave some Japanese food!
This photo was taken after our occupational science class.
Until our next adventure, Fight On!
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