Your first year at USC is full of new opportunities, and you don’t have to navigate it alone. FYA Advisors partner with you to explore academics, connect with key resources, and transition from high school to college with confidence. Learn more about this partnership in our First-Year Advising Guide.
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USC Dornsife offers a wide range of majors, grouped into different clusters. Use the list below to find out which cluster your major belongs to
Humanities African American Studies, American Popular Culture, American Studies & Ethnicity, Art History, Asian American Studies, Central European Studies, Chicano/Latino Studies, Classics, Comparative Literature, Contemporary Latino & Latin American Studies, Creative Writing, East Asian Area Studies, East Asian Languages & Cultures, English, French, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Italian, Jewish Studies, Latin American and Iberian Cultures, Media, and Politics, Narrative Studies, Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics, & Economics, Philosophy, Politics, & Law, Religion, Russian, Spanish, Undecided Humanities Natural Sciences Applied and Computational Mathematics, Astronomy, Biological Sciences, Biological Sciences (Biotechnology), Biological Sciences (Ecology, Evolutionary, & Environment), Biological Sciences (Marine Biology), Biological Sciences (Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology), Biochemistry, Biophysics, Chemistry, Chemistry (Chemical Biology), Chemistry (Chemical Nanoscience), Chemistry (Chemical Research), Computational Neuroscience, Data Science, Environmental Science & Health, Environmental Studies, Earth Science, Geological Sciences, Human Biology, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Physical Sciences, Physics, Physics Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Undecided Natural Sciences Social Sciences Anthropology, Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Behavioral Economics & Psychology, Cognitive Science, Computational Linguistics, Economics, Economics & Data Science, Economics/Math, GeoDesign, Global GeoDesign, Global Studies, Health and Human Sciences, History, Human Security and Geospatial Intelligence, International Relations, International Relations Global Business, International Relations Global Economy, Intelligence and Cyber Operations, Law History & Culture, Linguistics, Linguistics/Cognitive Science, Lingusitics/East Asian Languages & Cultures, Linguistics/Philosophy, Middle East Studies, NGOs and Social Change, Political Economy, Political Science, Psychology, Social Sciences Economics, Social Sciences Psychology, Sociology, Undecided Social Sciences, Visual Anthropology -
Several advising options are available, and by joining multiple advising activities students will maximize their first-year experience. These options include finalizing registration for schedule changes, exploring resources to support academic/career goals and long-term course plans for the future, and pre-registration advising to register for the upcoming term.
Advising Appointment
Optional or Required
Semester Week(s)
Appointment Description
Finalize Registration Optional* 1-3 Meet with your FYA advisor if registration changes are needed. Explore & More Optional* 2-6 & 14-Finals Meet with your advisor if you wish to discuss academic and career goals or explore co-curricular and extracurricular opportunities Pre-Registration Advising Required 7-13 Meet with your FYA advisor to review your progress and discuss plans for next semester. To enroll in classes when your permit to register opens, schedule and complete this session in advance. Check email sent by advisor for more info. This appointment is required to enroll in the upcoming term. *Optional but highly encouraged
A minimum of ONE (1) advising appointment is required each semester (see Pre-Registration Advising above). During pre-registration advisement, students meet one-on-one with their academic advisors to discuss their progress in the current semester and plans for the upcoming term.
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DOWNLOAD YOUR FIRST-YEAR
CHECKLIST HERE
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Questions to Ask Yourself - Have I completed everything on my pre-registration checklist?
- How can I be flexible with my course choices?
- What hobbies and interests from high school would I continue to college?
- What small goals am I setting for myself in my first year? What are my academic goals? What are my extracurricular goals?
- What new knowledge and skills do I want to gain in college?
- How am I going to establish my support system, especially if I am away from home?
Questions to Ask Yourself - What new extracurricular or co-curricular am I excited about?
- What is something new that will push me outside of my comfort zone?
- Am I feeling connected to my peers? o the campus community? What events can I attend to meet new people?
- What majors or minors am I interested in learning more about? Have I made an appointment with my first-year advisor to discuss these interests?
- Do I want to continue pursuing this major or am I considering a change?
- Have I maintained a good study-life(or work study life) balance? If not, how can I better manage my time?
- Am I utilizing the resources available to me to prepare for my exams?
- Am I taking care of my physical and mental health?
- How might I use what I have learned this semester inside & outside of the classroom?
- What is one way you surprised yourself this semester?
Questions to Ask Yourself - What experiential learning opportunities have I explored? Volunteer opportunities?
- Have I introduced myself to my professor(s) and visited their office hours?
- Do I know how to understand my STARS report?
- Looking back at my first year, have I accomplished what I intended to do?
- What have I learned this year about myself and my academic interests?
- What have I enjoyed in my first year? What have I not enjoyed?
- What skills or experience am I hoping to gain next year?