Student Blog: New Semester, Same Me
Hey guys! I hope everyone enjoyed their winter breaks! I know I loved having a month off to relax and sleep after a stressful but fulfilling first semester. I spent most of time watching Netflix and hanging out with my family, but what a great way to prepare myself for this semester. I’m finally done with all my major prerequisites, and am now getting into more ISE classes and ITP classes (will explain later). So, I’m dedicating this blog post to all the classes I’m taking, and kind of what they are about and how they correlate to my major, concentration, and minor!
ITP-320: Enterprise Information Systems. This is my first class on Mondays, and honestly one of the coolest classes I have heard of thus far. It is basically a class that teaches you the skills to relate business ideas and technological ideas. We learn really cool things like SAP and ERP. We also go into supply chain and information systems management. The reason I am taking this class is because it relates to my concentration. I am an Industrial and Systems major with a concentration in Information Systems. Basically, I have a broad major with a focus. You can also concentrate in Operations Management and take some different classes!
ISE-330: Introduction to Operations Research:Deterministic Models. Another super cool ISE class! It’s a class where you learn linear programming and nonlinear programming. It’s a mathematical class with a lot of logic involved as well. It’s a broader ISE class, so there are people of both concentrations taking this class which means I also get to learn transportation and assignment problems as well!
ISE-220: Probability Concepts in Engineering. Honestly exactly what it sounds like, but on an engineering level. You learn about how to deal with problems and unknowns in the engineering world. I love it because it is a math class but with a lot of applications. Good thing fourth grade me loved her word problems.
EALC-304: Advanced Chinese I. This is a class for my Chinese for the Professions minor. It is geared towards more conversational Chinese so I am super pumped. We can’t speak English for the entire two hours either, so I can already feel my Chinese improving.
LING-275: Language and the Mind. This is a class for one of my general education requirements. I chose to take it because it sounded really interesting. We learn about language acquisition and speech deficits and the science behind them. I love it because it’s a science class I normally wouldn’t take with my engineering degree, but it counts for a GE so I got to take it. One of the many reasons I love USC.
Well, that’s my course load this semester, and I am super pumped. I hope you all have a great semester wherever you may be. As always, fight on!
Written by: Clare Sargent, Student - Industrial and Systems Engineering